Editing Fargo, Arkansas

{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox settlement
|official_name            = Fargo, Arkansas
|settlement_type          = [[Town]]
|image_skyline            = 
|imagesize                = 
|image_caption            = 
|image_seal               = 
|image_map                = File:Monroe County Arkansas Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Fargo Highlighted 0523140.svg
|mapsize                  = 250px
|map_caption              = Location in Monroe County, Arkansas
|image_map1               = 
|mapsize1                 = 
|map_caption1             = 
|subdivision_type         = [[List of sovereign states|Country]]
|subdivision_type1        = [[U.S. state|State]]
|subdivision_type2        = [[List of counties in Arkansas|County]]
|subdivision_name         = United States
|subdivision_name1        = [[Arkansas]]
|subdivision_name2        = [[Monroe County, Arkansas|Monroe]]
|government_type          = 
|leader_title             = 
|leader_name              = 
|established_date         = 
|unit_pref                = Imperial
|area_footnotes           = <ref name="CenPopGazetteer2021">{{cite web |title=2021 U.S. Gazetteer Files: Arkansas |url=https://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/gazetteer/2021_Gazetteer/2021_gaz_place_05.txt |publisher=United States Census Bureau |accessdate=June 22, 2022}}</ref>
|area_total_km2           = 1.23
|area_total_sq_mi         = 0.47
|area_land_km2            = 1.18
|area_land_sq_mi          = 0.46
|area_water_km2           = 0.04
|area_water_sq_mi         = 0.02
|elevation_ft             = 200
|elevation_footnotes      = <ref name=gnis/>
|population_as_of         = [[2020 United States census|2020]]
|population_footnotes     = <ref name="Census 2020">{{Cite web| url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=&g=1600000US0523140&tid=DECENNIALPL2020.P1| title=P1. Race – Fargo town, Arkansas: 2020 DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171)| publisher=U.S. Census Bureau| access-date=June 22, 2022}}</ref>
|population_total         = 57 
|population_density_km2   = 48.13
|population_density_sq_mi = 124.73
|timezone                 = [[North American Central Time Zone|Central (CST)]]
|utc_offset               = -6
|coordinates              = {{coord|34|57|11|N|91|10|43|W|region:US_type:city|display=inline,title}}
|timezone_DST             = CDT
|utc_offset_DST           = -5
|postal_code_type         = [[ZIP code]]
|postal_code              = 72021<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.zipdatamaps.com/72021|title=Fargo ZIP Code|publisher=zipdatamaps.com|year=2023|access-date=January 12, 2023}}</ref>
|area_code                = [[Area code 870|870]]
|blank_name               = [[Federal Information Processing Standard|FIPS code]]
|blank_info               = 05-23140
|blank1_name              = [[Geographic Names Information System|GNIS]] feature ID
|blank1_info              = 2406490<ref name=gnis>{{GNIS|2406490}}</ref>
|footnotes                = 
|website                  =
}}

'''Fargo''' is a town in [[Monroe County, Arkansas|Monroe County]], [[Arkansas]], United States. As of the [[2020 United States census]] it had a population of 57,<ref name="Census 2020"/> down from 98 in [[2010 United States census|2010]].

==History==
Main lines and branches of railroads were being built across Arkansas in the late 1880s. By 1898, two of them—the [[St. Louis Southwestern Railway]] running roughly north–south, and the [[Missouri and North Arkansas Railroad]] (M&NA) running roughly east–west—crossed. A post office with the name Fargo was established at the crossing, but it was not yet a town. In 1911, the two railways built a depot in Fargo.<ref name="CALS-Fargo">{{cite web |title=Fargo (Monroe County) |url=https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/fargo-monroe-county-6193/ |website=Encyclopedia of Arkansas |publisher=Central Arkansas Library System |access-date=March 18, 2024}}</ref>

At least 33 settlements formed along the railroad as the M&NA was built, including Fargo, where Leroy Mahon owned the farmland at the railroad crossing.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Handley |first1=Lawrence R. |title=Settlement across Northern Arkansas as Influenced by the Missouri & North Arkansas Railroad |journal=The Arkansas Historical Quarterly |date=1974 |volume=33 |issue=4 (Winter) |pages=273–292 |doi=10.2307/40023291|jstor=40023291 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Fargo Plat |url=https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/media/fargo-plat-14452/ |website=Encyclopedia of Arkansas |publisher=Central Arkansas Library System |access-date=March 18, 2024}}</ref>

===Development as a "freedmen's town"===

Leroy Mahon platted the land and created a settlement for Black families. In doing so, he created a [[freedmen's town]].

Leroy ("Lee") Washington Mahon was born into slavery as Leroy Stenhouse in 1861 in [[Greenville County, South Carolina]]. The surname Stenhouse was the same as their slaveowners. When freed, his parents and their children worked as [[sharecropping|sharecroppers]]. In 1888, Leroy and his brother Tom moved to Monroe County, Arkansas for better opportunities.<ref>{{cite book |title=Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves, Volume 2, Part 6 |publisher=U.S. Work Projects Administration, Federal Writers' Project (1936-1938) |location=Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/11709/11709-h/11709-h.htm#StanhouseTom |access-date=March 18, 2024}}</ref> In about 1900, Leroy changed his surname to Mahon, and in 1911 he platted the town on {{convert|40|acre|ha|abbr=off}} of his farmland and Black homeowners bought plots and built homes.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sasheer Zamata's Great-Grandfather Founded the Town of Fargo |url=https://www.pbs.org/video/ancestors-founded-town-fargo-b0mu1h/ |website=Finding Your Roots |publisher=Public Broadcasting System (PBS) |access-date=March 18, 2024 |format=excerpt}}</ref>

The first established church in Fargo was called First Baptist and Bethel Presbyterian.

In 1920, Floyd B. Brown established the [[Fargo Training School|Fargo Agricultural School]], which brought students from across the state and had some financial supporters even outside Arkansas. The school focused on outreach and community service in Fargo, gravelling the mud roads, bringing electricity and telephone service to the town, and holding an annual farmers' conference that brought hundreds of farmers to the area to share information and knowledge.<ref name="Hill">{{cite AV media |people= Hill, Jack (Producer) |date= 1994 |title=Reporting for Arkansas: Work Will Win |url=https://vimeo.com/708267721 |access-date=March 16, 2024 |archive-url= |archive-date= |format= |time= |location= |publisher=Arkansas Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and Special Collections at University of Arkansas Libraries }}</ref>

==Geography==
Fargo is located in northern Monroe County along [[U.S. Route 49]], which leads south {{convert|4|mi|0}} to [[Brinkley, Arkansas|Brinkley]] and north {{convert|8|mi|0}} to [[Hunter, Arkansas|Hunter]]. [[Interstate 40]] passes {{convert|3|mi|0}} south of Fargo, with access from Exit 216 (US 49).

According to the [[United States Census Bureau]], the town has a total area of {{convert|0.47|sqmi|2}}, of which {{convert|0.02|sqmi|2}}, or 3.59%, are water.<ref name="CenPopGazetteer2021"/>

==Demographics==
{{US Census population
|1990= 140
|2000= 118
|2010= 98
|2020= 57
|footnote=U.S. Decennial Census<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html|title=Census of Population and Housing|publisher=Census.gov|access-date=June 4, 2015}}</ref><br/>2014 Estimate<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/popest/data/cities/totals/2014/SUB-EST2014-3.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150522132816/http://www.census.gov/popest/data/cities/totals/2014/SUB-EST2014-3.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 22, 2015|title=Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2014|access-date=June 4, 2015 }}</ref>
}}

As of the [[census]]<ref name="GR2">{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]] |access-date=January 31, 2008 |title=U.S. Census website }}</ref> of 2000, there were 118 people, 41 households, and 31 families residing in the town. The [[population density]] was {{convert|70.1|/km2|/mi2|disp=preunit|people|people|abbr=on}}. There were 50 housing units at an average density of {{convert|29.7|/km2|/mi2|disp=preunit|units|units|abbr=on}}. The racial makeup of the town was 53.39% [[Race (United States Census)|White]], 45.76% [[Race (United States Census)|Black]] or [[Race (United States Census)|African American]], 0.85% from [[Race (United States Census)|other races]].

There were 41 households, out of which 46.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.7% were [[Marriage|married couples]] living together, 19.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.0% were non-families. 17.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 4.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.88 and the average family size was 3.34.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 38.1% under the age of 18, 6.8% from 18 to 24, 26.3% from 25 to 44, 19.5% from 45 to 64, and 9.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 29 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.3 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $24,375, and the median income for a family was $28,750. Males had a median income of $19,583 versus $21,250 for females. The [[per capita income]] for the town was $8,634. There were 26.5% of families and 30.0% of the population living below the [[poverty line]], including 31.8% of under eighteens and 72.7% of those over 64.

==Notable people==
Actress and comedian [[Sasheer Zamata]] is the great-granddaughter of Leroy Mahon. This was discovered on the TV show [[Finding Your Roots|''Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr.'']] which aired on January 7, 2020.

==References==
<references />

{{Monroe County, Arkansas}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Towns in Monroe County, Arkansas]]
[[Category:Towns in Arkansas]]