Editing Wilson, Arkansas

{{Short description | City in Arkansas known for its cotton production}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox settlement
|official_name            = Wilson, Arkansas
|settlement_type          = [[City]]
|image_skyline            = Wilson Arkansas Aerial (53537362224).jpg
|imagesize                = 
|image_caption            = Aerial image of Wilson
|image_seal               = 
|image_map                = File:Mississippi County Arkansas Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Wilson Highlighted 0575920.svg
|mapsize                  = 250px
|map_caption              = Location in Mississippi 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        = [[Mississippi County, Arkansas|Mississippi]]
|government_type          = 
|leader_title             = 
|leader_name              = 
|established_title        = Incorporated
|established_date         = March 19, 1959
|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 20, 2022}}</ref>
|area_total_km2           = 2.73
|area_total_sq_mi         = 1.05
|area_land_km2            = 2.71
|area_land_sq_mi          = 1.05
|area_water_km2           = 0.02
|area_water_sq_mi         = 0.01
|elevation_footnotes      = <ref name=gnis/>
|elevation_ft             = 236
|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=1600000US0575920&tid=DECENNIALPL2020.P1| title=P1. Race – Wilson city, Arkansas: 2020 DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171)| publisher=U.S. Census Bureau| access-date=June 20, 2022}}</ref>
|population_total         = 766
|pop_est_as_of = 
|pop_est_footnotes = 
|population_est = 
|population_metro         = 
|population_density_km2   = 282.44
|population_density_sq_mi = 731.61
|timezone                 = [[North American Central Time Zone|Central (CST)]]
|utc_offset               = −06:00
|coordinates              = {{coord|35|33|58|N|90|02|35|W|region:US_type:city|display=inline,title}}
|timezone_DST             = CDT
|utc_offset_DST           = −05:00
|postal_code_type         = [[ZIP Code]]
|postal_code              = 72395
|area_code                = [[Area code 870|870]]
|blank_name               = [[Federal Information Processing Standard|FIPS code]]
|blank_info               = 05-75920
|blank1_name              = [[Geographic Names Information System|GNIS]] feature ID
|blank1_info              = 2405757<ref name=gnis>{{GNIS|2405757}}</ref>
|footnotes                = 
|website                  = 
}}
'''Wilson''' is a city in [[Mississippi County, Arkansas|Mississippi County]], [[Arkansas]], United States. The community is located in the [[Arkansas Delta]] and is surrounded by fertile cropland historically used to produce [[cotton]]. Wilson started as a [[company town]] in 1886 by [[Robert E. Lee Wilson]], who would build a cotton empire and run it from the city. The Wilson Company would become so successful that all of the town's buildings were rebuilt in the [[Tudor Revival architecture|Tudor Revival architectural style]] following Wilson's son's honeymoon to [[England]] in 1925. Wilson incorporated in 1959, becoming a town with public roads and municipal government. The extensive property holdings of the Lee Wilson and Company remained in the Wilson family until 2010.<ref name="severson">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/20/us/arkansas-towns-new-owner-has-visions-of-its-renaissance.html|title=Arkansas Town's New Owner Has Visions of Its Renaissance|last=Severson|first=Kim|date=January 19, 2014|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=January 20, 2014}}</ref> The community has seen a rapid decline in economic activity and population since the advent of mechanization on the farm, reducing the need for manual labor to produce cotton. The population was 766 at the [[2020 United States census|2020 census]],<ref name="Census 2020"/> down from 903 at the [[2010 United States census|2010 census]].

==History==
The area was first known as Crowell's Landing, but mostly washed away in the 1880s.  Steamboat agent Dr. J.W. Rhodes purchased 37 acres in 1883 and founded a new landing on the [[Mississippi River]] he named Golden Lake. Soon after he was named postmaster.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Biographical and historical memoirs of northeast Arkansas |publisher=Goodspeed Publishing Co. |year=1889 |location=Chicago, Nashville and St, Louis |pages=549 |lccn=rc01001242}}</ref>

The city of Wilson was started about a mile and half north as a [[company town]] for [[Robert E. Lee Wilson]]'s nearby [[logging]] and sawmill operation founded in 1886. The village prospered when Wilson decided to use the cleared land for [[agriculture]] instead of selling it after logging. In 1900, a major archaeological find occurred near Wilson when [[James K. Hampson]] discovered the [[Island 35 Mastodon]].<ref name="MastWilliams">{{cite journal | title = The Island 35 Mastodon: Its Bearing on the Age of Archaic Cultures in the East | author = Williams, Steven | journal = American Antiquity | date = Apr 1957 | volume = 22 | issue = 4 | pages = 359–372 | publisher= American Antiquity, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp. 359–372 |doi = 10.2307/276134| jstor = 276134 | s2cid = 163904639 }}</ref> All residents of Wilson except the postmaster and railroad employees had access to company doctors for $1.25 annually (${{inflation|US|1.25|1930|r=2}} in {{#expr:{{CURRENTYEAR}}-1}} dollars), a rarity in the poverty-stricken Arkansas delta.<ref name="town">{{cite web | title= Town of Wilson | url= http://libinfo.uark.edu/SpecialCollections/ardiglib/leewilson/town.html |work= Lee Wilson & Company Archives |author = University of Arkansas Libraries Special Collections staff |access-date= January 28, 2012 }}</ref> The company also employed people to work in Wilson's basic service industries, such as [[drycleaning]] and automobile repair, keeping the [[standard of living]] high.<ref>{{cite web | title= Life in Wilson | url= http://libinfo.uark.edu/SpecialCollections/ardiglib/leewilson/life.html |work= Lee Wilson & Company Archives |author = University of Arkansas Libraries Special Collections staff |access-date= January 28, 2012 }}</ref>

In the early 1900's, R.L. Wilson began construction on a railroad to connect the town with Golden Landing and his saw mill operations in the area. This line was bought out by the [[Jonesboro, Lake City and Eastern Railroad]] in 1912.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jackson |first=Donna |title=Jonesboro, Lake City and Eastern Railroad |url=https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/jonesboro-lake-city-and-eastern-railroad-13507/ |access-date=2025-01-23 |website=Encyclopedia of Arkansas |language=en-US}}</ref>[[File:Wilson AR 06 downtown.jpg|thumb|Downtown Wilson|left]]
After Wilson's son, Wilson Jr., and his wife returned from their [[England]] honeymoon enthralled with the [[Tudor Revival architecture|Tudor]] style in 1925, all subsequent public buildings were built with Tudor architecture, including retrofits to all existing public structures.<ref name="town" /> The town incorporated in 1959, selling the houses to the renters living in them and gaining access to tax income it was previously excluded from as a company entity.<ref>{{cite web | title= Robert E. Lee "Bob" Wilson, III | url= http://libinfo.uark.edu/SpecialCollections/ardiglib/leewilson/bob.html |work= Lee Wilson & Company Archives |author = University of Arkansas Libraries Special Collections staff |access-date= January 28, 2012 }}</ref> As technology advanced on the farm, fewer employees were needed and many moved from Wilson to seek other employment.

On January 27, 1921, the [[lynching of Henry Lowry]] happened near Wilson; some 500 people participated in the burning of a black [[sharecropper]].<ref name="lewis">{{cite journal |title=Mob Justice in the 'American Congo': 'Judge Lynch' in Arkansas during the Decade after World War I |first=Todd E. |last=Lewis |journal=[[The Arkansas Historical Quarterly]] |year=1993 |volume=52 |issue=2 |pages=156–84 |doi=10.2307/40019247 |jstor=40019247 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40019247}}</ref>

==Geography==
Wilson is in southern Mississippi County, in the [[Arkansas Delta]] region of the state. The area is dominated by the [[Mississippi River]] flood plains, trees and fields. Along and parallel to the Tennessee–Arkansas state line, the former course of the Mississippi River as it was before the [[1811–12 New Madrid earthquakes]] is still visible in the landscape more than 200 years after the events. The former [[Stream bed|riverbed]] has shrunk to small side arms of the Mississippi which, dependent on the [[water level]] and [[Precipitation (meteorology)|precipitation]], are still partly connected to the river. According to the [[United States Census Bureau]], the town has a total area of {{convert|1.05|sqmi|2}}, all land.<ref name="CenPopGazetteer2021" />

[[File:Wilson AR 07 USPS post office.jpg|left|thumb|Tudor-inspired [[post office]], 2010]]The town is located at the intersection of [[U.S. Route 61 in Arkansas|U.S. Route 61]] (US&nbsp;61) and [[Arkansas Highway 14]].<ref name="mis">{{Cite map |publisher=Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department |title=General Highway Map, Mississippi County, Arkansas |url=http://www.arkansashighways.com/maps/Counties/County%20PDFs/MississippiCounty.pdf |cartography=Planning and Research Division |format=PDF |year=2010 |scale=1:62500 |access-date=January 28, 2011 |archive-date=January 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210115013658/http://www.arkansashighways.com/maps/Counties/County%20PDFs/MississippiCounty.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> The segment of US&nbsp;61 through Wilson has been designated as part of the [[Great River Road]], a tourist route to display the heritage of communities along the Mississippi River.<ref name="grr">{{Cite map |publisher=Experience Mississippi River |title=The Mississippi River plus The Great River Road |url=http://www.experiencemississippiriver.com/pdf/EMR-Detailed-Map.pdf |access-date=June 20, 2011}}</ref> Highway 61 leads north {{convert|11|mi|0}} to [[Osceola, Arkansas|Osceola]], the Mississippi [[county seat]], and southwest {{Convert|19|mi}} to [[Turrell, Arkansas|Turrell]].

==Demographics==
{{US Census population
|1960= 1191
|1970= 1009
|1980= 1115
|1990= 1068
|2000= 939
|2010= 903
|2020= 766
|footnote=U.S. Decennial Census<ref name="DecennialCensus">{{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>
}}

===2020 census===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right"
|+Wilson racial composition<ref>{{Cite web|title=Explore Census Data|url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?g=1600000US0575920&tid=DECENNIALPL2020.P2|access-date=December 30, 2021|website=data.census.gov}}</ref>
!scope="col"| Race
!scope="col"| Number
!scope="col"| Percentage
|-
!scope="row"| [[White (U.S. Census)|White]] (non-Hispanic)
| 558
| 72.85%
|-
!scope="row"| [[African American (U.S. Census)|Black or African American]] (non-Hispanic)
| 163
| 21.28%
|-
!scope="row"| [[Native American (U.S. Census)|Native American]]
| 3
| 0.39%
|-
!scope="row"| [[Race (United States Census)|Other/Mixed]]
| 24
| 3.13%
|-
!scope="row"| [[Hispanic (U.S. Census)|Hispanic]] or [[Latino (U.S. Census)|Latino]]
| 18
| 2.35%
|}
As of the [[2020 United States census]], there were 766 people, 355 households, and 267 families residing in the city.

===2010 census===
As of the [[2010 United States Census]], there were 903 people living in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 74.6% White, 21.7% Black, 0.3% Native American, 0.7% Asian, 0.1% from some other race and 1.6% from two or more races. 1.0% were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

===2000 census===
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 939 people, 364 households, and 264 families living in the town.  The [[population density]] was 338.8/km{{sup|2}} (873.9/mi<sup>2</sup>).  There were 386 housing units at an average density of 139.3/km{{sup|2}} (359.3/mi<sup>2</sup>).  At the time of the survey 73.27% of the population was [[Race (United States Census)|White]], 26.30% [[Race (United States Census)|Black]] or [[Race (United States Census)|African American]], 0.11% [[Race (United States Census)|Native American]], 0.32% from [[Race (United States Census)|other races]].  0.96% of the population were [[Race (United States Census)|Hispanic]] or [[Race (United States Census)|Latino]].{{multiple image
| caption_align     = center
| header_align      = center
| width             = 150
| image1            = Reverie ms river n.jpg
| alt1              = A view to the North of the old bed of the Mississippi River before the 1811/1812 earthquakes
| image2            = Reverie ms river s.jpg
| alt2              = A view to the South of the old bed of the Mississippi River before the 1811/1812 earthquakes
| footer            = A view to the North and South of the old bed of the Mississippi River before the 1811/1812 earthquakes
}}
There were 364 households, out of which 36.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.4% were [[Marriage|married couples]] living together, 19.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.2% were non-families. 25.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.  The average household size was 2.58 and the average family size was 3.07.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 28.3% under the age of 18, 8.4% from 18 to 24, 25.5% from 25 to 44, 25.6% from 45 to 64, and 12.2% who were 65 years of age or older.  The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 80.9 males.  For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 79.5 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $33,625, and the median income for a family was $38,971. Males had a median income of $30,526 versus $20,625 for females. The [[per capita income]] for the town was $14,738.  About 10.7% of families and 11.8% of the population were below the [[poverty line]], including 12.1% of those under age 18 and 20.2% of those age 65 or over.

==Economy==
[[File:Wilson AR 03 Lee Wilson and Co abandoned.jpg|thumb|left|Abandoned Lee Wilson and Company warehouse, 2010]]

[[Agriculture]] is the predominant source of income in the area surrounding Wilson, especially the cultivation of [[cotton]].<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Garcia|first1=Corinne|last2=Etheredge|first2=Jeff|date=October 27, 2020|title=3 of the biggest U.S. farmers|url=https://www.agriculture.com/farm-management/farm-land/3-of-the-biggest-us-farmers|access-date=October 28, 2020|work=Successful Farming|language=en}}</ref> After the [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolition of slavery]], [[sharecropping]] was the primary means of income for low income families in the area. Mostly for the [[Tillage|cultivation]] of cotton, land would be used by sharecroppers in return for a share of the crop to the landowner. Modern machines like the [[cotton picker]] have made manual cultivation obsolete over time as they took over the work from the [[manual labour|hand laborers]].{{r|severson}}

===Tourism===
[[File:Wilson AR Hampson Museum State Park 58 sign and museum.jpg|right|thumb|Hampson Museum State Park (2010)]]
{{Main|Hampson Museum State Park}}

The [[Hampson Museum State Park]] in downtown Wilson exhibits an [[archeological]] collection of [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|early American aboriginal]] [[Artifact (archaeology)|artifacts]] from the [[Nodena site]] 5&nbsp;mi (8&nbsp;km) east of the town. The [[museum]] documents the [[culture]] of a [[civilization]] which existed in a 15-[[acre]] (60,703 m<sup>2</sup>) [[palisade]]d [[village]] on a [[meander]] bend of the [[Mississippi River]] in the area around 1400–1650&nbsp;[[Common Era|CE]]. Cultivation of [[crops]], [[hunting]], [[Interpersonal relationship|social life]], [[religion]] and [[politics]] of that ancient civilization are topics of the exhibition.<ref name="guide">{{ cite book |title= Arkansas State Parks Guide, 2011 |url= http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/aristotle/arkansasstateparks2011/ |publisher= [[Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism]] |page= 30 |chapter= Hampson Museum State Park |access-date= January 19, 2012 }}</ref>

In 1964, the Nodena site was declared a [[National Historic Landmark]], and was added to the [[National Register of Historic Places]] two years later.<ref name="nhlsum">{{cite web |url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=108&ResourceType=Site |title=Nodena Site |date=September 26, 2007 |work=National Historic Landmark summary listing |publisher=National Park Service}}</ref><ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2009a}}</ref>

== Education ==
Public education for elementary and secondary school students is available from the Wilson-based [[Rivercrest School District]] (formerly Southern Mississippi County School District), which leads to graduation from [[Rivercrest High School (Arkansas)|Rivercrest High School]].

The Wilson school district merged into the South Mississippi district in 1968.<ref name=Goatcherp12>{{cite web|last=Goatcher|first=Truett|url=https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED458075.pdf|title=School District Consolidation Will Save Millions of Dollars: Fact of Myth?|publisher=Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators|date=January 1999|page=12 (PDF p. 15/27)}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|United States}}
* [[Armorel, Arkansas]]: company town founded by R.E.L. Wilson
* [[Marie, Arkansas]]: company town founded by R.E.L. Wilson
* [[Victoria, Arkansas]]: company town founded by R.E.L. Wilson

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{commons category-inline|Wilson, Arkansas}}

{{Mississippi County, Arkansas}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Wilson, Arkansas|*]]
[[Category:Company towns in Arkansas]]
[[Category:Cities in Arkansas]]
[[Category:Cities in Mississippi County, Arkansas]]
[[Category:Populated places established in 1886]]