History:

The town of Mulberry, in the Arkansas River Valley, has been a recreational and farmland center since being settled around the time of the Louisiana Purchase. Early settlers called the area “Mulberry” because of the large mulberry trees lining its banks. During the Civil War, Mulberry suffered heavily, despite there being few battles nearby. Both Confederate and Federal guerillas operated in the area, destroying crops, stealing, plundering, and harassing citizens. Many families lost their possessions and livelihoods. Things improved with the coming of the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad in 1876, however, as a permanent settlement near its path was desired. According to Goodspeed’s Biographical & Historical Memoirs of Northwestern Arkansas, Thomas A. Carter bought the land east of the main road to the river—a road that later became Mulberry’s Main Street. Robert Henry Hicks, farmer and barrister, purchased the property on the west.

The Depression also affected Mulberry dramatically, and many citizens moved to California to seek employment after their farms were flooded in 1923 and 1927. After the stock market crash of 1929, local men began supplementing the income of their families by fishing, hunting, and trapping. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) provided jobs such as building dams, school facilities, bridges, and rural roads for a number of men in the Mulberry area. The city began to prosper again following World War II.