Searcy, Arkansas, United States

🇺🇸 Searcy is the largest city and county seat of White County, Arkansas, United States. It is the principal city of the Searcy, AR Micropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of White County. The city takes its name from Richard Searcy, a judge for the Superior Court of the Arkansas Territory. A college town, Searcy is the home of Harding University and ASU-Searcy.

History Originally named White Sulphur Springs, the town's name was changed in 1837, two years after White County was created. The state changed the county seat name to honor Richard Searcy (1794-1832), a prominent Arkansas Legislator.

The town contained a health spa from its conception until 1820, when the alum, chalybeate, and white sulphur springs for which the spa was known dried up.

Israel Moore, who had traveled west from Philadelphia, was in charge of laying out Searcy's original streets, and "he proceeded to name the major streets of Searcy for those of downtown Old Philadelphia near Independence Hall; Race, Arch, Market, Vine, Spring, and the tree-honoring streets of Cherry, Spruce, Locust and Pine". In 1957, Searcy named Moore Street after the 19th-century founder.

Spring Street also has a namesake in Old City Philadelphia, but along with downtown Searcy's Spring Park, this refers to the early history of the Searcy area, when the community was known as White Sulphur Springs. As early as 1834, local springs with purported therapeutic properties initially drew visitors to the area, similar to the popular attraction to Hot Springs.

During the American Civil War, the Battle of Whitney's Lane was fought near Searcy, although the exact site is disputed. Searcy Landing, on the Little Red River, is the final resting place for some Union Army soldiers.

Searcy was incorporated on August 6, 1851,

The Smyrna Methodist Church located just to the west of Searcy is the oldest known church building still standing in the state. It was built in 1856 according to research done by David Stahle of the University of Arkansas Tree Ring Laboratory.

Searcy is also home to the oldest operational courthouse in the state, the White County Courthouse. Originally the home of the first permanent resident, David Crise, the courthouse was completed in 1837. After being replaced two times, the last rendition was built in 1871. The most recent courthouse has a clocktower with a model of the Liberty Bell dating from 1855.

Searcy was a stop on the defunct Missouri and North Arkansas Railroad, which provided passenger and freight service from 1906 to 1946 from Joplin, Missouri, to Helena in Phillips County in eastern Arkansas.

On August 9, 1965, a fire killed 53 civilian workers in a Titan II missile silo north of Searcy. It was one of the largest industrial accidents in American history.

Despite having lost many factory jobs in the late 20th century, Searcy experienced a brief economic revitalization in the past decade from the leasing of mineral rights to natural gas companies. Almost all drilling in the Fayetteville Shale area has since ceased. Some residents express concern about the deleterious environmental effect of the extensive drilling projects that have taken place.

In 2019, the city of Searcy was the winner of the "Small Business Revolution on Main Street" award of $500,000 to revamp six small businesses and a season featuring these renovations on the Hulu show hosted by Amanda Brinkman.

Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 14.8 square miles (38 km²), of which 14.7 square miles (38 km²) is land and 0.1 square miles (0.26 km²) (0.54%) is water.

Economy One of the state's largest banks, First Security Bank, was established in downtown Searcy in 1932 as Security Bank.

In July 1978, Walmart opened its first distribution centre (outside of Bentonville) in eastern Searcy. The facility is still open as a Sam's Club distribution centre, while an additional larger facility has since opened in southern Searcy to service Walmart stores. The company has also operated a retail location in eastern Searcy (near the city's original distribution center) since the 1970s, originating as an earlier "Discount City" format that grew into a more common "supercenter" format over the course of two relocations farther eastward; a Neighborhood Market grocery location was added in more recent years in western Searcy.

In recent years, ITT, Maytag, and Kohler closed large factories in the city. Many companies associated with natural gas that supported the brief natural gas boom have also left the city and the economy has suffered. According to the online real estate database Zillow, housing prices have lost approximately 8% of value since 2012.

Latina Imports and Latina Nursery are also located in Searcy and is one of the largest female, Hispanic-owned companies in Arkansas.

Sales tax for purchases in Searcy is higher than the state average, at 9.5%.

Education: Universities • Harding University, a private, Christian university affiliated with the Churches of Christ founded in 1924, has its main campus in Searcy. Harding moved to Searcy in 1934 from Morrilton. The university has developed and expanded to include 49 buildings on more than 350 acres (1.4 km²). With more than 6,100 students, Harding University is the largest private university in Arkansas. • A campus of Arkansas State University is located in Searcy. Formerly operating as Foothills Technical Institute, it is a technical campus of nearby Arkansas State University Beebe, and offers several two-year programs. In order to create drilling jobs for local populace, the Searcy campus has partnered in training with the natural gas industry that is developing local natural resources.