Yell County, Arkansas

Yell County is a county in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 20,263. The county has two county seats, Dardanelle and Danville. Yell County is Arkansas's 42nd county, formed on December 5, 1840, from portions of Scott and Pope Counties. It was named after Archibald Yell, who was the state's first member of the United States House of Representatives and the second governor of Arkansas. He died in combat at the Battle of Buena Vista during the Mexican–American War. Yell County is part of the Russellville micropolitan statistical area. Yell County is a dry county, as alcohol is prohibited.

History

first inhabited present-day Yell County and the Arkansas River Valley for thousands of years prior to European colonization. They used the open, fertile floodplain of the Arkansas River for hunting grounds and later farming settlements. During the Thomas Jefferson and Indian Removal era, many Cherokee were voluntarily relocating from Georgia along the Arkansas River, including in Yell County, between 1775 and 1786. A large Cherokee reservation across the Arkansas River from Yell County was established in 1815 to encourage further voluntary relocation from Georgia.
The area presently encompassed as Yell County was first settled by European settlers when James Carden built a house in 1819 among Cherokee farms in the Dardanelle Bottoms, at the confluence of the Arkansas and Petit Jeans. Lands south of the Arkansas River had been deeded to the Choctaw in the 1820s when they removed from their homelands east of the Mississippi River, but White settlement and Cherokee relocation continued apace into the 1820s. The peoples competed over the prime riverbottom lands.
In June 1823, a meeting between numerous Cherokee chiefs and acting Territorial Governor Robert Crittenden was held under two large oak trees. Long believed by many to result in a "Council Oaks Treaty" re-establishing Cherokee title of north of the Arkansas River, Crittenden had no treaty-making authority, and the meeting ended with no agreement other than each party sending separate letters to Secretary of War John C. Calhoun.
Some Cherokee remained on their farms south of the river, the group identifying itself as Black Dutch, intermarrying and assimilating with the area's White settlers.
In 1830, the United States Congress enacted the Indian Removal Act, leading to further, forcible Cherokee settlement from the Southeast into the Arkansas River Valley. Cherokee, Muskogee, and Seminole were forcibly removed along the Trail of Tears through Yell County to Indian Territory.
Yell County was taken by Union forces in the Civil War in October 1862. A Confederate force of about 1,500 men tried to retake Dardanelle in January 1865, failing after a four-hour battle. First Sergeant William Ellis of the 3rd Wisconsin Cavalry received a Medal of Honor for holding his position despite multiple wounds.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of, of which are covered by water.

Adjacent counties

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 20,263. The median age was 40.3 years. 24.4% of residents were under the age of 18 and 18.4% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 99.8 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 98.1 males age 18 and over.
The racial makeup of the county was 75.7% White, 1.2% Black or African American, 1.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.0% Asian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 12.5% from some other race, and 8.5% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 20.7% of the population.
19.3% of residents lived in urban areas, while 80.7% lived in rural areas.
There were 7,722 households in the county, of which 32.4% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 50.2% were married-couple households, 19.0% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 24.0% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 25.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 9,246 housing units, of which 16.5% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 72.0% were owner-occupied and 28.0% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.1% and the rental vacancy rate was 11.6%.

2000 census

As of the 2000 census, 21,139 people, 7,922 households, and 5,814 families lived in the county. The population density was. The 9,157 housing units had an average density of. The racial makeup of the county was 86.63% White, 1.47% African American, 0.58% Native American, 0.69% Asian, 0.03%Pacific Islander, 8.99% from other races, and 1.62% from two or more races. About 12.73% of the population were Hispanics or Latinos of any race. Around 12.00% reported speaking Spanish at home.
Of the 7,922 households, 33.6% had children under 18 living with them, 58.5% were married couples living together, 10.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.6% were not families. About 23.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.8% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.04.
In the county, the age distribution was 25.8% under 18, 8.9% from 18 to 24, 28.3% from 25 to 44, 22.0% from 45 to 64, and 15.0% who were 65 or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 99.5 males. For every 100 females 18 and over, there were 96.3 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $28,916, and for a family was $33,409. Males had a median income of $23,172 versus $18,148 for females. The per capita income for the county was $15,383. About 11.7% of families and 15.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 20.2% of those under 18 and 12.8% of those 65 or over.

Human resources

Public safety

The Yell County Sheriff's Office is the primary law enforcement agency in the county. The agency is led by the Yell County sheriff, an official elected by countywide vote every four years. Police departments in Dardanelle, Danville, and Ola provide law enforcement in their respective jurisdictions, with Bellville, Havana, and Plainview contracting with the Sheriff's Office for law enforcement services.
The current sheriff of Yell County is Nick Gault. He was elected to office in the 2022 general election. The chief officer of the law in Yell County, as in all Arkansas counties, is the sheriff.

Name	Year elected	Year left	Total lears	Notable accomplishments
Theodore P Sadler	1840	1846	6	First county sheriff
S. Kirkpatrick	1846	1852	6
Joseph Garrett	1852	1854	2
J. C. Herin	1854	1856	2
Joseph Gault	1856	1862	6
Lorenzo Free	1862	1863	1
O. Wood	1863	1864	1
William Henry Ferguson	1864	1871	7
Jesse George	1871	1872	1
J. A. Wilson	1872	1874	2
Reuben E. Cole	1874	1880	6
Levi L. Briggs	1880	1882	2
Joseph L. Davis	1882	1886	4
H. B. McCarrell	1886	1890	4
Joseph Haston Howard	1890	1892	2
Sam Gordon Albright	1892	1896	4
B. H. Burnett	1896	1900	6
James M. Cole	1900	1904	4
William Franklin Briggs	1904	1906	2
William L. Tatum	1906	1910	4
Theodore Riley Gault	1910	1914	4
Will T. Caviness	1914	1919	5
J. N. George	1919	1923	4
Joe D. Gault	1923	1926	3
Baxter Gatlin	1927	1930	3
Buford Compton	1931	1946	15
Earl E Lad	1947	1956	9
Herman D. McCormick	1957	1968	11
Carlos Mitchell	1969	1976	7	Construction of the old Danville Jail Construction of the old Dardanelle Jail
Hartsell Lewis	1977	1978	1
Denver Dennis	1979	1988	9
Mike May	1989	1992	3
Loyd W. Maughn	1993	1998	5	Construction of Juvenile Detention Center
Bill Gilkey	1999	March 31, 2022	23 Years 3 Months	Construction of New Law Enforcement Center and Jail Longest serving sheriff in Yell Count Longest current serving sheriff in Arkansas In 2017, he became the longest currently serving sheriff in Arkansas, after 19 years in the office. He is also the longest-serving sheriff in the county's history. Gilkey has sat on state boards such as the Arkansas Crime Lab Board and Arkansas Act 309 Board. Gilkey is credited with the creation of the Yell County Law Enforcement Center in 2016, which replaced two of the county's older jails that did not meet state standards, and houses the sheriff's office. The new building also houses CID offices, revenue office, and an updated E911 dispatch center.
Heath Tate	April 1, 2022	December 2022	9 Months	Interim sheriff after Gilkey's retirement in March 2022.
Nick Gault	2023	Present		-