Other SW Arkansas towns.

[bigboyz05]

MAGNOLIA

[bigboyz05]

MAGNOLIA

Magnolia is in Columbia County and has a population of 11,000. It's 47 miles east of Texarkana and is the home of Southern Arkansas University. The city is 58% White, 39% Black, 1% Latino and .65% Asian. It's daily paper is the Magnolia Banner News.

HOPE

Hope is in Hempstead County about 25 miles northeast of Texarkana. It has the fastest growing and most diverse economy of any of these SW Arkansas communities. The city is home to the UAMS Community College and is well known for the Hope Watermelon Festival that draws thousands of people each year. It's also the birthplace of former President Bill Clinton. A Civil War reenactment and the Old Washington Jonquil Festival take place nearby. The Arkansas Regional Theater and the Klipsch Auditorium offers concerts, productions and performances. Several state parks are in the area as well such as Old Washington State Park, Millwood State Park, Crater Of Diamonds State Park, where over 70,000diamonds have been found, Lake De Gray State Park and Daisy State Park. Their daily newspaper is the Hope Star.

NASHVILLE

Nasville is 50 miles northeast of Texarkana and has a population of 5,000. It is located in Howard County. The town is 60% White, 33% Black, 1% Asian and 6% Latino. The SW Arkansas Super Speedway, Ouachita National Forest and Ouachita Lake are the main attractions. The daily paper is the Nashville News.

ASHDOWN

Ashdown is 15 miles north of Texarkana and has a population of 4,851. It's located in Little River County. Ashdown is 63% White, 34% Black, 1% Native American, 1% Latino and 1% Asian. It's a commuter town and relies on Texarkana for employment, shopping and entertainment. It's daily newspaper is the Little River News.

DE QUEEN

De Queen is 50 miles north of Texarkana and has 6,000 people. It's in Sevier County. It is 66% White, 6% Black, 2% Native American and 26% Latino. The main attraction is the Ouachita National Forest and area lakes. It is home to Cossatot Community College. The daily newspaper is the De Queen Bee & Daily Citizen.

[bigboyz05]

HOPE CONTINUED

Hope is 47% White, 43% Black and 10% Latino. 11,000 people live there. The area produced the world's largest watermelon which weighed 269 lbs.!

[NCB]

ASHDOWN

It's a commuter town and relies on Texarkana for employment, shopping and entertainment. It's daily newspaper is the Little River News.

I just wanted to mention the fact that the major local employer in Ashdown is the huge Georgia-Pacific Paper Mill there, but aside from that, everything else is in Texarkana, like you said.

[dimebag1980]

I just wanted to mention the fact that the major local employer in Ashdown is the huge Georgia-Pacific Paper Mill there, but aside from that, everything else is in Texarkana, like you said.

Formerly GP, but has been called Domtar for about the last 4-5 years.

Just figured I'd throw that in there.

My wife almost worked there once, but instead I moved her to Shreveport. The pay would have been great, and for a while we fell on hard times trying to survive in Shreveport. But after a while, my pay situation got better and she found a great job. Ever since it's been pretty good, but she still thinks she would have enjoyed working at Domtar.

[KJW]

Formerly GP, but has been called Domtar for about the last 4-5 years.

Just figured I'd throw that in there.

My wife almost worked there once, but instead I moved her to Shreveport. The pay would have been great, and for a while we fell on hard times trying to survive in Shreveport. But after a while, my pay situation got better and she found a great job. Ever since it's been pretty good, but she still thinks she would have enjoyed working at Domtar.

I'm a railroad buff and I guess the Kansas City Southern (hello, Shreveport/SBCmetroguy) is my favorite railroad. I LOVE the "Ashdown run" where the railroad finally seems to "hit" the gulf coastal plain right at north Ashdown and goes straight down for several miles past the old compress, the Brookshire's, the McDonald's, Domtar and Ogden before curving over the Red River bridge into Texarkana. I also love the old Graysonia, Nashville & Ashdown (don't know what it's called now) that goes over the dam/bridge over Millwood lake, paralleling the highway right next to it.

My in-laws (mother-in-law and stepfather) lived in Nashville for 13 years, and my sister-in-law graduated a Nashville scrapper. I always loved visiting that town...Ashdown, too. (Heck, I've always enjoyed the Ark-La-Tex.)

[bigboyz05]

I'm a railroad buff and I guess the Kansas City Southern (hello, Shreveport/SBCmetroguy) is my favorite railroad. I LOVE the "Ashdown run" where the railroad finally seems to "hit" the gulf coastal plain right at north Ashdown and goes straight down for several miles past the old compress, the Brookshire's, the McDonald's, Domtar and Ogden before curving over the Red River bridge into Texarkana. I also love the old Graysonia, Nashville & Ashdown (don't know what it's called now) that goes over the dam/bridge over Millwood lake, paralleling the highway right next to it.

My in-laws (mother-in-law and stepfather) lived in Nashville for 13 years, and my sister-in-law graduated a Nashville scrapper. I always loved visiting that town...Ashdown, too. (Heck, I've always enjoyed the Ark-La-Tex.)

That's cool. Have you been to Millwood Lake? It's nice.

[NCB]

Formerly GP, but has been called Domtar for about the last 4-5 years.

Wow, and I was 100% aware of that too. The new name just slipped my mind, I guess. Thanks for pointing that out.

[dimebag1980]

Wow, and I was 100% aware of that too. The new name just slipped my mind, I guess. Thanks for pointing that out.

Well, and it was GP for so many years, it's no wonder you called it that.

[KJW]

Well, and it was GP for so many years, it's no wonder you called it that.

Before that it was GNN.

Thanks, Bigboyz.

[KJW]

bigboyz, you didn't list Lewisville and Stamps (and good ole Lafayette County)...between TXK (west), Magnolia (East), Hope (North) and Shreveport/Bossier (South).

What I love about this area is that it's a "deep south heading into Texas" kind of area. I've seen other people who say that some refuse to claim Texas (with its confederate history and lattitudes farther south than any southern state save Florida) as a Southern state, and there may be a bit (only a bit) of merit to that in areas west of Dallas, Austin and San Antonio...but whatever it is I love the feeling as a traveler (and again as a railroad buff) when I reach Lewisville on the old highway between Memphis, Pine Bluff and Texarkana.

The old Cotton belt railroad splits to two mainlines, one heading to D/FW, the other to Houston (and in that railroad's Southern pacific acquisition heyday, San Antonio and El Paso). There used to be a grand old railroad "signal bridge" there. Burge's barbeque (www.smokedturkeys.com) is in Lewisville. Used to be lots of poverty. Still lots of pine trees (when you look south toward SHV on the railroad from Lewisville it used to look like a long pine hallway with steel rails on the floor stretching to the south). My stepfather-in-law has a bass mounted on his wall that he caught at Lake Erling. The county also has "Lake June", where the old A P & L Harvey Couch steam electric plant (named for the "father" of A P & L, who grew up in Columbia County a few miles east) sits astride.

The late Charles Kuralt once described my mother's area of central Illinois between Effingham and Terre Haute, IN (which is actually where some of these trains on this Lewisville/Stamps mainline originate or end up near thanks to the Union Pacific acquisition of the Cotton Belt/Southern Pacific) as a place where everyone who goes there "is on their way to somewhere else". Lafayette County has that same feeling, but it's still a fascinating, "edge-of-the-deep-south and/or edge-of-Texas" kind of place...

[bigboyz05]

bigboyz, you didn't list Lewisville and Stamps (and good ole Lafayette County)...between TXK (west), Magnolia (East), Hope (North) and Shreveport/Bossier (South).

What I love about this area is that it's a "deep south heading into Texas" kind of area. I've seen other people who say that some refuse to claim Texas (with its confederate history and lattitudes farther south than any southern state save Florida) as a Southern state, and there may be a bit (only a bit) of merit to that in areas west of Dallas, Austin and San Antonio...but whatever it is I love the feeling as a traveler (and again as a railroad buff) when I reach Lewisville on the old highway between Memphis, Pine Bluff and Texarkana.

The old Cotton belt railroad splits to two mainlines, one heading to D/FW, the other to Houston (and in that railroad's Southern pacific acquisition heyday, San Antonio and El Paso). There used to be a grand old railroad "signal bridge" there. Burge's barbeque (www.smokedturkeys.com) is in Lewisville. Used to be lots of poverty. Still lots of pine trees (when you look south toward SHV on the railroad from Lewisville it used to look like a long pine hallway with steel rails on the floor stretching to the south). My stepfather-in-law has a bass mounted on his wall that he caught at Lake Erling. The county also has "Lake June", where the old A P & L Harvey Couch steam electric plant (named for the "father" of A P & L, who grew up in Columbia County a few miles east) sits astride.

The late Charles Kuralt once described my mother's area of central Illinois between Effingham and Terre Haute, IN (which is actually where some of these trains on this Lewisville/Stamps mainline originate or end up near thanks to the Union Pacific acquisition of the Cotton Belt/Southern Pacific) as a place where everyone who goes there "is on their way to somewhere else". Lafayette County has that same feeling, but it's still a fascinating, "edge-of-the-deep-south and/or edge-of-Texas" kind of place...

I like El Dorado but, Camden is depressing. The people seem so down trodden. I heard their economy is bad. Sorry I didn't list Stamps or Lewisville. I forgot about them.

[mcheiss]

^

El Dorado has a beautiful town square, one that is pruely beautiful.

[Mith242]

^

El Dorado has a beautiful town square, one that is pruely beautiful.

Yeah I've heard nice things about it. If I'm ever around that area I want to check it out.

[Aporkalypse]

^

El Dorado has a beautiful town square, one that is pruely beautiful.

I lived there for a month and I'm inclined to agree. There are some really neat little shops and restaurants on that square.

They also have a Fortune 500 company in Murphy Oil that is rather prosperous.

Still, the city and Union County are losing population in dramatic fashion.

[dimebag1980]

I lived there for a month and I'm inclined to agree. There are some really neat little shops and restaurants on that square.

They also have a Fortune 500 company in Murphy Oil that is rather prosperous.

Still, the city and Union County are losing population in dramatic fashion.

That amazes me. Down here in this region, where El Dorado is located, towns with really beautiful town squares and vibrant downtown areas are almost unheard of. Not to mention a town that size having a Fortune 500 company when Shreveport doesn't even have a single one!

[Aporkalypse]

That amazes me. Down here in this region, where El Dorado is located, towns with really beautiful town squares and vibrant downtown areas are almost unheard of. Not to mention a town that size having a Fortune 500 company when Shreveport doesn't even have a single one!

For the last several years the entire state of Louisiana only had one (Entergy). A second one broke in the ranks this year. Mississippi doesn't even have a Fortune 1000 company. Crazy, isn't it?

[dimebag1980]

For the last several years the entire state of Louisiana only had one (Entergy). A second one broke in the ranks this year. Mississippi doesn't even have a Fortune 1000 company. Crazy, isn't it?

Yes, it really is crazy. But actually, until this year Shaw Group out of Baton Rouge had been a Fortune 500 company for a while. As of this year it's number 564 which still isn't bad at all.

We have 5 Fortune 1000 companies in Louisiana this year, including CenturyTel over in little ol' Monroe at number 697. That's not as impressive as El Dorado having a Fortune 500 company, but it's impressive nonetheless!

[Aporkalypse]

Yes, it really is crazy. But actually, until this year Shaw Group out of Baton Rouge had been a Fortune 500 company for a while. As of this year it's number 564 which still isn't bad at all.

We have 5 Fortune 1000 companies in Louisiana this year, including CenturyTel over in little ol' Monroe at number 697. That's not as impressive as El Dorado having a Fortune 500 company, but it's impressive nonetheless!

I looked it up and you're right - Shaw cracked the Fortune 500 in 2003 and 2004. I knew it was close in 2005 but didn't realize it was ever on the list.

Arkansas impresses for such a small state in that it has 5, perhaps 6, Fortune 500 companies:

Wal-Mart, Tyson Foods, Murphy Oil, Alltel, and Dillard's. Alltel spun off its wireline business which merged with another wireline business based in DFW to form Windstream Communications, which should be sitting right around 500 somewhere in 2007.

Add in Ark Best and JB Hunt and Ark will have at least 8 Fortune 1000 companies in 2007.

[dimebag1980]

I looked it up and you're right - Shaw cracked the Fortune 500 in 2003 and 2004. I knew it was close in 2005 but didn't realize it was ever on the list.

Arkansas impresses for such a small state in that it has 5, perhaps 6, Fortune 500 companies:

Wal-Mart, Tyson Foods, Murphy Oil, Alltel, and Dillard's. Alltel spun off its wireline business which merged with another wireline business based in DFW to form Windstream Communications, which should be sitting right around 500 somewhere in 2007.

Add in Ark Best and JB Hunt and Ark will have at least 8 Fortune 1000 companies in 2007.

I'm familiar with JB Hunt, but what is Ark Best?

By the way... JB Hunt I'm surprised wasn't already on the list. They're so huge.

[Aporkalypse]

I'm familiar with JB Hunt, but what is Ark Best?

By the way... JB Hunt I'm surprised wasn't already on the list. They're so huge.

JB Hunt has been in the 550-600 range for a while. Arkansas Best is a Ft Smith-based trucking company that is 800ish in the Fortune 1000.

Interestingly, all of Arkansas's 5 Fortune 500 cos are in the top 300.