Leachville is a city in Mississippi County,

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

, United States. The population was 2,039 at the 2020 census. Leachville was incorporated in 1916.

History

Leachville was established in 1896 by land developers Joshua Gilbert Leach, James Wiseman Honnoll, and Sam McNamee, who afterward formed the Leach-McNamee Land Development Company. The Jonesboro, Lake City and Eastern Railroad completed a rail line to Leachville in 1899, and the Blytheville, Leachville and Arkansas Southern Railroad completed a second line in 1908.Terry Thomas,
Leachville (Mississippi County)
" ''Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture'', 2018. One of the largest

cotton gin A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); ...

s in Arkansas, the Adams Land Company gin, was completed in Leachville in the early 1990s. On the evening of December 10, 2021, the north side of Leachville suffered major damage from a long track and violent EF4

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with the surface of Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, although the ...

, a woman was killed at a

Dollar General Dollar General Corporation is an American chain of discount stores headquartered in Goodlettsville, Tennessee. As of January 8, 2024, Dollar General operated 19,643 stores in the contiguous United States and Mexico. The company began in 1939 in ...

and several others suffered injuries.

Geography

Leachville is located in the

Arkansas Delta The Arkansas Delta is one of the six natural regions of the state of Arkansas. Willard B. Gatewood Jr., author of ''The Arkansas Delta: Land of Paradox'', says that rich cotton lands of the Arkansas Delta make that area "The Deepest of the Deep ...

region. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the city has a total area of , all land. The city lies just south of the Arkansas-

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

state line in northwestern Mississippi County.

Arkansas Highway 77 Highway 77 (AR 77, Ark. 77, and Hwy. 77) is a north–south state highway in Northeast Arkansas. The route of runs from US Highway 70 (US 70) in West Memphis north through small towns and agricultural areas of the Arkansas Delta to ...

connects the city with

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

to the southeast and the state line to the north at Arkmo (where the road continues as Missouri Route 108 in the direction of Arbyrd, Missouri). Arkansas Highway 119 connects the city with the east-west oriented

Arkansas Highway 18 Arkansas Highway 18 (AR 18) is a designation for two state highways in northeast Arkansas. One segment of runs from Highway 69 east of Jacksonport east to Highway 17 in Diaz. A second segment of runs from Highway 17 in Diaz east to the Mis ...

to the south. Ecologically, Leachville is located within the St. Francis Lowlands

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) is an ecological and geographic area that exists on multiple different levels, defined by type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and c ...

within the larger

Mississippi Alluvial Plain The Mississippi River Alluvial Plain is an alluvial plain created by the Mississippi River on which lie parts of seven U.S. states, from southern Louisiana to southern Illinois (Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Lo ...

. The St. Francis Lowlands are a flat region mostly covered with row crop agriculture today, though also containing sand blows and sunken lands remaining from the 1811–12 New Madrid earthquakes. Waterways have mostly been channelized, causing loss of aquatic and

riparian A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. In some regions, the terms riparian woodland, riparian forest, riparian buffer zone, riparian corridor, and riparian strip are used to characterize a ripar ...

wildlife habitat. The Big Lake National Wildlife Refuge, which preserves some of the

bottomland hardwood forest Bottomland forest is woodland on lowland alluvial floodplains or lower terraces of rivers and streams. Bottomland forest is very rare in Europe. The bottomland hardwood forest is a type of deciduous and evergreen hardwood forest found in broad low ...

typical of this ecoregion prior to development for row agriculture lies east of Leachville.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 2,039 people, 971 households, and 654 families residing in the city.

2010 census

As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 1,993 people living in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 85.6% White, 0.3% Black, 0.2% Native American, 0.1% Asian and 1.3% from two or more races. 12.6% were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

2000 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 1,981 people, 788 households, and 549 families living in the city. The population density was . There were 866 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 92.88%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 1.41%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.30% Native American, 0.20% Asian, 4.04% from other races, and 1.16% from two or more races. 9.54% of the population were

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race. There were 788 households, out of which 32.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.6% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 10.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.3% were non-families. 27.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.51 and the average family size was 3.07. In the city, the population was spread out, with 27.3% under the age of 18, 8.2% from 18 to 24, 27.1% from 25 to 44, 22.0% from 45 to 64, and 15.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.6 males. The median income for a household in the city was $25,789, and the median income for a family was $32,574. Males had a median income of $26,792 versus $17,083 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $15,360. About 12.4% of families and 17.3% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 19.9% of those under age 18 and 16.9% of those age 65 or over.

Education

The Buffalo Island Central School District, which operates Buffalo Island Central High School and Buffalo Island Central Elementary School, serves Leachville. The school's mascot is the

mustang The mustang is a free-roaming horse of the Western United States, descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish conquistadors. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but because they are descended from once-domesticate ...

. The Buffalo Island Central School District was established on July 1, 1984. Until that point the Leachville School District served the community; on that day it merged with the Monette School District to form the current school district.ConsolidationAnnex_from_1983.xls
."

Arkansas Department of Education The Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) is a cabinet-level agency of the Arkansas state government overseeing public education for K-12, higher education institutions, and career and technical education. The ADE also contains the Arkansas ...

. Retrieved on July 31, 2017.

References

External links

*
City of Leachville Myspace site
{{authority control Cities in Mississippi County, Arkansas Cities in Arkansas Populated places established in 1916