Little River County is a county in Arkansas, United States, on the state’s southwest corner where Arkansas meets Texas and Oklahoma. It had a population of 12,026 at the 2020 census, an estimated 11,821 by 2024, and covers 565 square miles (1,464 km2) centred near 33°42′N 94°13′W.
Ashdown is the county seat; its postal code is 71822. The county holds 5 incorporated cities and 2 unincorporated census-designated places, with no separate incorporated towns or civil townships, and it runs on Central Time. Its FIPS code is 05081.
Towns & Villages in Little River County
Little River County has 7 named places on record: 5 incorporated cities and 2 census-designated places (CDPs) with no local government of their own. Arkansas counties are not divided into functioning civil townships, so no township column applies here.
| Place | Type | Pop. | ZIP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ashdown | City · seat | 4,261 | 71822 |
| Foreman | City | 977 | 71836 |
| Yarborough Landing | CDP | 457 | — |
| Wilton | City | 287 | 71865 |
| Ogden | City | 131 | 71853 |
| Winthrop | City | 116 | 71866 |
| Alleene | CDP | 97 | — |
The site’s old list for this county carried Alleene and Oak Grove twice each, and named a “Rocky Comfort” separate from Foreman. Rocky Comfort is not a second place: it is Foreman’s own former name before the 1902 rename. Oak Grove and roughly two dozen other entries on that old list — Arden, Billingsleys Corner, Cerrogordo, Cole, Comet, Cross Roads, Eastport, Fomby, Hicks, Jacks Isle, Jewell, Lanesport, Long, Millwood, Orton, Pankov, Peytonville, Pine Prairie, Red Bluff, Richmond, Temple, Wades Chapel and Wallace — are old rural post office and crossroads names with no current Census population, ZIP or verifiable population figure, so they are left off this table rather than guessed at.
ZIP Codes
- 71822 — Ashdown
- 71836 — Foreman
- 71865 — Wilton
- 71853 — Ogden
- 71866 — Winthrop
Alleene and Yarborough Landing have no ZIP code of their own; mail there is delivered under a neighboring town’s code rather than a code specific to either CDP.
Geography
Little River County sits in Arkansas’s West Gulf Coastal Plain, low and heavily timbered, and is the state’s third-smallest county by land area. Of its 565 square miles, 532 are land and 33 are water, about 5.8 percent — high for the region, driven by Millwood Lake, a 29,500-acre reservoir built in 1966 for flood control on the Little River. The Little River crosses the county’s north side before joining the Red River, which forms the county’s southern boundary with Texas.
Sevier County lies to the north, Howard County to the northeast, Hempstead County to the east, Miller County to the southeast, Bowie County, Texas, to the south, and McCurtain County, Oklahoma, to the west. Sevier County, Miller County, Bowie County and McCurtain County each have their own page on this site; Howard and Hempstead counties do not.
Demographics
Little River County had a population of 12,026 at the 2020 census, and the latest estimate puts the county near 11,821 residents, a continuing decline from 13,171 in 2000. Ashdown and Foreman are by far the two largest communities, together holding more than 40 percent of the county’s population. Median household income runs $53,344, well below Arkansas’s statewide figure of $58,700. Population density works out to roughly 22.6 people per square mile of land, sparse even by rural Arkansas standards.
Economy & Local Life
Manufacturing employs the most workers in the county, about 908 people, followed by health care and social assistance at 736 and educational services at 637. Domtar’s paper mill in Ashdown, built in 1968 as the Nekoosa Paper Company plant, is the county’s largest single manufacturing employer, alongside Coca-Cola bottling and box-manufacturing operations in the same city. Ash Grove Cement Company runs a cement plant at Foreman on limestone deposits first worked commercially in 1893, an industry that has anchored the town for more than a century. Millwood Lake draws fishing and boating traffic from across the region. The county’s biggest annual event is Ashdown’s Whistlestop Festival each May, celebrating the railroad that built the town after 1895.
History
The Arkansas legislature formed Little River County on 5 March 1867, during Reconstruction, carving it out of Sevier County and naming it for the Little River, which runs through it. It was Arkansas’s 59th county. Richmond served as the first county seat; the seat moved to Rocky Comfort in 1902, and that town was renamed Foreman the same year. Ashdown took the county seat from Foreman after a close election in 1906 and has held it since.
Ashdown itself was originally called Turkey Flats and later Keller before Judge Lawrence Alexander Byrne renamed it after his sawmill burned to ashes. The Kansas City Southern Railway’s arrival in 1895 turned the small farming settlement into a timber-industry hub within a decade.
Getting There
No interstate currently crosses Little River County, though a future Interstate 49 corridor is planned along the existing US 71 alignment. US Highway 59 and US Highway 71 are the county’s main roads, along with Arkansas Highways 32, 41 and 108.
- Texarkana, Arkansas-Texas — about 30 miles southeast
- De Queen — about 20 miles north
- Idabel, Oklahoma — about 20 miles west
- Hope — about 35 miles east
Texarkana Regional Airport, about 30 miles southeast of Ashdown, is the nearest commercial airport. Amtrak’s Texas Eagle stops at the Texarkana Union Station, the closest passenger rail connection.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Little River County located?
It sits in Arkansas’s southwest corner, bordered by Sevier, Howard, Hempstead and Miller counties in Arkansas, Bowie County in Texas, and McCurtain County in Oklahoma.
What is the population of Little River County?
12,026 at the 2020 census, with a 2024 estimate near 11,821.
How big is Little River County?
565 square miles (1,464 km2), of which 532 square miles are land.
What is the county seat of Little River County?
Ashdown, county seat since 1906, is also the county’s largest city.
How many towns and cities are in Little River County?
Five incorporated cities — Ashdown, Foreman, Wilton, Ogden and Winthrop — plus two census-designated places, Yarborough Landing and Alleene.
What ZIP codes does Little River County use?
71822 for Ashdown, 71836 for Foreman, 71865 for Wilton, 71853 for Ogden and 71866 for Winthrop.
What is Little River County known for?
Millwood Lake, Domtar’s Ashdown paper mill, and Ash Grove Cement’s century-old cement plant at Foreman.
More counties in this state: Towns and villages in Arkansas.