Prior to the building of the Kansas City, Springfield & Memphis Railway (1883), this town existed as a farming community. Bay was named for the topography surrounding its location.
Black Oak was established in 1898 by the Jonesboro, Lake City & Eastern Railway. Originally named Dwight, after the first postmaster, the name was changed to Black Oak, due to its location on the Black Oak Ridge.
In the early 1880s a landowner named Bonner offered a site for a railroad depot and town if the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Memphis Railroad would name the town after him. The railroad companies named the town Bonnerville, however, postal authorities in Washington D.C did not accept the name. After much discussion by local residents Bono was suggested as a compromise and accepted.
This town was laid out and established by the Arkansas & Texas Railroad in 1882. Named after Archibald Brooks, the town was called Brookvale for a short period of time. However, after a post office was established the name was changed permanently to Brookland.
Named after Thaddeus Horatius Caraway.
This town was originally named "Soonover" by early settlers who believed the town would soon cease to exist. A post office was established in 1894, and it was named Cash, after the Cache River which flows nearby. Cash was incorporated in 1930.
Jonesboro was founded in 1859 and named for William Jones,
who proposed formation of the town's new county. The town's population
escalated in 1883, the year of incorporation, with the arrival
of three railroad companies, all tapping into the lucrative timber
industry. After depletion of the timber, the town shifted to an
agricultural trading center. Today Jonesboro also is a major medical,
industrial, educational and arts and entertainment complex.
This city, originally known as Old Town, grew from a small settlement in 1848 to a developing steamboat and trading post community in the following years. In 1878 a post office was conceded to the town, however, the name given to the post office was Sunk Lands, as a post office named Old Town already existed. The residents continued to use both names for the city and post office until the 1880s; during this decade first the city and then the post office changed their names to Lake City, for a lake located nearby. The city was incorporated in 1889.
A small community was already in place by the time the railroad arrived in 1898-99; however, the town experienced a boom as a result of the railroad. Monette was incorporated in 1910.
Source: Arkansas Delta Byways, P. O. Box 2050, State University, AR 72467