Map resources for Montgomery County, Arkansas

Montgomery County, Arkansas hightlighted in red.

 Montgomery Co. ARGenWeb Project

Smoke map -some roads don't exit

2010 Oden map.
Topo Map

2022 Oden ONF map  Caddo area

 (opens in a new window)






1835
1835


Tanner's work in the early 1840s.

1891
1891 Harold later became known as Cedar Glades.

Rand McNally Map 1898
1898 Map
with townships marked (not census townships)

1915 Railways Map 
1915 Railways map

1928 U.S. Department of Interior, Geological Survey.
1928


U.S. Geological Survey, 1935

1998 map
1998

Microsoft Expedia Maps

1998


The red circle is the location of Cedar Glades now under Lake Ouachita.

2008 Microsoft Virtual Earth - aerial
2008 2009 Microsoft Virtual Earth -aerial

2009 Microsoft Virtual Earth -road
2009

Remembering Arkansas - Interstate highways put state on road to change by Tom W. Dillard
The Arkansas Democrat Gazette 2 April 2006
This year marks the 50th birthday of the American interstate highway system. The construction of interstate highways in Arkansas profoundly changed the state, opening new opportunities for development, but at the same time spawning massive urban sprawl. Having now lived in the Fayetteville area for more than a year, I can fully comprehend how, for example, the construction of Interstate 540 from the Fort Smith area to Bentonville has made it possible for Northwest Arkansas to capitalize on its opportunities.

I can recall a trip my family took in the pre-interstate days of the late 1950s from our farm in rural Montgomery County to Benton in Saline County. I do not recall much about what was then a long trip - about three hours to cover the 80 miles or so, most of it on a route that has been known as the Mount Ida Road for more than 150 years, but that the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Commission designates as Arkansas 5. Sadly for me, the most memorable scene on the trip for this elementary school country boy was that of two men engaged in a fierce fistfight. They were fighting in the front yard of an aging white farmhouse, somewhere deep in the Ouachita Mountains. My second memory of that trip was of my older cousin driving me out to see the new "freeway" (Interstate 30) as it was being constructed through Benton. I could not comprehend so much red clay earth, which to a child seemed endless, cutting through pine-covered hills that had only months before sheltered deer, and foxes, and little boys playing in home-made forts. While I mourn the loss of green space to the interstates - and while it is sad to think of how wrong we got the whole issue of rural land use - I do appreciate the convenience of the ribbons of concrete highways that allowed me recently to glide through Benton at 70 mph and to make the drive from Hot Springs to Little Rock in less than an hour.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the legislation creating the interstate highway system on June 29, 1956. The same legislation created a highways trust fund that enabled the federal government to pick up 90 percent of the costs. While Eisenhower does deserve credit for helping make the interstate system happen, the idea for such a national system of roadways goes back long before World War II. Beginning in 1931, federal teams plotted the first plan for such an interstate system, which provided for three north south superhighways as well as three running east-west. With the passage of the 1956 legislation, federal taxes on gasoline and other travel-related items were dedicated to the Highway Trust Fund, which provided a steady stream of income and enabled a pay-as-you-go approach. Since 1958, a hefty $129 billion has been spent on the interstate system, with the national government providing $114 billion of that. The states were expected to absorb most of the costs involved in preliminary engineering and right-of way acquisition. The national government was pleased with the pace of construction in Arkansas. In May 1962 the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads announced that Arkansas was leading the nation in building its share of the interstate system. Arkansas ended up with two major interstate routes, I-40 running east west from Memphis to Fort Smith, and I-30 from Fort Worth, which terminates at its junction with I-40 in North Little Rock. Additionally, Arkansas is home to several small interstates of more recent origin. The first of these to be completed was I-630 in Little Rock. The road started out in the 1960s as an effort to speed up the commute from the western suburbs of Little Rock to downtown. The completion of the interstate system was one of the great public works accomplishments of humanity. Of course, it has had its downside, including helping encourage suburban sprawl - not to mention helping put our railways out of the passenger business.