Town of Eudora in Chicot County, Arkansas
The city of Eudora is located in Chicot County approximately 39 miles south of McGehee... hmnnnnnnn
tells me a great deal more at Slaves living during this time in this area of the South.
The city of Eudora is located just 3 miles west of the Mississippi River... it is in the southeastern corner of Arkansas, and was built on land rising twenty-five feet above the surrounding Delta flatlands. It came about as a result of antebellum plantations and an early twentieth-century railroad. Eudora calls itself the “Catfish Capital of Arkansas.”
Early 1836 - - 1856 --- a twenty year span
Louisiana Purchase through Reconstruction
The rich fertile land on which Eudora was established was still only sparsely settled when Arkansas became a state in 1836. A Presbyterian church was built on the ridge in the 1840s, and a Masonic lodge opened at that location in 1848.
E. C. Jones owned 700 acres of Chicot County land, including the ridge; he named his homestead Eudora Plantation for his daughter, Frances Eudora Jones, who died at the age of four in 1858. The same name was given to the post office on the ridge, which opened on December 4, 1856, but closed in 1867, opened again in 1871, closed a second time in 1876, and reopened in 1888.
Slave labor helped to build levees, which protected the farmland on and near the Eudora Plantation. The first house built within the borders of what today is Eudora was constructed by a family named Sweet around 1858; it later became known as the W. H. Stephenson house.
The site also was used for the landing of a ferry that crossed Bayou Macon beginning in 1856. The same location was just a few miles from a Mississippi River port variously known as Barnard and Grand Lake.
First Baptist Church, one of the first African-American churches in the area, was established in 1860.
After the Civil War Census timeline 1870-1800-1900
The end of slavery after the Civil War had a major impact upon the cotton plantations of the region.
In 1866, Ferdinand Weiss arrived from Germany and, with his brother Herman, opened a store they called H. Weiss and Co. Competing stores were opened in 1868 and 1870.
The Bayou Macon ferry was replaced by a wooden bridge in 1886. By 1895, four white families lived on the ridge, as well as several black families. Farming of cotton and of corn, as well as timber operations, continued. Doctor Samuel Augustus Scott had built a house around 1883; he served families in southern Chicot County and also in much of northeast Louisiana.
The city of Eudora is located in Chicot County approximately 39 miles south of McGehee... hmnnnnnnn
Again, these are neighboring counties....
The 2000 census shows the town of Eudora to be a smaller town whose population was 2819 -- with a total land area of only 3.1 square miles. The census data reports 2,189 people, 1,047 households, and only 731 families: population density was 912.7 people per square mile.
Today's racial makeup of the city is about 13.9% white, LARGELY -- 84.5% Black, 1.38% Hispanic, then under 1% for Native American, Asian, Pacific Islander, others and those from two or more races.
I VISITED THEIR WEBSITE AND DISCOVER A WELCOME FROM A BLACK TOWN MAYOR STANTON
The History of Arkansas Culture (linked)
http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=846tells me a great deal more at Slaves living during this time in this area of the South.
The city of Eudora is located just 3 miles west of the Mississippi River... it is in the southeastern corner of Arkansas, and was built on land rising twenty-five feet above the surrounding Delta flatlands. It came about as a result of antebellum plantations and an early twentieth-century railroad. Eudora calls itself the “Catfish Capital of Arkansas.”
Early 1836 - - 1856 --- a twenty year span
Louisiana Purchase through Reconstruction
The rich fertile land on which Eudora was established was still only sparsely settled when Arkansas became a state in 1836. A Presbyterian church was built on the ridge in the 1840s, and a Masonic lodge opened at that location in 1848.
E. C. Jones owned 700 acres of Chicot County land, including the ridge; he named his homestead Eudora Plantation for his daughter, Frances Eudora Jones, who died at the age of four in 1858. The same name was given to the post office on the ridge, which opened on December 4, 1856, but closed in 1867, opened again in 1871, closed a second time in 1876, and reopened in 1888.
Slave labor helped to build levees, which protected the farmland on and near the Eudora Plantation. The first house built within the borders of what today is Eudora was constructed by a family named Sweet around 1858; it later became known as the W. H. Stephenson house.
The site also was used for the landing of a ferry that crossed Bayou Macon beginning in 1856. The same location was just a few miles from a Mississippi River port variously known as Barnard and Grand Lake.
First Baptist Church, one of the first African-American churches in the area, was established in 1860.
Quite a Timeline
After the Civil War Census timeline 1870-1800-1900
The end of slavery after the Civil War had a major impact upon the cotton plantations of the region.
In 1866, Ferdinand Weiss arrived from Germany and, with his brother Herman, opened a store they called H. Weiss and Co. Competing stores were opened in 1868 and 1870.
The Bayou Macon ferry was replaced by a wooden bridge in 1886. By 1895, four white families lived on the ridge, as well as several black families. Farming of cotton and of corn, as well as timber operations, continued. Doctor Samuel Augustus Scott had built a house around 1883; he served families in southern Chicot County and also in much of northeast Louisiana.
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