Visitors Guide to Marked Tree, Arkansas
Marked Tree is a small community in eastern Poinsett County in the northeastern part of Arkansas. It is believed to be the only town in the world with the name Marked Tree. It is also unique because it is located between two rivers, the St. Francis River and the Little River, which, in some places, are only a quarter of a mile away from each other yet flow in opposite directions. As a community Marked Tree got its start when the Kansas City, Fort Scott and Gulf railroad began laying track through the area in the early 1880s.
Jonathan C. Edwards, the work camp manager, applied for a post office for the railroad settlement. This request was granted and the post office began operations in March of 1863 and was originally located in an abandoned steamboat tied to the nearby depot. The town was named Marked Tree for an oak tree marked with a foot-high “M” that used to be on the bank of the Little River. The reason why the mark was on the tree isn’t exactly clear. The most plausible explanation is that it was marked in the 1830s John Murrell’s band of outlaws from Tennessee. The gang stole horses and sometimes slaves from Kentucky and Tennessee and brought them through Arkansas to Oklahoma and Texas. The marked tree fell into the river during a flood in 1890. A tree was found in the river in 1971 that is believed to be the same tree and now is on display with a historical marker. In 1887 Marked Tree incorporated as a town
St. Francis Sunken Lands Wildlife Management Area
Craighead, Poinsett & Greene Counties, Arkansas
In 1904, a group of landowners i petitioned for drainage districts in Poinsett County. As a result ditches were dug with Marked Tree being a part of Drainage District Seven which would eventually cover 190,000 acres. In the early 1900s Marked Tree had its main roads paved or graveled, some sidewalks were laid, housing subdivisions were built, and churches and schools expanded. The population grew to well over 1,000. Most of the major roads in the Delta area of Poinsett County centered around Marked Tree, and when the county courthouse in Harrisburg burned down in 1917, there was an unsuccessful effort to move the county seat to Marked Tree.
In 1912, 1913, 1927, and 1937, the levees broke and flooded the town. The Flood of 1927 was particularly bad with much of the town underwater for much of the spring and early summer. The crops that year were destroyed. In response, the Marked Tree Lock and Siphons were built to control flooding and to provide transportation along the St. Francis River about nine miles away from Marked Tree on an abandoned artificial channel of the river. In World War II, a German prisoner-of-war camp was housed in Marked Tree, one of two in Poinsett County. During the war, the German prisoners did farm work, and they returned to Germany after the war. In 1993, the Marked Tree Delta Area Museum opened. Behind a late 1800s general store facade, this museum has a replica of a small-town community hospital and an early history gallery that includes Indian pottery from the 13th century and telephone exhibits from the early 1900s. The St. Francis Sunken Lands Wildlife Management Area is near Marked Tree. This area and the St. Francis River are popular places for fishing and hunting water fowl.
