Phillips County, Arkansas

The man the county is named for was a land speculator. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas says Sylvanus Phillips and William Russell created the present Helena town site, a tract that had been part of a Spanish land grant, and that Phillips played the major role. He arrived in the area about 1797 and moved to the site around 1815. In 1826 a sawmill began work in the new town, the first step in a timber industry that lasted well into the twentieth century, alongside cotton. Phillips died in 1831, two years before Helena was incorporated.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Elaine Massacre Memorial — steps away
  A memorial dedicated in 2019 in Helena for the Black people killed by white mobs and troops in the 1919 Elaine Massacre, the deadliest racial confrontation in Arkansas history.
• Delta Cultural Center — 0.4 mi
  A state museum in downtown Helena where King Biscuit Time, the longest-running daily blues radio show, is broadcast live from the Visitors Center.
• Freedom Park — 1.2 mi
  An outdoor Delta Cultural Center site on the ground of a Civil War contraband camp, where thousands of people who had escaped slavery sheltered and men enlisted.
• Mississippi River State Park — 11 mi
  A state park and gateway to the St. Francis National Forest, where the river, Crowley's Ridge and the Delta meet, with a Trail of Tears site at the Mississippi and St. Francis confluence.

More markers nearby

• Helena, Arkansas — steps away
• Phillips County Court House — steps away
• Judge Jacob Trieber — steps away
• Seven Confederate Generals — steps away