Polk County First County Seat

Dallas began about 1825 as Panther, and after the legislature created Polk County on November 30, 1844, it took the name of Vice President George Dallas and became the seat. The first courthouse burned with the records; a second, built in 1869, burned in 1883; the Hudgins brothers built a third in 1884. In 1896 the railroad founded Mena a few miles away and bypassed Dallas, and in a June 25, 1898 vote the county moved its seat. The post office closed by 1901. The 1884 vault door was reused in Mena's courthouses, and Old Dallas Cemetery remains.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Rich Mountain Viewpoint on the Talimena Byway — 8.3 mi
  The Forest Service summit stop at 2,681 feet, about ten miles west of Mena, where the Arkansas end of the Talimena byway tops out.
• Queen Wilhelmina State Park — 10 mi
  A mountaintop lodge on Rich Mountain, named for a Dutch queen by the railroad whose Dutch investors built the first inn in 1898.

More markers nearby

• Polk County in the Civil War — 0.2 mi
• Scott County in the Civil War — 23 mi
• John F. Kennedy Memorial — 24 mi