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City Seals
Jonesboro, Ark. The colorful ideographic line art of the city seal of Jonesboro, Ark., says a lot — and says it quite neatly.
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The circular seal is bounded by a perimeter reciting three of the city’s essential assets: people, pride and progress. The center is comprised of four diamond-shaped images signifying religion and education, industry, agriculture and medicine, all of which were important in the city’s evolution. In 1803 the Arkansas territory was acquired by the United States in the Louisiana Purchase, and the Jonesboro area attracted hunters, trappers and traders who conducted business with the indigenous Native Americans. Jonesboro is located in the northeast corner of the state and was established simultaneously with the creation of Craighead County, which was carved from parts of three existing counties, on Feb. 19, 1859. Jonesboro was named the county seat, but as the county’s settlement expanded, Lake City was added as a second county seat, an arrangement shared by only 36 counties nationwide. Shortly after the St. Louis Southwestern, St. Louis-San Francisco and Missouri Pacific railways came to the area, Jonesboro was incorporated in 1883. The town prospered from sawmilling until the local timber supply was exhausted by 1910. Agriculture replaced the lumber industry as the town’s mainstay, aided in part by the establishment of a state agricultural training school, which became Arkansas State University in 1967. The history of Jonesboro, which had a population of 150 residents at its founding, reads like a chronicle of gritty serial resurgences following natural disasters, which included: • New Madrid earthquakes, 1811 and 1812. • Malaria epidemics, throughout the 19th century. • Fires in 1869, 1876 and 1878, each of which destroyed the then-existing county courthouse. • Great Mississippi Flood, 1927. • Droughts, 1930 and 1931. • Tornadoes, 1968, 1973 and 2020. Despite the setbacks, Jonesboro has averaged more than 30% growth per decade to reach its present population of 80,714. After the malaria epidemics, the Olivetan Benedictine Sisters founded St. Bernard’s Regional Center in 1900, which continues today as one of Jonesboro’s largest employers. In 1910 a group of area farmers experimented with growing rice. Their successful efforts led 20 years later to the construction of the then world’s largest rice mill, which is still operated by Riceland Foods. Other prominent agricultural industries include cotton and soybeans. Jonesboro is also a regional hub for Frito-Lay, ConAgra Foods, Kraft and Nestle. Notable celebrities from Jonesboro include best-selling novelist John Grisham; actor Ben Murphy, who starred in “Alias Smith and Jones”; Debbye Turner, Miss America 1990; and Hattie Caraway, the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate. For more information, visit www.jonesboro.org. JUNE 2021 | THE MUNICIPAL 17
