City Seals: Jonesboro, Ark

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Jonesboro, Ark.

The colorful ideographic line art of the city seal of Jonesboro, Ark., says a lot—and says it quite neatly.

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.

$12 million

Ann Arbor, Mich., collects around $12 million per year in stormwater fees, which are used to improve the city’s stormwater infrastructure.

Learn more about Ann Arbor’s ongoing stormwater projects on page 36.

$1.5 million

A project to retrofit the City-County Building in Madison, Wis., is expected to cost this much. Madison and Dane County are coming together to complete this project, which will offer energy savings.

Learn more about this ambitious energy project on page 34.

Focus on: ENERGY Water &

45%

Pure Water Oceanside, a recycled water purification facility, will reduce the amount of water that Oceanside, Calif., has to import by this percentage.

Read more about this innovative facility on page 30.

11,600

Healdsburg, Calif.’s, floating solar array features 11,600 panels. It is the largest floating solar array in the U.S.

More information available on page 26.

1,300

The number of households that Iowa City, Iowa’s, first-ever Energy Blitz hoped to reach with its energy saving kits.

Source: https://www.thegazette. com/news/iowa-city-launches-energyblitz-in-south-district/

11,100 parts

A virtual intruder changed the sodium hydroxide levels at Bruce T. Haddock Water Treatment Plant in Oldsmar, Fla., from 100 parts per minute to 11,100.

Find how this unlawful intrusion is increasing vigilance within water utilities on page 22.

5,100

The approximate number of appointments that the Meadville Area Water Authority in Pennsylvania has made to upgrade water meters since 2012. MAWA approached the end of its upgrades in April.

Source: https://www.meadvilletribune.com/news/citys-water-meter-replacement-projectnears-finish-line/article_48c37916-971c-11eb-8969-fb06f0f4d3a0.html