Emergency Crime Scene and Biohazard Cleanup in Alicia, AR

Alicia is a small incorporated town in Lawrence County in northeast Arkansas, built as a stop on the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railroad, which was laid through the area in 1873; a depot and post office opened the same year.

Local tradition says a railroad contractor named the new depot and post office for his wife, Alicia Swift.

Alicia was once the southernmost passenger stop on the Iron Mountain railroad in Lawrence County.

The town incorporated on August 7, 1889, and Goodspeed's history published that year reported three general stores, a sawmill, a cotton gin, a Baptist church, and a schoolhouse in Alicia.

Local historians credit part of Alicia's early popularity to its spot near the Jackson County line, since liquor could legally be sold in Jackson County while Lawrence County was dry.

Alicia's population peaked at 342 in the 1930 census; the 2020 census counted 143 residents, up from 124 in 2010.

At the 2000 census, Alicia's 145 residents lived in just 53 households and 46 families.

Alicia sits on the route of the old Southwest Trail from St. Louis to Texas, and its stretch of U.S. Highway 67 (now Interstate 57) is part of the famed "Rock 'n' Roll Highway 67"; the old highway segment from Alicia to Hoxie is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In the 1950s, rising performers including Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, and Sonny Burgess played in towns along Highway 67 near Alicia, drawing the town's young people to Friday and Saturday night shows.

Alicia's wooden schoolhouse was replaced by a brick building in 1914; today the town's students belong to the Lawrence County School District and attend Walnut Ridge High School.