Crime Scene and Trauma Cleanup in Arkadelphia, AR

Arkadelphia is the county seat of Clark County in south-central Arkansas, a role it has held since 1842, and it sits on a bluff above the Ouachita River just south of where the Caddo River joins it, at the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains.

The 2020 census counted 10,380 people in Arkadelphia, slightly down from 10,714 in 2010, and Census Bureau survey estimates for 2020–2024 counted about 3,502 households.

The site was settled around 1811 by John Hemphill, who operated a nearby salt works described as one of Arkansas's earliest industries, and the settlement was known as Blakelytown until it adopted the name Arkadelphia in 1838.

Arkadelphia's name blends 'Arkansas' with the Greek word adelphia, meaning 'brother-place.'

The city was incorporated in 1857 and grew as a farm market and trading center served first by river traffic, then by the railroad, and today by Interstate 30.

Arkadelphia is one of the few American towns with two universities: Ouachita Baptist University, a private Christian liberal arts university founded in 1886, and Henderson State University, a public university founded in 1890 as Arkadelphia Methodist College.

The two schools face each other across U.S. Highway 67, and their annual football game, the Battle of the Ravine, has been played since 1895 and is the only college football rivalry in the nation in which the visiting team walks to the game.

Of five colleges founded in Arkadelphia between 1885 and 1895, only Henderson State and Ouachita Baptist remain in operation today; the others closed or relocated to Little Rock.

Clark County, organized in 1818 while Arkansas was still part of Missouri Territory and named for territorial governor William Clark of Lewis and Clark fame, is one of the oldest counties in the state.

The Clark County Courthouse, built in 1899 from local brick and granite quarried near the Caddo River and designed by noted Arkansas architect Charles L. Thompson, still anchors the downtown.