Unattended Death and Biohazard Cleanup in Aubrey, AR

Aubrey is a small incorporated town in Lee County, Arkansas, stretching along State Highway 121 in the western part of the county.

Aubrey began in 1907 as a refueling stop on the Missouri and North Arkansas (M&NA) Railroad and was named for the son of local resident Dr. W. B. Snipes; when the railroad was completed in 1909, the town celebrated with a community barbecue and received a post office the same year.

Although it functioned as a community for nearly six decades, Aubrey was not incorporated until June 30, 1966, a step that brought the town a water system, a sewage system, garbage service, and a fire truck for its volunteer fire department.

The 2020 census counted 108 people in Aubrey, down from 170 in 2010 and a historical peak of 351 in 1970.

In its early-twentieth-century heyday Aubrey had a two-story school built in 1910, a hotel, a store, a cotton gin, a sawmill, a drugstore, and a train depot serving the surrounding cotton country.

The M&NA Railroad ended service through Aubrey in 1949, and Aubrey High School's last graduating class finished in 1963 before the district consolidated with Marianna, the county seat; elementary classes continued in Aubrey until 1981.

Aubrey's churches reflect its history: a Methodist Episcopal South congregation formed in 1910, a Missionary Baptist church in 1929, and a Church of Christ around 1930, with the Baptist and Church of Christ congregations dedicating new buildings in 1986 and 1979 respectively.

McNulty Lake, on Big Creek west of Aubrey, was a longtime favorite recreation spot for the town's residents and visitors.

The town covers only about 0.33 square miles at an elevation of about 203 feet in the flat farmland of the Arkansas Delta.