Crime Scene and Trauma Cleanup in Augusta, AR

Augusta is a city in and the county seat of Woodruff County, Arkansas, located on the east bank of the White River in the Arkansas Delta.

Augusta was founded on February 21, 1848, when Thomas Hough had the village of Chickasaw Crossing surveyed and laid out at a natural riverboat landing on the navigable White River.

In 1850 Hough renamed the settlement Augusta in honor of his niece, Augusta Cald, and the town was incorporated on July 9, 1860.

Augusta is the oldest settlement in Woodruff County and served as a county seat twice over — first for Jackson County in 1852–53, then for Woodruff County when it was created in 1862.

Augusta enjoyed its greatest prosperity in the 1870s as a year-round steamboat port handling goods for vessels traveling from as far away as Memphis and New Orleans.

When railroads arrived in the county in the late 1800s, Augusta felt secure enough in its river trade to let them bypass the town — then, as river traffic declined, residents built their own Augusta Railroad, which operated from 1886 until the late 1950s.

Augusta's population peaked at 3,496 in the 1980 census; the 2020 census counted 1,998 people in 901 households.

The Cache River National Wildlife Refuge is headquartered in Augusta, protecting a Ramsar-listed wetland that contains the largest contiguous tract of bottomland hardwood forest in North America and serves as a key wintering area for ducks.

The Woodruff County Courthouse, opened in 1902, and the Augusta Commercial Historic District are both listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Public education in Augusta is provided by the Augusta School District, which leads to graduation from Augusta High School.