Biohazard and Crime Scene Remediation in Batesville, AR

Batesville is the largest city in and the county seat of Independence County, standing on the White River where it flows out of the Ozark foothills about 80 miles northeast of Little Rock.

Batesville is the oldest city in Arkansas and the state's second-oldest municipality overall, having earlier been known by the names Napoleon and Poke Bayou.

The city is named for James Woodson Bates, the first territorial delegate from Arkansas to the United States Congress, who settled in the town.

The Batesville area was first settled around 1810 near the mouth of Polk Bayou, had a White River ferry and about a dozen houses by 1819, and became the Independence County seat in 1821.

Batesville was incorporated on December 20, 1848, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, and in its early days it was an important White River port and the central federal land office for northern Arkansas.

The 2020 census counted 11,191 people in 3,985 households in Batesville, a 9.2 percent increase from the 10,248 residents recorded in 2010.

Batesville is home to Lyon College, founded in 1872 as Arkansas College by the Presbyterian Church after the town narrowly lost the contest to host the new state university, and it is the oldest independent college in Arkansas still operating under its original charter.

Lyon College's first graduating class in 1876 included three young women who became the first females in Arkansas to receive bachelor's (AB) degrees, and the college was renamed Lyon College in 1994.

Lyon College hosts the annual Arkansas Scottish Festival, one of the city's best-known cultural events, reflecting the college's Scottish heritage programming.

The University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville (UACCB) also operates in the city, giving Batesville two institutions of higher education.