24/7 Biohazard and Crime Scene Cleanup in Bodcaw, AR

Bodcaw is a small incorporated town in southern Nevada County in southwest Arkansas, on State Highway 53 about sixteen miles south of Prescott.

The town's name comes from Bodcaw Creek, which appears spelled "Bodcau" on an 1824 map; the name is thought to derive either from the Choctaw word "bokko," meaning a hillock or mound, or from a French name such as Bodeau or Badeau.

A post office opened at Bodcaw in 1878 along with a stagecoach stop, and by 1890 the community had a general store, a steam-powered grist and lumber mill, and a cotton gin.

Bodcaw Academy, a Baptist-run school housed in two connected two-story frame buildings, drew students from across the surrounding countryside before a tornado damaged it in 1915 and it was torn down a year or two later.

Virginia Dell Cassidy, the mother of President Bill Clinton, was born in Bodcaw in 1923; her son, born William Jefferson Blythe IV in 1946, grew up under the name Bill Clinton and went on to serve as Arkansas governor and U.S. president.

Bodcaw's post office closed in 1959, and a decade later residents voted to incorporate the town on May 23, 1969, so it could levy taxes and qualify for state matching funds for streets and water and sewer service.

The 2020 census counted 121 people in Bodcaw, down from 138 in 2010 and 154 in 2000; the town was first counted in 1970 with 158 residents and peaked at 197 in 1980.

At the 2000 census, Bodcaw's 154 residents lived in 63 households and 44 families.

Bodcaw students are served by the Nevada School District and graduate from Nevada High School; Bodcaw's own school district was gradually consolidated into it after desegregation-era consolidation in 1969.

Bodcaw is part of the Hope Micropolitan Statistical Area and covers 3.00 square miles at an elevation of 358 feet.