Blood, Trauma, and Biohazard Cleanup in Brinkley, AR

Brinkley is the most populous city in Monroe County, Arkansas, set in the Arkansas Delta roughly halfway between Little Rock and Memphis — a position the city has promoted with the slogan "We'll Meet You Half-Way."

Before it had its present name, the railroad construction settlement at the site was called "Lick Skillet" from 1852 to 1869, supposedly because crews cooked supper over an open fire and stayed until the last skillet was licked clean.

The city was named for Robert Campbell Brinkley, president of the Little Rock and Memphis Railroad and longtime president of Planters Bank in Memphis.

Brinkley was laid out in the winter of 1869 on railroad land and incorporated on August 6, 1872, when the town had just 50 qualified voters.

The 2020 census counted 2,700 residents in Brinkley, living in 1,175 households, down from 3,188 residents in 2010.

On March 8, 1909, a violent F4 tornado about two-thirds of a mile wide destroyed much of Brinkley, killing 49 people and wrecking roughly 800 buildings.

Brinkley became famous among birders after the ivory-billed woodpecker — a species thought extinct for 60 years — was reportedly rediscovered in February 2004 in the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge, about ten miles west of town.

Duck hunting is a major source of income for Brinkley in November, December, and January, when flooded rice fields along the Mississippi Flyway draw hunters from around the United States.

The swamps of the Cache River near Brinkley are believed to contain some of the oldest cypress trees in the United States, and confirmed bald eagle nests have been found in Monroe County since 2005.

Brinkley's rail heritage is preserved at the Central Delta Depot Museum, and the historic Rusher Hotel still stands beside the old station.