24/7 Trauma and Biohazard Cleanup in Des Arc, AR

Des Arc is a city on the White River in Prairie County, Arkansas — the county's largest city and the county seat of its northern district, while DeValls Bluff serves as the southern district seat.

Its name is French for 'at the bend,' a reference to a bend in the White River, and locals pronounce it 'DEZ-ark.'

Des Arc was platted in 1848 by founders James Erwin and George Claiborne Watkins and incorporated on December 28, 1854; its original grid of eighty residential blocks still shapes the town.

The 2020 census counted 1,905 residents in Des Arc, living in 767 households.

In its steamboat-era heyday, Des Arc was a major lumber shipping port on the White River and an important crossroads on the Butterfield Overland Mail route.

The Civil War nearly destroyed Des Arc: its population plunged from about 2,000 at the war's start to roughly 400 by its end, and most of its homes and businesses were destroyed.

The great White River floods of 1927 and 1937 later battered the city, and as river shipping declined, railroads and Interstate highways bypassed Des Arc.

The Lower White River Museum State Park in Des Arc tells the story of the White River and of the riverboat era from 1831 to 1931, when steamboats drove settlement all along the river.

Des Arc preserves seven properties on the National Register of Historic Places, including the Prairie County Courthouse for the northern district and the Bethel House, designed by noted Arkansas architect Charles L. Thompson.

Children in Des Arc attend the Des Arc School District and graduate from Des Arc High School, which serves grades seven through twelve.