Biohazard and Pathogen Disinfection in Earle, AR

Earle is a city in western Crittenden County, Arkansas, on U.S. Highway 64 about 28 miles west of Memphis, Tennessee.

Earle began as two separate neighboring towns — Earle and Norvell — that grew up side by side during the post-Civil War timber boom, divided only by a boundary line down present-day Ruth Street, and they were not formally merged until Norvell was annexed by Earle in 1978.

The town was named for English-born landowner Josiah Francis Earle, and its railroad stop was established on his land in the late 1880s, after his death in 1884.

Earle was incorporated on March 25, 1905.

From its incorporation until the 1940s, Earle was one of the largest towns in Crittenden County and an important Arkansas Delta transportation hub, known to locals as the 'Pearl of the St. Francis.'

Earle's population peaked at 3,517 in 1980; the 2020 census counted 1,831 people in 710 households.

George Berry Washington, born into slavery in 1864, became one of Crittenden County's largest landowners through a business that provided income for hundreds of Black Arkansans, and his family honored him in 1928 with the 'Angel in the Field' monument.

Earle's 1922 Missouri Pacific Depot, now home to the Crittenden County Museum, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Old Earle High School, a Mission and Spanish Revival-style building that served students from 1919 to 1978, is also on the National Register, and today's Earle High School teams are the Bulldogs — a name celebrated on the town water tower.

On May 2, 2008, a large EF3 tornado with winds near 150 to 160 miles per hour struck Earle, destroying homes and damaging businesses and the high school.