Emergency Crime Scene and Biohazard Cleanup in Emerson, AR

Emerson is a town on U.S. Highway 79 in southern Columbia County, Arkansas, just six miles north of the Arkansas–Louisiana state line.

The town was named for Reuben Loggins Emerson, a landowner who was also a teacher, banker, merchant, a member of the Arkansas General Assembly, and owner of the Columbia Banner newspaper.

Emerson grew up around a depot on the Louisiana and Arkansas Railway, which the Bodcaw Lumber Company built at the end of the nineteenth century to haul timber to its sawmills; Emerson himself encouraged the railroad to place the depot and town on his land.

A post office was established at Emerson in 1898, and the town was incorporated in 1905 — it celebrated its centennial in February 2005.

The land beneath Emerson had been claimed early: Josiah Daily and Anthony Younger purchased plats at the townsite in 1859, and Moses Moore bought adjoining land in 1860.

Although 'Emerson' was the official name, many early residents simply called the new railroad town 'Reuben' after its founder.

The town's population grew with the timber boom, reaching 523 in the 1950 census, before falling back to 368 in 2010 and 293 in the 2020 census.

In 2010 the census counted 368 people in 138 households in Emerson, and the town covers just under one square mile of land.

As the south Arkansas timber industry declined, Emerson's economy shifted toward agriculture, oil, and the region's bromine industry.

Emerson lies about 12 miles south of Magnolia, the Columbia County seat.