24/7 Trauma and Biohazard Cleanup in Garland, AR

Garland, also known as Garland City, is a town in Miller County in far southwestern Arkansas — it is not Garland, Texas, and it does not lie in Arkansas's Garland County.

The town sits on the Red River in eastern Miller County, where U.S. Highway 82 and the tracks of the old Cotton Belt Railroad cross the river, and it is part of the Texarkana metropolitan area.

Garland was incorporated on January 19, 1904, likely to provide paved streets, water, and sewer service to its residents.

The 2020 census counted 195 people living in 133 households in Garland, down from 242 residents in 2010.

The area's first prominent settler was William Wynn, who established a farm on the banks of the Red River around 1835; his antebellum Wynn-Price House near town is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

According to a note in the June 1, 1882, Arkansas Gazette, the community was named for Colonel Josiah Garland, a prominent local landowner and the uncle of Arkansas governor Augustus Hill Garland.

The Cotton Belt railroad completed its line and Red River bridge at Garland by 1881, and a post office opened at the depot in 1883, anchoring the young community.

Garland's population surged to a peak of 660 in the 1980 census before falling back below 300 by 2010.

In 1918, Troop Train No. 571, carrying soldiers from Waco, Texas, to St. Louis, derailed near Garland, killing two and injuring several others.

Local businesswoman Charline Person, who had run a 5,000-acre plantation since 1911, helped guide Garland through the Great Depression by organizing relief distribution and raising funds to build the Garland Community Church.