24/7 Biohazard and Crime Scene Cleanup in Hermitage, AR

Hermitage is a city near the geographic center of Bradley County in southern Arkansas, built on a small ridge on land that was once the farm of Wiley Powell and later Jefferson Singer.

A post office named Hermitage existed at the site before the Civil War, having been established in 1854, and the name was chosen to honor President Andrew Jackson, whose Nashville home was called The Hermitage.

The area remained sparsely settled until the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad was built across Bradley County in the early 1900s to haul timber between the sawmill towns of Crossett and Fordyce, with the connection completed on March 10, 1907.

Hermitage incorporated on August 30, 1907, the same year the railroad arrived.

The railroad through Hermitage later became the Fordyce and Princeton Railroad and is now operated by Genesee & Wyoming, running about 44 miles from Tinsman to Crossett.

Tomato farming and the poultry industry have long been major components of the Hermitage economy, in a county known across Arkansas for its tomatoes.

Around 1945 the city built a combined city hall and jail, a brick building that served both purposes until a new city hall opened on the highway bypass in 2000; the old building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.

Hermitage's population peaked at 830 in the 2010 census before falling sharply to 525 residents in the 2020 census; back in 2000, the city had 769 people living in 219 households.

The Hermitage School District serves the southern part of Bradley County, and the city also hosts a branch of the Southeast Arkansas Public Library.

Hermitage High School is known for its Future Farmers of America program, and in 2001 its forestry team won the national FFA forestry championship.