Biohazard and Crime Scene Remediation in Higden, AR

Higden is an incorporated town in the northwestern corner of Cleburne County, Arkansas, along Highway 16 at the west end of the Higden Bridge over Greers Ferry Lake.

The Higden Bridge spans a segment of Greers Ferry Lake and connects Higden with the larger town of Greers Ferry.

Higden was incorporated on November 27, 1909, after the community moved roughly one mile northeast to sit beside the tracks of the Missouri and North Arkansas Railroad.

Although some sources claimed Higden had nearly 1,000 residents at incorporation, the 1910 census recorded only 336 people.

In the 1950s the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers informed Higden's officials and residents that, once Greers Ferry Dam was completed, their town would lie under sixty to eighty feet of water.

In 1959, Mayor David Gadberry and the town aldermen voted to relocate Higden to a thirteen-acre hilltop site that had once been home to the Higden schoolhouse, and the town moved to higher ground before the lake filled.

Higden's population bottomed out at 40 people in the 1960 census, in the midst of the relocation era.

The town doubled in both area and population following an annexation of property along Highway 16 in 1980.

In the twenty-first century Higden has experienced a modest rebirth driven by the same Greers Ferry Lake that forced it to move, as recreation and shoreline development drew new interest.

The 2020 census counted 114 people in Higden, and the 2000 census recorded 101 people in 52 households.