Biohazard Cleanup Near Downtown Pine Bluff Pine Bluff, AR

Pine Bluff is the county seat of Jefferson County in southeast Arkansas, set where the Arkansas Delta meets the Arkansas Timberlands on a pine-covered bluff above the Arkansas River.

The settlement was officially named "The Town of Pine Bluff" by the county court on October 16, 1832, and the city was incorporated in January 1839.

Pine Bluff grew as a steamboat port and cotton-trading center, and by 1890 its cotton and river commerce had made it the third-largest city in Arkansas.

The population of Pine Bluff was 41,253 at the 2020 census, making it the tenth-most populous city in Arkansas, down from 49,083 counted in 2010.

Census Bureau QuickFacts figures for 2020-2024 put Pine Bluff at about 14,152 households, with an average of 2.53 persons per household.

During the Civil War, Union troops and freedmen defended the town at the Battle of Pine Bluff on October 25, 1863, turning back a Confederate cavalry attack led by Brigadier General John S. Marmaduke.

The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff began in September 1872 as the Branch Normal School opened by Professor Joseph C. Corbin, and it is recognized as Arkansas's first Black public college and an 1890 land-grant historically Black university.

Pine Bluff is also home to Southeast Arkansas College, a public two-year college offering technical career programs and a transfer curriculum.

Public schooling in the city is anchored by the Pine Bluff School District, including Pine Bluff High School, with the Watson Chapel School District also serving part of the city.

Bayou Bartholomew, described as the longest bayou in the world and the second most ecologically diverse stream in the United States, flows through the Pine Bluff area.