Crime Scene and Trauma Cleanup in Prescott, AR

Prescott is the county seat and largest city of Nevada County in southwest Arkansas, a railroad town on the historic land route between Little Rock and Texarkana.

Prescott was laid out in August 1873 along the Cairo and Fulton Railroad after Robert Burns persuaded railroad surveyors to plant a town near Moscow; within months it had a depot, stores, a hotel, and a post office granted on November 24, 1873.

The town was most likely named for surveyor W. H. Prescott, one of the four men who laid out its original twenty-four blocks on each side of the tracks.

Prescott's city charter was granted on October 6, 1874, though its first election was not held until 1876, when E. A. Warren became mayor.

Nevada County voters moved the county seat from Rosston to Prescott in 1877 because the young railroad town was growing so much faster; a Prescott school district was established the same year.

The 2020 census counted 3,101 people in Prescott, down from 3,296 in 2010 and well below its 1980 peak of 4,103.

The Civil War brushed Prescott just before its founding: the Battle of Prairie d'Ane was fought near the townsite on April 10–11, 1864, during the Camden Expedition, with the related Action at Moscow following on April 13.

Timber built Prescott's early economy — the Ozan Lumber Company was established in 1891 and the Reader Railroad was built to haul logs to the main line — while peaches shipped in icehouses made the area a noted fruit district.

The Nevada County Depot and Museum, founded in 1976 and housed in Prescott's historic railroad depot, is the county's only museum and holds more than 5,000 artifacts, along with the deed to the 808-acre Prairie d'Ane battlefield.

Public education in Prescott is provided by the Prescott School District — Prescott Elementary School, McRae Middle School, and Prescott High School — serving more than 1,000 students.