Arkansas: From the Ozarks to the Delta
Arkansas straddles two distinct landscapes. The northwestern corner rises into the Ozark Mountains, where Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers, and Bentonville form a metropolitan area that has grown faster than almost any other in the South. Bentonville is the headquarters of Walmart, founded there by Sam Walton in 1962. The company remains the world's largest retailer by revenue, and its presence has drawn hundreds of supplier offices and logistics operations to the region. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, funded by the Walton family, opened in 2011 and holds works by Winslow Homer, Norman Rockwell, and Andy Warhol.
The eastern half of the state flattens into the Mississippi River Delta, where cotton, rice, and soybeans grow on some of the richest farmland in the country. Helena, once a prosperous river port, has seen decades of population loss. Pine Bluff, south of Little Rock, faces similar challenges. The economic divide between the booming northwest and the struggling delta defines much of state politics.
Little Rock, the capital, sits near the geographic center of the state along the Arkansas River. The Clinton Presidential Library opened on its riverfront in 2004. Little Rock Air Force Base in Jacksonville, just north of the capital, is home to the C-130 Hercules training mission. Hot Springs, an hour to the west, built its identity around thermal baths fed by naturally heated springs that emerge from the hillside at 143 degrees Fahrenheit. The bathhouses along Central Avenue are now a national park.
The population stands at about 3.1 million. Tyson Foods, headquartered in Springdale, and J.B. Hunt Transport, based in Lowell, are among the largest employers alongside Walmart. The state produces more rice than any other except California and Louisiana.
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Arkansas straddles two distinct landscapes. The northwestern corner rises into the Ozark Mountains, where Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers, and Bentonville form a metropolitan area that has grown faster than almost any other in the South. Bentonville is the headquarters of Walmart, founded there by Sam Walton in 1962. The company remains the world's largest retailer by revenue, and its presence has drawn hundreds of supplier offices and logistics operations to the region. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, funded by the Walton family, opened in 2011 and holds works by Winslow Homer, Norman Rockwell, and Andy Warhol.
The eastern half of the state flattens into the Mississippi River Delta, where cotton, rice, and soybeans grow on some of the richest farmland in the country. Helena, once a prosperous river port, has seen decades of population loss. Pine Bluff, south of Little Rock, faces similar challenges. The economic divide between the booming northwest and the struggling delta defines much of state politics.
Little Rock, the capital, sits near the geographic center of the state along the Arkansas River. The Clinton Presidential Library opened on its riverfront in 2004. Little Rock Air Force Base in Jacksonville, just north of the capital, is home to the C-130 Hercules training mission. Hot Springs, an hour to the west, built its identity around thermal baths fed by naturally heated springs that emerge from the hillside at 143 degrees Fahrenheit. The bathhouses along Central Avenue are now a national park.
The population stands at about 3.1 million. Tyson Foods, headquartered in Springdale, and J.B. Hunt Transport, based in Lowell, are among the largest employers alongside Walmart. The state produces more rice than any other except California and Louisiana.
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