Judsonia

Judsonia is a historic community on the lower Little Red River. It is around 10 miles from Searcy. 

The Little Red River was the path of entry for many of the early settlers. Beginning about 1870, families began moving to the area immediately north of Prospect Bluff and they named the newly surveyed area Judsonia.  

In 1872, the Cairo & Fulton Railroad was built to the east of Judsonia and Prospect Bluff. Prospect Bluff was incorporated that same year and the nearby settlement of Judsonia, just to the north, was incorporated ten days after it. The two towns were united and blended into one town, using the name of Judsonia, in 1874. Judsonia was named in honor of American Baptist foreign missionary Adoniram Judson.

The W. E. Orr Park in town is the site of a Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places. A cantilevered truss swing bridge across the Little Red River that was built in 1924 is also on the National Register of Historic Places. Famous Judsonians include Lonnie Glosson (1908–2001), who was a musician in the 1930s and 1940s who popularized the harmonica nationwide.


Information courtesy of The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture