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79-774: The Cotton Belt was part of the railroad empire acquired by financier Jay Gould in the last quarter of the 19th century. "By 1890 Gould owned the Missouri Pacific , the Texas and Pacific , the St. Louis Southwestern, and the International-Great Northern , one-half of the mileage in the Southwest", the Handbook of Texas wrote. The railroad was organized on January 15, 1891, although it had its origins in

158-537: A combined force of federal troops and freedmen (former slaves freed by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln 's recent Emancipation Proclamation ) near Jefferson Court-House . In the final year of the Civil War, the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry Regiment (composed primarily of escaped slaves from Arkansas and Missouri ), was the first regiment of U.S. Colored Troops to see combat. It was dispatched to guard Pine Bluff and eventually mustered out there. Because of

237-420: A cost of $ 350 million, it will employ over 1,100 full-time staff. The Pine Bluff Convention Center is one of the state's largest meeting facilities. The Arts and Science Center features theatrical performances and workshops for children and adults. Pine Bluff did also boast the only Band Museum in the country but it has closed. Other areas of interest include downtown murals depicting the history of Pine Bluff,

316-689: A director of the Erie Railroad, and Tweed arranged favorable legislation. In 1869, Tweed and Gould became the subjects of critical political cartoons by Thomas Nast . Gould was the chief bondsman in October 1871 when Tweed was held on $ 1 million bail. Tweed was eventually convicted of corruption and died in jail. Due to the struggle to keep Cornelius Vanderbilt from taking over their interests in railroad, Gould and James Fisk engaged in financial manipulations. In August 1869, Gould and Fisk conspired to begin to buy gold in an attempt to illegally corner

395-655: A freight station in downtown St. Louis, but its main base of operations in the area was its yard and a locomotive servicing facility in East St. Louis, just east of Valley Junction, and south of Alton and Southern Railroad 's Gateway Yard, and north of Kansas City Southern 's East St. Louis Yard. Union Pacific Railroad now operates Cotton Belt Yard, although the engine servicing facilities have been demolished. The Cotton Belt and its subsidiary St. Louis Southwestern Railway of Texas operated 1,607 miles of road in 1945; 1,555 miles in 1965; and 2,115 miles in 1981 after taking over

474-431: A household in the city was $ 30,415, and the median income for a family was $ 39,993. Males had a median income of $ 38,333 versus $ 28,936 for females. The per capita income for the city was $ 17,334. About 24.3% of families and 30.6% of the population were below the poverty line , including 45.6% of those under age 18 and 13.7% of those age 65 or over. Pine Bluff had 23 homicides in 2021. Pine Bluff had 23 murders in 2020 -

553-514: A line founded in Tyler, Texas , in 1871. Construction of the original Tyler Tap Railroad began in the summer of 1875, and the first 21 miles out of Tyler to Big Sandy, Texas were constructed by early October 1887. The line became the Texas and St. Louis Railway , and was completed between Gatesville, Texas and Bird's Point, Missouri by August 12, 1883, creating a continuous 725-mile system. However, that line promptly went into receivership, and

632-586: A mob of hundreds rapidly escalated to thousands of whites vehemently demanding execution, despite Kelly's pleas of innocence and lack of trial. The angry mob eventually forced over his custody from an Officer adamantly attempting to deliver the suspect to the jail house, then the crowd watched enthusiastically as he was hung and riddled with bullets. That same year the state adopted a poll tax amendment that disenfranchised many African-American and poor white voters. The Election Law of 1891 had already made voting more difficult and also caused voter rolls to decrease. With

711-416: A nearby school with fifty cents and a sack of clothes. Gould's school principal was credited with getting him a job as a bookkeeper for a blacksmith. A year later, the blacksmith offered Gould a half-interest in the blacksmith shop, which he sold to his father during the early part of 1854. Gould devoted himself to private study, emphasizing surveying and mathematics. In 1854, he surveyed and created maps of

790-549: A number of significant construction projects. Benny Scallion Park was created, named for the alderman who brought a Japanese garden to the Pine Bluff Civic Center. The city has not maintained the garden, but a small plaque remains. In the late 1980s, The Pines, the first large, enclosed shopping center, was constructed on the east side of the city. The mall attracted increased shopping traffic from southeast Arkansas. The most important construction project of

869-608: A project to collect and publish oral histories of former slaves. Writers were sent throughout the South to interview former slaves, most of whom had been children before the Civil War. When the project was complete, Arkansas residents had contributed more oral slave histories (approximately 780) than any other state, although Arkansas' slave population was less than those of neighboring Deep South states. African-American residents of Pine Bluff/Jefferson County contributed more oral interviews of Arkansas-born slaves than any other city/county in

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948-519: A rate of 56.5 murders per 100,000 people. The national average was 6.5 murders per 100,000 people in 2020. Jefferson County is located in the heart of a rich agricultural area in the Arkansas River Basin. The leading products include cotton , soybeans , cattle , rice , poultry , timber and catfish . Major area employers include Jefferson Regional Medical Center, Simmons First National Corp., Tyson Foods , Evergreen Packaging,

1027-494: A refugee camp, and 24 black men, women and children were found hanging from trees in one of the worst mass lynchings in U.S. history. The rate of lynchings of black males was high across the South during this period of social tensions and white resistance to Reconstruction. Armistad Johnson was lynched in 1889, and John Kelly and Gulbert Harris in 1892 in front of the Jefferson County Courthouse, after

1106-587: A series of passenger train cutbacks in the early 1950s. The railroad had 25 steam engines and four gas-electric motor cars available for passenger service in 1949. By late 1952 nine diesels had replaced the steam locomotives and motorcars and passenger train mileage had been trimmed considerably. The final operations in Texas involved overnight service between St. Louis and Dallas, with major intermediate stops in Jonesboro, Pine Bluff, Texarkana and Tyler. The Cotton Belt

1185-529: A viable railroad that depended on shipments from farmers and ranchers. He immersed himself in every operational and financial detail of the Union Pacific system, building an encyclopedic knowledge of the network and acting decisively to shape its destiny. Biographer Maury Klein states that "he revised its financial structure, waged its competitive struggles, captained its political battles, revamped its administration, formulated its rate policies, and promoted

1264-476: Is land and 1.2 square miles (3.1 km ) (2.65%) is water. As of the 2020 United States census , there were 41,253 people, and 16,086 households. As of the census of 2010, there were 49,083 people, 18,071 households, and 11,594 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,048.8 inhabitants per square mile (404.9/km ). There were 20,923 housing units at an average density of 447.1 units per square mile (172.6 units/km ). The racial makeup of

1343-746: Is the tenth-most populous city in the US state of Arkansas and the county seat of Jefferson County . It is the principal city of the Pine Bluff Metropolitan Statistical Area and part of the Little Rock - North Little Rock -Pine Bluff Combined Statistical Area . The population of the city was 41,253 in the 2020 census . The city is situated in the Southeast section of the Arkansas Delta and straddles

1422-583: Is the first female African American mayor. She was elected in 2016. Beginning around 2020, Utah based entrepreneur John Fenley, owner of the music streaming service Murfie , began buying properties in Pine Bluff for redevelopment. Pine Bluff is on the Arkansas River ; the community was named for a bluff along that river. Both Lake Pine Bluff and Lake Langhofer are situated within the city limits, as these are bodies of water which are remnants of

1501-487: The Arkansas River . The area along the Arkansas River had been inhabited for thousands of years by indigenous peoples of various cultures. They used the river for transportation as did European settlers after them, and for fishing. By the time of encounter with Europeans, the historical Quapaw were the chief people in the area, having migrated from the Ohio River valley centuries before. The city of Pine Bluff

1580-622: The Arkansas Timberlands region to its west. Its topography is flat with wide expanses of farmland, similar to other places in the Delta Lowlands. Pine Bluff has numerous creeks, streams, and bayous, including Bayou Bartholomew , the longest bayou in the world and the second most ecologically diverse stream in the United States. Large bodies of water include Lake Pine Bluff, Lake Langhofer (Slack Water Harbor), and

1659-593: The Army Air Corps . At one time 275 aircraft were being used to train 758 pilots. Approximately 9,000 pilots had been trained by the time the school closed in October 1944. The Army broke ground for the Pine Bluff Arsenal on December 2, 1941, on 15,000 acres (61 km ) bought north of the city. The arsenal and Grider Field changed Pine Bluff to a more diversified economy with a mixture of industry and agriculture. The addition of small companies to

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1738-610: The Gould business dynasty . He is generally identified as one of the robber barons of the Gilded Age . His sharp and often unscrupulous business practices made him one of the wealthiest men of the late nineteenth century. Gould was an unpopular figure during his life and remains controversial. Gould was born in Roxbury, New York , to Mary More (1798–1841) and John Burr Gould (1792–1866). His maternal grandfather, Alexander T. More,

1817-527: The North-West Mounted Police before they could return to the US. Canadian authorities put them in prison and refused them bail, which led to an international dispute between the United States and Canada. When he learned that they had been denied bail, Governor Horace Austin of Minnesota demanded their return, and he put the local militia on full readiness. Thousands of Minnesotans volunteered for an invasion of Canada. After negotiations,

1896-599: The Pine Bluff Arsenal and the Union Pacific Railroad . It is the large number of paper mills in the area that give Pine Bluff its, at times, distinctive odor, a feature known prominently among Arkansans. In 2009, Pine Bluff was included on the Forbes list of America's 10 most impoverished cities. Saracen Casino Resort in Pine Bluff was the first purpose-built casino in Arkansas. Completed in 2020 at

1975-579: The Rock Island's Golden State Route. In 1925, SSW and SSW of Texas reported a total of 1,474 million net ton-miles of revenue freight and 75 million passenger-miles; in 1970 it carried 8,650 million ton-miles and no passengers. The Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) assumed control of the SSW on April 14, 1932 and operated it as a subsidiary of SP until 1992, when the Southern Pacific consolidated

2054-801: The Rutland and Washington Railroad , during the Panic of 1857 . Gould purchased stock for 10 cents on the dollar, which left him in control of the company. He engaged in more speculation on railroad stocks in New York City throughout the Civil War , and he was appointed manager of the Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad in 1863. The Erie Railroad encountered financial troubles in the 1850s, despite receiving loans from financiers Cornelius Vanderbilt and Daniel Drew . It entered receivership in 1859 and

2133-552: The Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis , which acquired a bottleneck in east–west railroad traffic at St. Louis but, after Gould died, the government brought an antitrust suit to eliminate the bottleneck control. Gould was extensively criticized during his lifetime, on the basis that he was a trader rather than a builder of businesses, and of being unscrupulous, although more recent appraisal has suggested that his business ethics were not unusual for

2212-706: The Trail of Tears waterway who were being forcibly removed by the US Army from the American Southeast to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River. From 1832 to 1858, Pine Bluff was also a station on the passage of Seminole and Black Seminoles , who were forcibly removed from Florida to the Territory. They included the legendary Black Seminole leader John Horse , who arrived in the city via

2291-550: The Ulster County, New York , area. In 1856, he published History of Delaware County, and Border Wars of New York, which he had spent several years writing. While engaged in surveying, he started a side activity financing operators making wood ash , which is used with tannin in leather making . In 1856, Gould entered a partnership with Zadock Pratt to create a tanning business in Pennsylvania, in an area that

2370-607: The Works Progress Administration (WPA) and public works funding, Pine Bluff built new schools and a football stadium, and developed Oakland Park as its first major recreation facility. To encourage diversification in agriculture, the county built a stockyard in 1936 to serve as a sales outlet for farmers' livestock. From 1936 to 1938, the WPA through the Federal Writers Project initiated

2449-734: The 1870s onward, community leaders constructed large Victorian -style homes west of Main Street. Meanwhile, the Reconstruction era of the 1870s brought a stark mix of progress and challenge for African Americans. Most blacks joined the Republican Party, and several were elected in Pine Bluff to county offices and the state legislature for the first time in history. Several black-owned businesses were also opened, including banks, bars, barbershops, and other establishments. But in postwar violence in 1866, an altercation with whites ensued at

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2528-743: The 1960s and 1970s, major construction projects in the region included private and public sponsors: Jefferson Hospital (now Jefferson Regional Medical Center), the dams of the McClellan-Kerr Navigation System on the Arkansas River (which was diverted from the city to create Lake Langhofer), a Federal building, the Pine Bluff Convention Center complex including The Royal Arkansas Hotel & Suites, Pine Bluff Regional Park, two industrial parks and several large churches. The 1980s and 1990s brought

2607-448: The 1990s was completion of a southern bypass, designated part of Interstate 530 . In addition, a highway and bridge across Lock and Dam #4 were completed, providing another link between farm areas in northeastern Jefferson County and the transportation system radiating from Pine Bluff. Through a private matching grant, a multimillion-dollar Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas was completed downtown in 1994. In 2000, construction

2686-712: The Branch Normal School of the Arkansas Industrial University, a historically black college . Founded as Arkansas's first black public college, today it is the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff . Pine Bluff and the region suffered lasting effects from defeat, the aftermath of war, and the trauma of slavery and exploitation. Recovery was slow at first. Construction of railroads improved access to markets, and with increased production of cotton as more plantations were reactivated,

2765-579: The Canadian authorities released the men on bail. Gordon-Gordon was eventually ordered to be deported, but committed suicide before the order could be carried out. After being forced out of the Erie Railroad, Gould started to build up a system of railroads in the Midwest and West. He took control of the Union Pacific in 1873, after its stock had been depressed by the Panic of 1873 , and he built

2844-476: The Cotton Belt's operations into the parent company. Southern Pacific merged with Union Pacific Railroad in 1996. The Cotton Belt ran passenger trains from St. Louis to Texas and from Memphis to Dallas and Shreveport, Louisiana . Cotton Belt's Lone Star operated from Memphis Union Station to Dallas Union Terminal with a connecting section from Lewisville, Arkansas , to Shreveport. The Morning Star

2923-510: The Democratic Party consolidating its power in what became a one-party state, the atmosphere was grim toward the end of the 19th century for many African Americans. Democrats imposed legal segregation and other Jim Crow laws. Bishop Henry McNeal Turner 's "Back to Africa" movement attracted numbers of local African-American residents who purchased tickets and/or sought information on emigration. Arkansas had 650 emigrants depart to

3002-766: The Union forces, Pine Bluff attracted many refugees and freedmen after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in early 1863. The Union forces set up a contraband camp there to house the runaway slaves and refugees behind Confederate lines. After the war, freed slaves worked with the American Missionary Association to start schools for the education of blacks, who had been prohibited from learning to read and write by southern laws. Both adults and children eagerly started learning. By September 1872, Professor Joseph C. Corbin opened

3081-454: The area to provide for flood control and protect from channel shift. One of the world's longest individual levees at 380 miles runs from Pine Bluff to Venice , Louisiana . Pine Bluff is the largest city in a three-county MSA as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau including Jefferson , Cleveland , and Lincoln counties. The Pine Bluff MSA population in 2000 was 107,341 people. The Pine Bluff MSA population in 2007 dropped to 101,484. Pine Bluff

3160-433: The area, making it by 1890 the state's third-largest city. The first telephone system was placed in service March 31, 1883. Wiley Jones , a freedman who achieved wealth by his own business, built the first mule-drawn, street-car line in October 1886. The first light, power and water plant was completed in 1887; a more dependable light and water system was put in place in 1912. Throughout the 1880s and 1890s, economic expansion

3239-556: The bluff. In 1829 Thomas Phillips claimed a half section of land where Pine Bluff is located. Jefferson County was established by the Territorial Legislature on November 2, 1829, and began functioning as a county April 19, 1830. At the August 13, 1832, county election, the pine bluff settlement was chosen as the county seat. The Quorum Court voted to name the village "Pine Bluff Town" on October 16, 1832. Pine Bluff

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3318-698: The case went to trial in March 1873. In court, Gordon-Gordon gave the names of the Europeans whom he claimed to represent, and was granted bail while the references were checked. He immediately fled to Canada , where he convinced authorities that the charges were false. Having failed to convince Canadian authorities to hand over Gordon-Gordon, Gould attempted to kidnap him, with the help of his associates, and future members of Congress, Loren Fletcher , John Gilfillan , and Eugene McLanahan Wilson . The group did capture Gordon-Gordon, but they were stopped and arrested by

3397-563: The city was 75.6% Black or African American , 21.8% White , 0.2% Native American , 0.63% Asian , 0.01% Pacific Islander , 0.68% from other races , and 1.1% from two or more races. 1.5% of the population were Latino of any race. There were 18,071 households, out of which 28.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 31.3% were married couples living together, 27.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.8% were non-families. 31.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.6% had someone living alone who

3476-490: The city's business district grew rapidly. The Masonic Lodge, built by and for the African-American chapter in the city, was the tallest building in Pine Bluff when completed in 1904. The Hotel Pines, constructed in 1912, had an intricate marble interior and classical design, and was considered one of Arkansas' showcase hotels. The 1,500-seat Saenger Theater , built in 1924, was one of the largest such facilities in

3555-501: The city, leaving a small oxbow lake (later expanded into Lake Pine Bluff). River traffic diminished, even as the river was a barrier separating one part of the county from the other. After many years of regional haggling, because the bond issue involved raised taxes, the county built the Free Bridge, which opened in 1914. For the first time, it united the county on a permanent basis. African Americans in Pine Bluff were damaged by

3634-472: The colony of Liberia in West Africa, more than from any other state in the United States. The majority of these emigrants came from the black-majority Jefferson, St. Francis, Pulaski, Pope, and Conway counties. According to historian James Leslie, Pine Bluff entered its "Golden Era" in the 1880s. Cotton production and river commerce helped the city draw industries, public institutions and residents to

3713-512: The commencement program for Arkansas AM&N College (now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff ). The decade of the 1960s brought heightened activism in the civil rights movement: through boycotts and demonstrations, African Americans demanded an end to segregated public facilities and jobs. Some whites responded with violence, attacking demonstrators, and bombing a black church in Pine Bluff in 1963. Some civil rights demonstrators were shot. Local leaders worked tirelessly, at times enlisting

3792-618: The development of resources along its lines." By 1879, Gould had gained control of two important Western railroads, including the Missouri Pacific Railroad and the Denver and Rio Grande Railway . He controlled 10,000 miles (16,000 km) of railway, about one-ninth of the rail network in the United States at that time. He obtained a controlling interest in the Western Union telegraph company and, after 1881, in

3871-461: The economy began to recover. The first railroad reached Pine Bluff in December 1873. This same year Pine Bluff's first utility was formed when Pine Bluff Gas Company began furnishing manufactured gas from coke fuel for lighting purposes. The state's economy remained highly dependent on cotton and agriculture, which suffered a decline through the 19th century. As personal fortunes increased from

3950-430: The elevated railways in New York City, and he had a controlling interest in 15 percent of the country's railway tracks by 1882. The railroads were making profits and could set their own rates, so his wealth increased dramatically. Gould withdrew from management of the Union Pacific in 1883, amid political controversy over its debts to the federal government, but he realized a large profit for himself. In 1889, he organized

4029-530: The historical Arkansas River channel. (The former is a man-made expansion of a natural oxbow; the latter was created by diking the old channel after a man-made diversion.) Consequently, the Mississippi Alluvial Plain (or the Arkansas Delta ) runs well into the city with Bayou Bartholomew picking up the western border as a line of demarcation between the Arkansas Delta and the Arkansas Timberlands . A series of levees and dams surrounds

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4108-610: The industrial base helped the economy remain steady in the late 1940s. Defense spending in association with the Korean War was a stabilizing factor after 1950. In 1957, Richard Anderson announced the construction of a kraft paper mill north of the city. International Paper Co. shortly afterward bought a plant site five miles east of Pine Bluff. Residential developments followed for expected workers. The next year young minister Martin Luther King Jr. addressed students at

4187-453: The large Gouldsboro Lake. In the winter, ice was harvested and stored in large ice houses on the lakeside. He had a railroad line installed next to the lake and he supplied New York City with ice during the summer months. The Gouldsboro Tannery became a disputed property after Leupp's death. Leupp's brother-in-law, David W. Lee, was also a partner in Leupp and Gould, and he took armed control of

4266-474: The market . Gould used contacts with President Ulysses S. Grant 's brother-in-law, Abel Corbin , to influence the president and his Secretary General, Horace Porter . These speculations culminated in the financial panic of Black Friday on September 24, 1869, when the greenback (cash) premium over face value of a gold double eagle fell from 62 percent to 35 percent. Gould made a small profit from that operation by hedging against his own attempted corner as it

4345-480: The most venerable financial institutions on Wall Street . In 1873, Gould attempted to take control of the Erie Railroad by recruiting foreign investments from Lord Gordon-Gordon , supposedly a cousin of the wealthy Campbell clan , who was buying land for immigrants. He bribed Gordon-Gordon with a million dollars in stock, but Gordon-Gordon was an impostor and cashed the stock immediately. Gould sued him and

4424-569: The problems of economic conditions during the Great Depression . Pine Bluff residents scrambled to survive. In 1930, two of the larger banks failed. The state's highway construction program in the later 1920s and early 1930s, facilitating trade between Pine Bluff and other communities throughout southeast Arkansas, was critical to Jefferson County, too. After the inauguration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, he launched many government programs to benefit local communities. Through

4503-548: The state's disfranchisement in 1891–1892 and exclusion from the political system. But they continued to work for their rights; they joined activists in Little Rock and Hot Springs in a sustained boycott of streetcars, protesting passage in 1903 of the Segregated Streetcar Act, part of a series of Jim Crow laws passed by the white-dominated legislature. They did not achieve change then. Development in

4582-510: The state. The city served to compile a valuable storehouse of oral slave narrative material. During the 1933 Mississippi River flood, country singer Johnny Cash evacuated to Pine Bluff. World War II brought profound changes to Pine Bluff and its agriculture, timber and railroad-oriented economy. The Army built Grider Field Airport which housed the Pine Bluff School of Aviation and furnished flight training for air cadets for

4661-623: The state; it operated the state's largest pipe organ. When Dollarway Road was completed in 1914, it was the longest continuous stretch of concrete road in the United States. The first radio station (WOK) broadcast in Arkansas occurred in Pine Bluff on February 18, 1922. Two natural disasters had devastating effects on the area's economy. The first was the Great Flood of 1927 , a 100-year flood . Due to levee breaks, most of northern and southeastern Jefferson County were flooded. The severe drought of 1930 caused another failure of crops, adding to

4740-455: The steamboat Swan in 1842. Pine Bluff was prospering by the outbreak of the Civil War ; most of its wealth was based on the commodity crop of cotton. This was cultivated on large plantations by hundreds of thousands of enslaved Africans throughout the state, but especially in the Delta. The city had one of the largest slave populations in the state by 1860, and Jefferson County, Arkansas

4819-416: The support of national figures such as Dick Gregory and Stokely Carmichael , to help bring about change over the period. Voter registration drives that enabled increased black political participation, selective buying campaigns, student protests, and a desire among white local business leaders to avoid damaging negative media portrayals in the national media led to reforms in public accommodations. During

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4898-446: The tannery. He believed that Gould had cheated the Leupp and Lee families during the collapse of the business. Gould eventually took physical possession, but he was later forced to sell his shares in the company to Lee's brother. In 1859, Gould began speculative investing by buying stock in small railways. His father-in-law, Daniel S. Miller, introduced him to the railroad industry by suggesting that Gould help him save his investment in

4977-774: The time of his death, Gould was a benefactor in the reconstruction of the Reformed Church of Roxbury, New York , now known as the Jay Gould Memorial Reformed Church. It is located within the Main Street Historic District and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. The family mausoleum was designed by Francis O'Hara. Gould married Helen Day Miller (1838–1889) in 1863. Their children were: Pine Bluff, Arkansas Pine Bluff

5056-592: The time. Anarcho-capitalist economist Murray Rothbard claimed that Gould's business practices were unfairly maligned, because he was supposedly one of the only railroad financiers who consistently undermined the railroad cartels' proposed rate fixing by starting new railroad lines, thus driving rates down for consumers. Gould was a member of West Presbyterian Church at 31 West 42nd Street. It later merged with Park Presbyterian to form West-Park Presbyterian . He married Helen Day Miller (1838–1889) in 1863 and they had six children. Together with his son George, Gould

5135-452: Was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 3.14. In the city, the population was spread out, with 25.5% under the age of 18, 13.4% from 18 to 24, 24.3% from 25 to 44, 24.4% from 45 to 64, and 12.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33.4 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.6 males. The median income for

5214-435: Was a businessman, and his great-grandfather, John More, was a Scottish immigrant who founded the town of Moresville, New York . Gould, however, grew up in poverty and had to work at his family's small dairy farm. Gould studied at the Hobart Academy in Hobart, New York , paying his way by bookkeeping. As a young boy, he decided that he wanted nothing to do with farming, his father's occupation, so his father dropped him off at

5293-540: Was a founding member of American Yacht Club . He owned the steam yacht Atalanta (1883) . In 1880, he purchased the Gothic Revival mansion Lyndhurst (sometimes spelled "Lindhurst"), to use as a country house. On December 2, 1892, Gould died of tuberculosis , then referred to as consumption, and was interred in the Woodlawn Cemetery, The Bronx, New York . For tax purposes, his fortune was conservatively estimated at $ 72 million (equivalent to $ 2.44 billion in 2024 ), which he willed in its entirety to his family. At

5372-410: Was about to collapse, but lost it in subsequent lawsuits. The gold corner established Gould's reputation in the press as an all-powerful figure who could drive the market up and down at will. Favored by Tweed Ring judges, the conspiratorial partners escaped prosecution, but the months of economic turmoil that rocked the nation following the failed corner proved ruinous to farmers and bankrupted some of

5451-419: Was also fueled by the growing lumber industry in the region. Situated on the Arkansas River, Pine Bluff depended on river traffic and trade. Community leaders were concerned that the main channel would leave the city. The United States Army Corps of Engineers built a levee opposite Pine Bluff to try to keep the river flowing by the city. During a later flood, the main channel of the river moved away from

5530-447: Was completed on the 43,000-square-foot (4,000 m ) Donald W. Reynolds Community Services Center. Carl Redus became the first African American mayor in the city's history in 2005. The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff recently opened a $ 3 million business incubator in downtown Pine Bluff. Also, a new $ 2 million farmers market pavilion was opened in 2010 on Lake Pine Bluff in downtown Pine Bluff. Shirley Washington

5609-487: Was founded on a high bank of the Arkansas River heavily forested with tall pine trees. The high ground furnished settlers a safe haven from annual flooding. Joseph Bonne, a Métis fur trader and trapper of mixed Quapaw and colonial French ancestry, settled on this bluff in 1819. After the Quapaw signed a treaty with the United States in 1824 relinquishing their title to all the lands which they claimed in Arkansas , many other American settlers began to join Bonne on

5688-491: Was incorporated January 8, 1839, by the order of County Judge Taylor. At the time, the village had about 50 residents. Improved transportation aided in the growth of Pine Bluff during the 1840s and 1850s. With its proximity to the Arkansas River, the small town served as a port for travel and shipping. Steamships provided the primary mode of transport, arriving from downriver ports such as New Orleans . From 1832 to 1838, Pine Bluff residents would see Native American migrants on

5767-502: Was later named Gouldsboro . He eventually bought out Pratt, who retired. In 1856, Gould entered a partnership with Charles Mortimer Leupp, a son-in-law of Gideon Lee and one of the leading leather merchants in the United States. The partnership was successful, until the Panic of 1857 . Leupp lost all his money in that financial crisis, but Gould took advantage of the depreciation in property value and bought up former partnership properties. Gould also started an ice harvesting industry on

5846-559: Was one of the first Class 1 lines in the southwest to discontinue passenger service. The last Cotton Belt passenger train, #8, operated on November 30, 1959, from Pine Bluff, Arkansas , to East St. Louis, Illinois. The following railroads were acquired or merged into the Cotton Belt Route: Jay Gould Jason Gould ( / ɡ uː l d / ; May 27, 1836 – December 2, 1892) was an American railroad magnate and financial speculator who founded

5925-534: Was purchased by the St. Louis, Arkansas and Texas Railway in 1886. The assets of that company were acquired out of foreclosure by the St. Louis-Southwestern Railway in 1891. On October 18, 1903, the Cotton Belt gained trackage rights over the Missouri Pacific Railroad along the eastern shore of the Mississippi River to reach East St. Louis, Illinois , and then used Terminal Railroad Association trackage rights into St. Louis. The Cotton Belt operated

6004-694: Was reorganized as the Erie Railway. Gould, Drew, and James Fisk engaged in stock manipulations, known as the Erie War , and Drew, Fisk, and Vanderbilt lost control of the Erie in the summer of 1868, while Gould became its president. During the same period, Gould and Fisk became involved with Tammany Hall , the Democratic Party political machine that largely ran New York City at the time. They made its "boss", notorious William M. "Boss" Tweed ,

6083-584: Was second in cotton production in the state. When Union forces occupied Little Rock , a group of Pine Bluff residents asked commanding Major General Frederick Steele to send Union forces to occupy their town to protect them from bands of Confederate bushwhackers . Union troops under Colonel Powell Clayton arrived September 17, 1863, and stayed until the war was over. On October 25, 1863, Confederate cavalry , led by Brigadier-General John S. Marmaduke , attempted to expel Union occupation forces commanded by Colonel Powell Clayton ; but were defeated by

6162-614: Was the fastest-declining Arkansas MSA from 2000 to 2007. The Pine Bluff area is also a component of the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Pine Bluff Combined Statistical Area which had a population of 902,443 people in the 2014 U.S. census estimate. According to the United States Census Bureau , the city has a total area of 46.8 square miles (121 km ), of which 45.6 square miles (118 km )

6241-509: Was the second named train over much of this route, operating out of St. Louis Union Station to Dallas, with a separate Memphis section inaugurated in 1941 to provide a convenient connection with the Southern Railway 's Tennessean to and from Washington, D.C. , and New York City . The Cotton Belt also operated passenger trains between Mt. Pleasant, Tyler and Waco, and a doodlebug between Tyler and Lufkin. The Cotton Belt began

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