Marion, Arkansas

Marion is county seat for Crittenden County. The Mississippi River borders the county to the east.

Marion has experienced much population growth since 1980, going from 2,996 to 12,345 in 2010, with an estimated population of 12,362 in 2016.

Marion’s population is about 68% white and 28% black, as garnered from the 2010 census. A bit more than 7% of the population has incomes below the poverty line.

On April 27, 1865, the steamboat Sultana exploded and burned a few miles north of Marion. The wreckage drifted ashore near Marion. Approximately 1,500 Union soldiers died from the boiler explosions, from fire or drowned in the river. The soldiers were recently freed prisoners of war and going home when the boilers exploded.

Allegations of malfeasance and bribery were alleged, but never tried in court.

Here is a link to a satellite photograph of Marion:

https://www.google.com/maps/@35.2204792,-90.219253,19852m/data=!3m1!1e3

Strangely, the Mississippi River is not always the border between Arkansas and Tennessee. Those squiggles on the land are areas where the Mississippi sometimes flowed in the past. Generally, the U.S. and state governments have stopped rivers from flowing where they will. One of these days the rivers will say, “No more! We’re going where we want!” The rivers will burst through banks and levees and flood the land as in the past.