Yell County is a county in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 20,263. The county has two county seats, Dardanelle and Danville. Yell County is Arkansas's 42nd county, formed on December 5, 1840, from portions of Scott and Pope Counties. It was named after Archibald Yell, who was the state's first member of the United States House of Representatives and the second governor of Arkansas. He died in combat at the Battle of Buena Vista during the Mexican–American War. Yell County is part of the Russellville micropolitan statistical area. Yell County is a dry county, as alcohol is prohibited.
History
Native Americans first inhabited present-day Yell County and the Arkansas River Valley for thousands of years prior to European colonization. They used the open, fertile floodplain of the Arkansas River for hunting grounds and later farming settlements. During the Thomas Jefferson and Indian Removal era, many Cherokee were voluntarily relocating from Georgia along the Arkansas River, including in Yell County, between 1775 and 1786. A large Cherokee reservation across the Arkansas River from Yell County was established in 1815 to encourage further voluntary relocation from Georgia.
The area presently encompassed as Yell County was first settled by European settlers when James Carden built a house in 1819 among Cherokee farms in the Dardanelle Bottoms, at the confluence of the Arkansas and Petit Jeans.. Lands south of the Arkansas River had been deeded to the Choctaw in the 1820s when they removed from their homelands east of the Mississippi River, but White settlement and Cherokee relocation continued apace into the 1820s. The peoples competed over the prime riverbottom lands.
In June 1823, a meeting between numerous Cherokee chiefs and acting Territorial Governor Robert Crittenden was held under two large oak trees. Long believed by many to result in a "Council Oaks Treaty" re-establishing Cherokee title of north of the Arkansas River, Crittenden had no treaty-making authority, and the meeting ended with no agreement other than each party sending separate letters to Secretary of War John C. Calhoun. The chiefs' letter was signed by marks by John Jolly, Young Glass, Black Fox, Thomas Graves, Walter M. Webber, George Morris, and Water Minnow at the end of the meeting on June 24, 1823. Crittenden's latter is dated September 28, 1823.
Some Cherokee remained on their farms south of the river, the group identifying itself as Black Dutch, intermarrying and assimilating with the area's White settlers..
In 1830, the United States Congress enacted the Indian Removal Act, leading to further, forcible Cherokee settlement from the Southeast into the Arkansas River Valley. Cherokee, Muskogee (Creek), and Seminole were forcibly removed along the Trail of Tears through Yell County to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma).
Yell County was taken by Union forces in the Civil War in October 1862. A Confederate force of about 1,500 men tried to retake Dardanelle in January 1865, failing after a four-hour battle. First Sergeant William Ellis of the 3rd Wisconsin Cavalry received a Medal of Honor for holding his position despite multiple wounds.
Geography According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which (2.0%) are covered by water.
Adjacent counties Pope County (north) Conway County (northeast) Perry County (east) Garland County (southeast) Montgomery County (south) Scott County (west) Logan County (northwest)
National protected areas Holla Bend National Wildlife Refuge (part) Ouachita National Forest (part) Ozark National Forest (part)
Demographics
2020 census As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 20,263. The median age was 40.3 years. 24.4% of residents were under the age of 18 and 18.4% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 99.8 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 98.1 males age 18 and over.
The racial makeup of the county was 75.7% White, 1.2% Black or African American, 1.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.0% Asian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 12.5% from some other race, and 8.5% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 20.7% of the population.
19.3% of residents lived in urban areas, while 80.7% lived in rural areas.
There were 7,722 households in the county, of which 32.4% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 50.2% were married-couple households, 19.0% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 24.0% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 25.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 9,246 housing units, of which 16.5% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 72.0% were owner-occupied and 28.0% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.1% and the rental vacancy rate was 11.6%.
2000 census As of the 2000 census, 21,139 people, 7,922 households, and 5,814 families lived in the county. The population density was . The 9,157 housing units had an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 86.63% White, 1.47% African American, 0.58% Native American, 0.69% Asian, 0.03%Pacific Islander, 8.99% from other races, and 1.62% from two or more races. About 12.73% of the population were Hispanics or Latinos of any race. Around 12.00% reported speaking Spanish at home.
Of the 7,922 households, 33.6% had children under 18 living with them, 58.5% were married couples living together, 10.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.6% were not families. About 23.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.8% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.04.
In the county, the age distribution was 25.8% under 18, 8.9% from 18 to 24, 28.3% from 25 to 44, 22.0% from 45 to 64, and 15.0% who were 65 or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 99.5 males. For every 100 females 18 and over, there were 96.3 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $28,916, and for a family was $33,409. Males had a median income of $23,172 versus $18,148 for females. The per capita income for the county was $15,383. About 11.7% of families and 15.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 20.2% of those under 18 and 12.8% of those 65 or over.
Human resources
Public safety
The Yell County Sheriff's Office is the primary law enforcement agency in the county. The agency is led by the Yell County sheriff, an official elected by countywide vote every four years. Police departments in Dardanelle, Danville, and Ola provide law enforcement in their respective jurisdictions, with Bellville, Havana, and Plainview contracting with the Sheriff's Office for law enforcement services.
The current sheriff of Yell County is Nick Gault. He was elected to office in the 2022 general election. He will vacate the office on December 31st, 2026 after losing the Republican primary, receiving only 21%, of the total votes cast, on March 3, 2026. The chief officer of the law in Yell County, as in all Arkansas counties, is the sheriff.
+Yell County SheriffsYell County Court House RecordsNameYear electedYear leftTotal learsNotable accomplishmentsTheodore P Sadler184018466 First county sheriffS. Kirkpatrick184618526Joseph Garrett185218542J. C. Herin185418562Joseph Gault185618626Lorenzo Free186218631O. Wood186318641William Henry Ferguson186418717Jesse George187118721J. A. Wilson187218742Reuben E. Cole187418806Levi L. Briggs188018822Joseph L. Davis188218864H. B. McCarrell188618904Joseph Haston Howard189018922Sam Gordon Albright189218964B. H. Burnett189619006James M. Cole190019044William Franklin Briggs190419062William L. Tatum190619104Theodore Riley Gault191019144Will T. Caviness191419195J. N. George191919234Joe D. Gault192319263Baxter Gatlin192719303Buford Compton1931194615Earl E Lad194719569Herman D. McCormick1957196811Carlos Mitchell196919767 Construction of the old Danville Jail (replaced in 2016) Construction of the old Dardanelle Jail (replaced in 2016)Hartsell Lewis197719781Denver Dennis197919889Mike May198919923Loyd W. Maughn199319985 Construction of Juvenile Detention Center (1997)Bill Gilkey1999March 31, 202223 Years 3 Months Construction of New Law Enforcement Center and Jail (2016) Longest serving sheriff in Yell Count (2017) Longest current serving sheriff in Arkansas (2017) In 2017, he became the longest currently serving sheriff in Arkansas, after 19 years in the office. He is also the longest-serving sheriff in the county's history. Gilkey has sat on state boards such as the Arkansas Crime Lab Board and Arkansas Act 309 Board.
Gilkey is credited with the creation of the Yell County Law Enforcement Center in 2016, which replaced two of the county's older jails that did not meet state standards, and houses the sheriff's office. The new building also houses CID offices, revenue office, and an updated E911 dispatch center.Heath TateApril 1, 2022December 31, 20229 Months Interim sheriff after Gilkey's retirement in March 2022.Nick GaultJanuary 1, 2023December 31, 20264 Years Lost primary election on March 3, 2026 by 79% of the total votes.Rick PadgettJanuary 1, 2027Term Pending4 Years Became sheriff-elect May 1, 2026. Opposing candidates failed to file required independent signatures by the 12:00 PM deadline.
Culture and contemporary life
Yell County has several historical homes, structures, and monuments dedicated to preserving the history and culture of the area. The Dardanelle Commercial Historic District preserves the historic commercial hub of Yell County along the Arkansas River. The Mt. Nebo State Park Cabins Historic District preserves ten cabins built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. The county also has seven homes, three churches, and two bridges listed on the NRHP.
Upon settlement, Yell County's varied topography created a stratified society, splitting settlers between the more fertile and productive farms of the "lowlands" and the subsistence farming of the steep and less-productive mountain soil of the "uplands".. A planter class emerged in the lowlands, and as Dardanelle evolved into a cohesive community, the large landowners moved to town and managed their landholdings from stately homes, similar to the model seen in the Arkansas Delta and the Mississippi Delta. This left the lowlands inhabited largely by poor sharecroppers and tenant farmers, who largely shared economic fortunes with the small farms in the uplands, shifting the "upland/lowland" split to a "town-country" divide based largely on economics.
As mechanization and society evolved and Arkansas became less of a frontier, a wealthy upper class emerged in Dardanelle that came to wield societal, political, and economic power in the county. This society remained relatively closed, with separate social events and often summering on Mount Nebo with other wealthy Arkansans visiting to enjoy the cool mountain breezes.. With little of the industrialization that defined the Gilded Age in the Northeast and Midwest, Yell County instead retained an adjusted Old South economic model based on agriculture but adapted to a post-Reconstruction reality..
Government