Hackett, AR

Hackett is a small Sebastian County city west of Fort Smith, with Highway 45 cutting through the old town and the Boston Mountain foothills beginning to show in the distance. Jeremiah Hackett established a homestead here in 1834, and the settlement first went by Hickory Grove. The Midland Valley Railroad arrived in 1906, followed by a bank, a busier downtown, and the highway link that made Hackett a stop between the farms and Fort Smith.

Today Hackett keeps its center practical. Hackett Elementary and Hackett High School give the city its own school calendar, while churches, the Main Street Cafe, local service businesses, and the school district hold together the everyday network. Deer Acres Zoo, once a local draw on Jensen Road, belongs to the town's recent past; the deeper working story is timber, agriculture, commuting, and the boom-era memory of a downtown that once counted hundreds of stores. Fort Smith is close for larger errands, but Hackett still feels like a town with its own front door.