Rector, AR

Rector is a Clay County city on the southern edge of Crowley’s Ridge, where U.S. 49 meets Arkansas 90. The 2020 census counted 1,862 residents. Rector School District serves local students through Rector High School, while Piggott, Marmaduke, and Jonesboro fill in larger shopping and medical trips. City hall, a community center, RV park, cemetery, local businesses, and fire services give the town a recognizable civic map. The surrounding country is farmland cut by the ridge’s wooded rise.

ATTRBrian Stansberry / CC BY 4.0

Rector was laid out by the Texas and St. Louis Railroad in 1881, about two miles south of the earlier settlement of Scatterville, and residents gradually moved to the new town. It was named for Governor Henry Massie Rector. Today the Labor Day Picnic is the signature date on the calendar, with a parade, rodeo, and other events supporting the town’s social life and Woodland Heights Cemetery. The Rector Community Museum on Main Street adds another piece of the local record, keeping the railroad town’s older chapters close to the present day.