Arkansas Post, Arkansas


Arkansas Post is an unincorporated community located along the north side of the Arkansas River in Arkansas County, Arkansas, United States, near the Arkansas Post National Memorial. Arkansas Highway 169 ends here.

History

The history of European settlement dates to 1686, when Henri de Tonti, a French soldier and explorer associated with René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle's explorations of the Mississippi River, established a fur trading post at this site to promote trade with the Quapaw people, whose village of Osotouy was nearby. He also traded with other Native Americans in the region. The area of the trading post and associated historic settlement, located on what is now a peninsula, has been designated a National Memorial and National Historic Landmark as a site of long-term strategic importance.
After the Louisiana Purchase brought this region under United States control, it was designated the Arkansas Territory. Due to its regional importance, Arkansas Post was chosen as the first territorial capital of Arkansas Territory; the capital was moved to Little Rock in 1821.
Arkansas Post was incorporated as a town in 1836.