DeWitt Chamber of Commerce

On December 10, 1852, the general assembly passed an act requiring the election of three commissioners to locate the county seat of Arkansas County. The elected commissioners selected the northeast quarter of section 4, township 5 south, of range 3 west. The land was purchased in 1853 and in the early part of 1854, under the direction of Adam McCool, county surveyor, the land selected for the new county seat was laid off and plotted into square blocks. When the two commissioners present were unable to agree on a name, they, along with McCool, put their choices on a ballot and put them in a hat. McCool's ballot was drawn out of the hat. McCool was an admirer of the late DeWitt Clinton and since McCool knew there was already a Clinton county seat, he had written DeWitt on his ballot.

Arkansas County contains the site of the first settlement, in 1686, by Caucasians west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rio Grande. This site, called Arkansas Post, is located 20 miles south of DeWitt. By an act of the legislature, dated December 31, 1813, the county of Arkansas was created, with boundaries as follows: Bounded on the north by the south line of the county of New Madrid; east by the main channel of the Mississippi River; south by the thirty-third degree of north latitude or north boundary of the state of Louisiana; west by the western boundary line of the Osage purchase, thence in a direct line to the main source of the Ouachita River; thence south to the northern boundary line of the state of Louisiana. Arkansas County was entitled to one member in the Missouri Legislature Assembly. Col. Alexander Walker represented the county. On the 4th day of July, 1819, Arkansas began her territorial existence under the name of Arkansas territory. President Monroe appointed James Miller of New Hampshire, the first governor and Robert Crittenden of Frankfort, Kentucky, as secretary of the territory. The first legislative session in the territory of Arkansas met at Arkansas Post on July 28th, 1819. On October 18th, 1820, the Legislature voted to move to Little Rock, thus ending Arkansas Post's term as a seat of government.

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