Pine Bluff

Pine Bluff
Location in county and Arkansas
Basic data
Foundation :	1832
State :	United States
State :	Arkansas
County :	Jefferson County
Coordinates :	34 ° 13 ′  N , 92 ° 0 ′  W Coordinates: 34 ° 13 ′  N , 92 ° 0 ′  W
Time zone :	Central ( UTC − 6 / −5 )
Inhabitants : -  Metropolitan Area :	49,083 (status: 2010) 100,258 (status: 2010)
Population density :	415.6 inhabitants per km 2
Area :	121.3 km 2  (approx. 47 mi 2 ) of which 118.1 km 2  (approx. 46 mi 2 ) is land
Height :	67 m
Area code :	+1 870
FIPS :	05-55310
GNIS ID :	0078006
Website :	www.cityofpinebluff.com
Mayor :	Debe Hollingsworth
County Courthouse at the end of Main Street

Pine Bluff is a city in Jefferson County in the US state of Arkansas , United States , with 49,083 inhabitants (as of 2010) and is the seat of the county administration. The urban area has a size of 121.3 km². The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff is located in the city.

history

After a contract with the Quapaw Indians came about in 1824 , after which they waived all territorial claims in Arkansas, the first significant group of white settlers came to the area. In 1829 the first of them settled on what is now Pine Bluff. On August 13, 1832, the place was determined to the administrative seat of the two years previously established Jefferson County and officially registered as a parish on January 8, 1839.

In the following years the growth of the town , which is located directly on the Arkansas River , benefited from good transport options, especially the increasingly powerful steamships. During the Civil War , numerous colored refugees came to Pine Bluff after the Emancipation Proclamation . The town was only able to recover from the war after it was connected to the railway network in 1873 and cotton production in the surrounding farms was resumed.

Towards the end of the 19th century, timber production gained importance in Pine Bluff, where electricity and a telephone network were now also available. A stable water and electricity supply did not come about until 1912.

In the 20th century, Pine Bluff's economy was shaken by two disasters: Large parts of Jefferson County flooded in 1927 due to a dike breach , followed by a severe drought in 1930 . The resulting bad harvests in conjunction with the Great Depression led to a partial collapse of the local economic system.

traffic

Pine Bluff is surrounded by a ring of freeway formed by Interstate 530 and US Highway 65 . With the I-530 there is a connection to Little Rock . US Highways 79 and 270 also run through the city .

The city operates the airport Grider Field Airport ( ICAO code KPBF), which is located about 8 kilometers southeast of the city center.

sons and daughters of the town

• Richard Flournoy (1900–1967), screenwriter
• Peggy Shannon (1907-1941), actress
• Bill Carr (1909–1966), sprinter and Olympic champion
• Casey Bill Weldon (1909 - after 1960), blues musician
• Don Hutson (1913-1997), American football player
• Kay Linaker (1913–2008), actress
• Les Spann (1932–1989), jazz musician
• Joseph Jarman (1937–2019), jazz musician
• Jay Dickey (1939-2017), politician
• Dallas Long (born 1940), shot putter and Olympic medalist
• Charles Greene (* 1945), track and field athlete and Olympic champion
• Camille Keaton (born 1947), actress
• Willie Roaf (born 1970), American football player
• Torii Hunter (born 1975), baseball player
• Mary Matilyn Mouser (born 1996), actress

Population development

Population development
Census	Residents		± in%
1850	460		-
1860	1396		203.5%
1870	2081		49.1%
1880	3203		53.9%
1890	9952		210.7%
1900	11,496		15.5%
1910	15.102		31.4%
1920	19,280		27.7%
1930	20,760		7.7%
1940	21,290		2.6%
1950	37,162		74.6%
1960	44,037		18.5%
1970	57,389		30.3%
1980	56,636		-1.3%
1990	57,140		0.9%
2000	55,085		-3.6%
2010	49,083		-10.9%
1850-2000

Contrary to the trend in the region, Pine Bluff's population fell by 10.9 percent between 2000 and 2010, while most cities in the region saw growth of mostly 20 to 40 percent over the period from 2000 to 2010. There are several reasons for this. The metropolitan area was voted the most dangerous metropolitan area in the USA by Morgan Quitno Verlag in 2009 .

In 2010, the city appeared in the list of the 10 poorest and most dangerous cities in the United States by business magazine Forbes . This situation has existed in the city for a certain time and is likely to be the absolute main reason for the emigration.

The global economic crisis hit the already poor city particularly hard and made the situation so worse that it appeared on the relevant lists even though it is a very small city by US standards. In addition, the 2000 census made the city's African American population 65.85% - the 2010 Arkansas average was 15.4% and the US average was 13.1%.

Racist prejudices are likely to lead to whites and Asians in particular avoiding the city. As a result, the percentage of African Americans has increased from 65.85% in 2000 to 75.6% in the 2010 census. The emigration of other ethnic groups and the associated decline in population are likely to be the main reason for the sharp increase.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} History. (No longer available online.) Pine Bluff Chamber of Commerce, archived from the original on June 27, 2009 ; accessed on November 24, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ^ Grider Field Airport. www.airnav.com, accessed November 24, 2009 . 
3. ^ Extract from the Encyclopedia of Arkansas . Retrieved February 13, 2011
4. ↑ In Depth: America's 10 Most Impoverished Cities (Forbes)
5. ↑ Quick facts: Pine Bluff (English) ( Memento of the original from June 13, 2012 on WebCite ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.