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City Of England

101 North Allis Street
501-842-3911


History:

The City of England, Lonoke County, Arkansas, is 24 miles southeast of Little Rock, and 30 miles northwest of Pine Bluff. England is only 5 miles north of the 24th parallel of north latitude, which is about 200 miles further north than the valley of the famous river Nile.

Radiating from England in all directions for 15 miles is one of the richest farming sections in the United States, if not in the world. The soil is a black sandy loan, and a black wasy buckshort, of unusual depth. Experts said that these lands are equal to the fertile lands of the Valley of the Nile.

The first settler in this section was Bob Hudgens, a hunter and fisherman, who located three and one-half miles north of England, to avoid the waters of the famous Arkansas River flood. He established what was known as Hudgen's Post Office, and served as postmaster and justice of the peace for a number of years.

The early settlers were brave men and women working against almost impassable barriers. These thousands upon thousands of fertile acres of rich land were then covered with a vast forest of giant trees. It was a perfect wilderness, and a veritable hunter's paradise with deer, bear, panthers, and all varieties of small game in abundance. Scattered through the woods, here and there, were small clearings, where some stout-hearted pioneer was fighting the forest and elements for a small home.

The town was first established and named for Mr. John C. England, who owned most of the adjoining lands, and largely responsible for the establishment of the town. The first sale of town lots was on January 30, 1889, and two-thirds of the original townsite was sold that day. In 1896 England had a population of 200; in 1900 about 1,000; 1910 about 1,600, and in 1923 about 3,200.