Welcome to the city of Smackover! Our city is defined less by boundaries on a map than by the sense of shared values our residents hold dear. We take pride in maintaining a wholesome lifestyle, rich in cultural history, along with a deep commitment to the preservation of our environment and a progressive approach to local business.

Smackover, nestled in the deep piney woods of South Arkansas and Union County, is the “boom town” that never died. French trappers and hunters originally settled in the area in the mid-18th century. By 1806, two years after the Louisiana Purchase, a census indicated that as many as one hundred people lived along the Ouachita River from Fort Miro (Monroe, La.) to Ecore Fabre (Camden, Ark.). As a result, landmarks and bayous assumed colorful French designations such as Lapile, Champagnolle, LaBeouf, Parageethe, Tulip’s Cache, Chemin Couvert, and Sumac Couvert.

When land grant settlers settled the Smackover area in the early 1830s, Sumac Covert (meaning covered in dense sumac vegetation) was quickly Anglicanized to “Smackover.”

The small hamlet was started from blissful existence by the discovery of one of America’s largest oil reservoirs in 1922. It was pandemonium, payday, and let the good times roll all punched on a single ticket as the laughing gas atmosphere abounded. Within six months the little town grew to a seam-splitting 25,000 and its uncommon name would quickly attain national acclaim.

Smackover was a boomtown in the purest sense and would claim a permanent place in the annals of petroleum history. Thousands of drill bits discovered oil with a 95 percent success rate from 1922-1925.

Today,  Smackover has settled down dramatically, but the oil boom lives on in its original architecture, down-home working values, and its innovative and creative people. Although the shadows of a mineral boom still linger, Smackover has been transformed into a modern city of substance. The first post office was established in 1890 and the town was incorporated on September 30, 1922. Today there are 865 citizens in the city of Smackover. The town has run the gambit from trading post to lumber and now oil. Smackover is a family-oriented town that still believes in community and family values.

*Source: Smackover website

The city of Norphlet rose to prominence due to the oil industry. The city is home to one of the most notorious disasters in Arkansas’ history of oil drilling. More recently, however, it has become a bedroom community to El Dorado, the county seat.

The forested hills of Union County were sparsely populated until after the Civil War and Reconstruction. The railroad industry, combined with the timber industry, brought new life to the area. Norphlet was one of several depots created along the railway. The timber industry was prominent in the settlement of Norphlet for the first 30 years of its existence.

The oil boom in Union County exploded with particular force in Norphlet. Seeking to tap into the Smackover Oil Field, workers for Oil Operators Trust were drilling a well in Norphlet designated Murphy No. 1. On May 14, 1922, their drilling struck a large pocket of natural gas, which began to escape at a rate estimated at around 65-75 million cubic feet of gas per day. Efforts to cap the hole were ineffective, and on the morning of May 16, the gas ignited, shooting flames more than 300 feet into the air and creating a crater at least 450 feet across and 75 feet deep. But the oil industry continued to thrive in Union County despite the disaster, as the Smackover field was successfully tapped at other locations.

Norphlet was incorporated as a town in 1923 and established a school that by 1926 was rated as one of the best in Arkansas. The oil industry continues to provide most of the jobs in the city. Consolidation caused some of the smaller rural schools in Union County to be closed but brought more students into Norphlet. The city supports a few small businesses, stores, and churches. The crater from the 1922 explosion, now filled with water, is surrounded by a fence to prevent accidents. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.

*Source: Encyclopedia of Arkansas

For more information about our district and the opportunities we offer, you can always visit our website or blog. Also, please feel free to call one of our schools to set up a time to visit and tour our campuses! Go Bucks!