In 1803 a Spanish Sergeant by the name of Augustine Grande settled the area around present day Marion AR. The settlement was known as Grande until 1836, the year in which Matthew Talbot donated 95 lots as a site for a county seat. It is said that Marion was one of Talbot's names. The Arkansas town was laid out in 1836. Check out our Best Western hotel in Marion.
Things to do in Marion
Crittenden County Bank and Trust Company
This is a 1919 Neoclassical building that was listed on the National Historic Register April 19, 1984. Located at Military Road, South Side.
Crittenden County Courthouse
A 1910-11 structure with Classical Revival influences. Listed on the National Historic Register on Aug. 3, 1977.
85 Jackson Street, Marion, AR
Fort Esperanza Trail
In 1797 the Spaniards built Fort Esperanza on existing mounds left by the Indians. In 1859 it was incorporated as Crittenden County's first settlement and renamed Hopefield. Hopefield was the eastern terminus for the first railroad in Arkansas. The town was washed away by the 1912 flooding of the Mississippi. The route leads to old Fort Esperanza/Hopewell area, now washed into the river.
Sultana Disaster Marker
This monument commemorates what is considered to be the nation's worst maritime disaster. In 1865, the Sultana steamship exploded near Marion on the Mississippi River, killing 1,800 passengers. Most of the dead were Union soldiers who had been released from Confederate prisons and were en route home after the Civil War. The steamship, with a legal capacity of 376, was carrying 2300 people. The monument is located at the intersection of S. H. 77 and U. S. 64 (in front of the Marion City Hall).
Trail of Tears
This route along U. S. 64 once served as the major artery of transportation between Memphis and Little Rock. Prior to becoming a paved route, various historic trails followed roughly similar routes in the region: the old trail serving Spanish Fort Esperanza east of present-day Marion, the Military Road providing a supply and troop movement route for armies of the Mexican and Civil Wars, and the Trail of Tears route, which relocated Cherokee Indians from the Eastern United States to Oklahoma.
Wapanocca National Wildlife Refuge
This huge wetlands area includes the 600-acre Wapanocca Lake. The area is great for bird watching and fishing for panfish and bass. You will find a driving trail that provides a glimpse of what the Arkansas Delta was like in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Refuge is located four miles west of the Mississippi River and is protected from the river by the river levee. Functioning within the Lower Mississippi River Ecosystem, the refuge is managed for migrating and wintering waterfowl and for neo-tropical birds during their migration, as well as providing critical nesting habitat for those species. Located just 8-miles north of Marion.