White County

White County was formed in 1835, by the territorial legislature from parts of Jackson, Pulaski, and Independence counties and was named for Hugh Lawson White, a U.S. Senator from Tennessee. The county seat is Searcy. The landscape of the county is rolling hills north and west the foothills of the Ozarks and Ouachitas, and rich, flat, delta farmland in the southeast. The economic base of the county is diversified with row crops of milo, wheat, soybeans, rice; blueberries, and table grapes; livestock, poultry, and coastal Bermuda grass hay; and a wide range of manufacturing and service industries including a Wal-Mart Distribution Center. Harding University at Searcy and Arkansas State University at Beebe, along with Foothills Vo-Tech School at Searcy draw hundreds of students. The Hurricane Lake Wildlife Management Area, and the White and Little Red rivers offer hunting and fishing and water recreation. As of the 2000 census, White County had a population of 67,165 residents.