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Craighead County was formed February 19, 1859, from parts of Greene, Mississippi
and Poinsett counties and was named from Thomas H. Craighead, who represented Mississippi and Crittenden counties in the state
legislature. Craighead County has two county seats, Jonesboro and Lake City. The landscape of Craighead County is flat, fertile
farmland with rolling hills with Crowley’s Ridge in the center. The courthouse in Jonesboro stands on the site of a
skirmish between two companies of Confederates and a detachment of a federal regiment during the Battle of Jonesboro in August
1863. The statue of a doughboy on the courthouse lawn is the first monument erected in the South to soldiers and sailors of
World War I. Another marker recognizes a county resident, Hattie Caraway, who was the first woman elected to the United States
Senate, the first woman to preside over the Senate, and the first woman chairman of a Senate committee. The Lake City courthouse
offices have been moved to a more modern and convenient location; however, the original courthouse building still stands.
It is an all-wood; two storied with three small one-story brick wings that were added in 1934 when the companion county courthouse
in Jonesboro was remodeled. A bandstand from which many political speeches have been made stands in the courtyard. Arkansas
State University, which continues to grow and is the county’s largest employer, is located in Jonesboro. The Convocation
Center located on the campus is used for sports, concerts, live theatre, conferences and other attractions. In historic downtown,
Jonesboro’s civic auditorium, a renovated movie theatre built in 1926, provides a facility for concerts, Broadway shows,
nationally known speakers, and community theatre productions. Citizens in Craighead County revel in its status as the “Capital
City of Northeast Arkansas” with a Main Street Jonesboro celebration in May of each year, which brings hundreds of people
into the county.
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