Brinkley, Arkansas

Brinkley is the most populous city in Monroe County, Arkansas. Located within the Arkansas Delta, Brinkley was founded as a railroad town in 1872. The city has historically been a transportation and agricultural center in the region, more recently developing a reputation for outdoors recreation and the ivory billed woodpecker. Birding has become important to the city and region following the discovery of the ivory billed woodpecker in 2004, a species thought to be extinct 60 years earlier. Located halfway between Little Rock, Arkansas and Memphis, Tennessee, the city has used the slogan "We'll Meet You Half-Way" in some of its advertising campaigns. The population was 3,188 at the 2010 census.HistoryIn 1852, a land grant for the construction of rail lines was given to the Little Rock and Memphis Railroad Company, led by Robert Campbell Brinkley as its president. Robert C. Brinkley, born in North Carolina, lived in Memphis where he served a public career of "noble deeds and generous conduct" and for many years served as president of Planters Bank of Memphis.Between 1852 and 1869, the settlement was called "Lick Skillet." When the day’s work was completed, the railroad construction crew, mostly all immigrants from neighboring towns, cooked their supper over an open fire and returned to their homes when the last "skillet was licked."The construction of the rail lines between Little Rock and Memphis brought the City of Brinkley into being. Brinkley is situated in the northern part of Monroe County, the halfway point between the two larger cities. It was laid out in the winter of 1869 on lands belonging to the railroad.