Wilson is a city in Mississippi County, Arkansas, United States. The community is located in the Arkansas Delta and is surrounded by fertile cropland historically used to produce cotton. Wilson started as a company town in 1886 by Robert E. Lee Wilson, who would build a cotton empire and run it from the city. The Wilson Company would become so successful that all of the town's buildings were rebuilt in the Tudor Revival architectural style following Wilson's son's honeymoon to England in 1925. Wilson incorporated in 1959, becoming a town with public roads and municipal government. The extensive property holdings of the Lee Wilson and Company remained in the Wilson family until 2010. The community has seen a rapid decline in economic activity and population since the advent of mechanization on the farm, reducing the need for manual labor to produce cotton. The population was 766 at the 2020 census, down from 903 at the 2010 census.
Downtown Wilson
Tudor-inspired post office, 2010
Abandoned Lee Wilson and Company warehouse, 2010
Hampson Museum State Park (2010)
Mississippi County, Arkansas
Mississippi County is the easternmost county in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,685. There are two county seats, Blytheville and Osceola. The county is named for the Mississippi River which borders the county to the east. Mississippi County is part of the First Congressional District in Arkansas.
Mississippi County Courthouse, Osceola
Control Tower for the Arkansas Aeroplex, formerly Blytheville Air Force Base. The Aeroplex contains the longest runway in the state.
A steel plant rises behind a soybean field in Mississippi County