Minturn, Arkansas

Minturn, in Lawrence County, started as a railroad depot. When the Iron Mountain line came through in eighteen seventy-three, a string of new stops appeared across northeastern Arkansas, and Minturn was one of them. A post office opened in the depot that same year.

The town probably took its name from a railroad executive or worker, though the record is thin. What followed was a brief flourishing. The timber around Lawrence County was thick, and Minturn got a stave mill and a handful of stores.

When the timber ran out, so did the population. Today Minturn is a small community that holds on to the name the railroad gave it a century and a half ago.