On March 2, 1819, the Arkansas Territory was created, with the capital at the small outpost at Arkansas Post. Arkansas Post was the first European city founded in what would become Arkansas, but by 1820, the members of the new territorial legislature realized that a new capital would be needed. The decision where to base the government for Arkansas would have profound effects upon the future economic and political development of Arkansas.
Arkansas Post had been founded by Henri de Tonti, a French soldier and fur trader, in 1686 and had served as a trading post for the various French, Spanish, and Native American fur trappers in the area. It served as the administrative center for the region while the French and Spanish controlled the region, and Spain would maintain a small garrison at the settlement for many years. Located in what is now Arkansas County where the Arkansas and White Rivers meet just west of the Mississippi River, it was conveniently located for the river traffic of the day, but flooding plagued the post almost from its founding.
Flooding forced Arkansas Post to move three times. The population never rose above 500 residents, and by 1820, overland trade was moving steadily west of the Mississippi River.
Some states would move their capitals repeatedly. Georgia would move its capital ten times between its founding as a colony in 1733 and 1807. It would be moved several more times before settling on Atlanta in 1868. Tennessee similarly would move its capital eight times between 1790 and 1826. After Louisiana gained statehood in 1812, it would move its capital seven times by 1880. And probably the strangest of all: between 1776 and 1853, Rhode Island would rotate its capital annually among the county seats of each of its five counties.
Territorial legislators decided on two possible sites further up the Arkansas River: Cadron, in what is now Faulkner County, and a site called “Petit Roche” further downstream. John McElmurry and a group of investors had planned a community on sixty-four acres on Cadron Creek in 1818 to entice settlers and furiously lobbied legislators for the capital. In February 1820, Territorial Gov. James Miller signed a law naming Cadron as the county seat for Pulaski County, whose original borders would take up most of Central Arkansas. Legislators appropriated some $1,400 to fund a jail and county courthouse at Cadron.
“La Petit Roche,” some 30 miles to the southeast, had been discovered by French explorer Bernard de la Harpe in 1722, noting the small outcropping of rock on the Arkansas River as a geographical reference. By 1820, a ferry across the river had found success but attracted few settlers. However, land speculators led by William Russell of St. Louis, pushed for a town to be founded on the site and for it to be the new capital for Arkansas, named Little Rock.
When legislators met again in October, several prominent politicians had acquired property in Little Rock, including legislators, judges, and Gov. Miller. Some, like Miller, hedged their bets and had property at both settlements. By October 10, 1820, the bill to name Little Rock the new capital passed, reluctantly signed by Miller, and the government moved into the newly founded town the next year.
Little Rock would be incorporated in 1831 and grew to become a thriving city of 195,000. Cadron, however, would fade from history, with the settlement all but abandoned by 1830. While Cadron Township exists on paper in Faulkner County, it has been all but eclipsed by its booming neighbor just to the east, Conway.
