Lincoln is a city in Washington County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 2,294 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Northwest Arkansas metro area.
History
Establishment
The area around Lincoln first saw white settlement in the late 1820s. It was first known as Blackjack after the blackjack oaks used to build the first schoolhouse. Joseph Carter built the first store in the area in 1874, still known as Blackjack. A nearby community on Beaty Mountain known as Mt. Hayes was settled in 1877. Starr Hill Township was also organized in the area during this period. The settlements drifted together and continued to grow until applying for a post office in 1884 within Carter's store under the name Georgetown. The name was rejected; the postal service not wanting to duplicate Georgetown in White County, Arkansas (or Georgetown, Madison County, Arkansas). Carter submitted Lincoln as the new name. He said he chose the name seemingly at random, having "seen it on a box", but others were skeptical that Carter had wanted to name the community for Abraham Lincoln all along, as he was a "Republican from the North". Local acceptance for the name Lincoln was slow during the Reconstruction era following the bitter Civil War.
The settlement remained unincorporated until the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway (commonly called the Frisco) planned a branch line (the Ozark and Cherokee Central Railway [O&CC]) between Fayetteville and Oklahoma. The right-of-way acquisition process brought a railroad agent through town, and he platted a town on south of the proposed railroad in 1903, but modified the plat in 1907. Following this plat, the city of Lincoln was incorporated on November 23, 1907.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of .
Lincoln is about 25 miles southwest of Fayetteville and approximately eight miles east of the Arkansas-Oklahoma border.
Protected areas
Lincoln Lake, a few miles north of the city, is a park surrounding the municipally-owned lake formerly used for water supply. The park offers of hiking and mountain biking trails, fishing, and non-motorized boating.
Region
The Northwest Arkansas region consists of three Arkansas counties: Benton, Madison, and Washington. The area had a population of 347,045 at the 2000 census which had increased to 463,204 by the 2010 Census (an increase of 33.47 percent). The region does not consist of the usual principal-city-with-suburbs morphology. The principal cities retain individual identities, but have grown together along Interstate 49 (I-49). For more than the last decade, Northwest Arkansas has been one of the fastest-growing regions in the United States.
Demographics
2000 Census
As of the 2000 United States Census, there were 1,752 people, 723 households, and 472 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 798 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 91.78% White, 2.57% Native American, 0.06% Asian, 2.57% from other races, and 3.03% from two or more races. 5.08% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 723 households, out of which 29.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.2% were married couples living together, 12.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.7% were non-families. 30.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 17.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 3.00.
In the city, the age distribution of the population shows 26.7% under the age of 18, 8.6% from 18 to 24, 26.7% from 25 to 44, 21.3% from 45 to 64, and 16.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 88.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.1 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $27,639, and the median income for a family was $37,102. Males had a median income of $26,860 versus $18,958 for females. The per capita income for the city was $14,232. About 12.7% of families and 15.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.5% of those under age 18 and 11.8% of those age 65 or over.