According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.4 square miles (3.6 km2), all land.

[1] The area around Fouke had long been inhabited by the Native American Caddo people, prior to European colonization of the Americas.

Caddo tribes and European explorers traded pelts, honey, beeswax, flour, tobacco, blankets, guns, and other items.

[7] In the years following Arkansas statehood, settlers began flowing steadily into the area and the Caddo population was greatly diminished.

In 1889, Seventh Day Baptist minister James Franklin Shaw and his followers were seeking an area to establish a new colony.

In 1890, they chose a site along the Texarkana, Shreveport and Natchez Railroad, where a small timber line ended at Fouke's Sawmill.

James H. Fouke, a Presbyterian entrepreneur, lumberman, and railroad executive, helped them establish their colony, and in 1902 he donated land for a school.

During the Prohibition era of 1920–1936, Fouke suffered violent deaths of many men in relation to the illegal trafficking of liquor.

Interstate commerce was not well coordinated during that time, which made Fouke's location attractive to those who would commit crimes and then cross the adjoining border(s).

The movie chronicled the alleged existence of a large, hairy, ape-like creature called the "Fouke Monster".

They purchased one of Fouke's historic homes with a plan to renovate and restore it to create an events center and community library.