[5] Soon after the Louisiana Purchase, much of the region encompassing future Pope and other counties was designated as lands for the removal of eastern native tribes.

[8] The Treaty of 1817 secured lands in Arkansas for the Western Cherokees north of the Arkansas River between Point Remove and Fort Smith and removed all citizens of the United States, except Persis Lovely, the widow of Indian Agenet William Lovely.

The assignment was given to Cephas Washburn and his brother-in-law, Alfred Finney, who established a mission in 1820 on the west side of Illinois Bayou about four miles from the Arkansas River.

Timothy Dwight, president of Yale College and a corporate member of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.

[12] The site was on a gentle rise covered with a growth of oak and pine at the foot of which issued a large spring of pure water.

[16] Under a new treaty concluded on May 6, 1828, the western boundary of Arkansas was established with seven million acres to the west of that provided to the Cherokees "forever".

Settlers in those areas soon suffered from malarial fevers and other ailments and Arkansas gained a reputation as a sick and swampy land.

Those who ventured further—into central and western parts of the territory, and Pope County—found good soils along the river valley and, in the mountains, healthy forests of pine, oaks, and hickory, with well-drained soils for farming in the valleys, a wealth of forage for grazing and an abundance of game animals.

At the end of the territorial years, the bulk of the people of Pope County were plain-folk farmers, herders, and hunters.

With the outbreak of war with Mexico, in July 1846, a company of mounted infantry volunteers from Pope County, organized under Captain David West, along with volunteer units from other counties, entered service in the Indian Territory, replacing regular Army troops that had been dispatched to Mexico.

The Arkansas volunteer troops provided an essential Federal military presence along the state's western border and eastern portion of the Indian Territory during a period of violent disputes between factions in the Cherokee Nation.

After the arrival of three companies of regular Army dragoon recruits, the Pope County volunteers returned home in late April 1847.

There were some lawyers, teachers, doctors, and preachers as well as millers, saddlers, shoemakers, cabinet-makers, county officials, and at least one tar kiln operator.

There were thirteen sawmills—two steam-powered and the rest powered by water—, two tanneries, and a cotton factory producing 22,500 pounds of thread annually.

Dr. Thomas Russell, for whom Russellville was named, owned 680 acres of land, four slaves, a store, and ten town lots.

Principal causes of death, were, in order, croup, winter fever, cholera, hives, diarrhea, consumption and accidents.

Galla Rock, south of present-day Atkins, and Norristown were important trading centers with goods transported on the Arkansas River.

[29] In the late 1850s, Edward Payson Washburn took inspiration from Pope County scenes near the family's Norristown home for his most famous work, The Arkansas Traveler, the composition of which was derived from a story he heard from Colonel Sandford C. Faulkner.

Supposedly occurring on the campaign trail in Arkansas in 1840, Colonel Faulkner's humorous story ends with a fiddle playing squatter being won over by the traveler (man on horse in image).

[30] While the majority of the population of Pope County consisted of rural families, many were squatters on state or federal land.

[41][42][43] The civil war's primary principles—for the South, independence and preservation of slavery, and for the North, restoration of the Union—soon lost their relevance in thinly settled Pope County.

For many, the struggle turned into a no-holds-barred conflict of killing and driving out opponents in the interest of ensuring the survival of families and allies.

With Federal troops stationed at Lewisburg—on the river south of present-day Morrilton—and Clarksville in 1864, foraging parties seeking supplies ranged into Pope County.

[51] Arkansas became the second former Confederate state to be fully restored to the Union in June 1868, but political and social stability was still years away.

The offer that Russellville's leading citizens made included lots in Russellville as the site for a new courthouse and a $50,000 bond for the construction, without cost to the county, of a "good and sufficient two story brick court house" and a "good, sufficient, and commodious jail".

[85] The Arkansas Supreme Court affirmed the ruling by Judge Davis on June 4, 1887,[86] clearing the way for the county seat to be moved to Russellville and for the construction of a new courthouse and jail.

[88] On June 13, the bondsmen for the new courthouse held a meeting and took steps deemed necessary to start the work[89] and on September 23, the cornerstone was laid.

The line was originally built primarily to transport agricultural products—primarily cotton—from Dardanelle to the LR&FS depot in Russellville.

[106] The Arkansas Racing Commission awarded the Pope County license to Gulfside Casino Partnership on July 31, 2020,[107] but, after the Arkansas Supreme Court reversed and dismissed a ruling by Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox and rendered Gulfside ineligible, the license was awarded to Cherokee Nation Businesses and Legends Resort and Casino on November 12, 2021.

However, the United States census does list Arkansas population based on townships (sometimes referred to as "county subdivisions" or "minor civil divisions").