A.D. 650

The Plum Bayou Native American people build 18 platform mounds in central Arkansas — one as high as 49 feet tall. Today, just five mounds remain and can be explored at Toltec Mounds Archeological State Park in Scott.

1541

Hernando de Soto reaches the state and finds thousands of Native American people living in villages near the Mississippi River, and other groups – including the Parkin and the Nodena tribes – located across the state.

1722

French explorer Jean-Baptiste Bénard de la Harpe lands near a small rock formation on the south bank of the Arkansas River in what’s now the state’s capital city. He names the rock formation “la Petite Roche” — the little rock.

1803

Arkansas Post, the first European settlement in Arkansas (established by the French in 1686), becomes American soil via the Louisiana Purchase.

1838–39

Arkansas’s Quapaw, Osage and Caddo – along with tribes from eastern states – are forced to relocate to make room for European settlers. Their mass exodus is remembered as the Trail of Tears, a portion of which is memorialized in Arkansas.

1836

Arkansas becomes the 25th state and makes Little Rock its new capital. The fledgling state’s population is just over 50,000.

1861

Arkansas secedes from the Union, becoming a strategic position for both the North and South because of its location on the Mississippi River. In spring 1862, the Battle of Pea Ridge ensues in the Ozarks. It’s one of more than 750 military engagements in Arkansas, and is the Civil War’s largest west of the Mississippi River.

1880

Gen. Douglas MacArthur is born on Jan. 26 at the Little Rock Arsenal. The building is now the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, and the surrounding area is called MacArthur Park.

1924

The first major hydroelectric dam in Arkansas is completed. By the late 1960s, numerous large lakes created by damming streams, such as Greers Ferry Lake, dramatically alter the state’s landscape.

Late 1920s–1930s

After the devastating Arkansas Flood of 1927, drought follows. Then, comes the Great Depression. But President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal brings about positive change for Arkansas, as the Civilian Conservation Corps construct Petit Jean State Park — the beginning of the state parks system.

1954–1957

The Supreme Court rules racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education. Arkansas is one of two Southern states to immediately take steps to comply. In September 1957, this ruling is tested for the first time when the “Little Rock Nine” enroll at Little Rock’s previously all-white Central High School. The nine black students withstand vehement opposition from throngs of white protesters. The event is seen around the world and will not be forgotten; Central High is now a National Historic Site.

1992

Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton is the elected the 42nd president of the United States, delivering an election night acceptance speech from the historic Old State House in downtown Little Rock. He is the first from Arkansas to be elected president, and he goes on to win a second term in 1996.

2004

The William J. Clinton Presidential Center opens with a host of dignitaries and celebrities in tow to celebrate, including former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, former presidents George W. Bush, George H. W. Bush and Jimmy Carter.

2011

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art opens. Located on 120 acres of Ozark woodlands in Bentonville, the museum is one of the nation’s premier art institutions dedicated solely to American art, including notable works by Norman Rockwell, John Koch, Wayne Thiebaud, Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol.