Cabot, Arkansas, United States of America

Cabot is a city located in Lonoke County, Arkansas. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 15,261.

Cabot Geography

Cabot is located at 34°58'22" North, 92°1'20" West (34.972647, -92.022329).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 49.7 km² (19.2 mi²). 49.5 km² (19.1 mi²) of it is land and 0.2 km² (0.1 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 0.47% water.

Cabot Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there are 15,261 people, 5,432 households, and 4,329 families residing in the city. The population density is 308.2/km² (798.2/mi²). There are 5,712 housing units at an average density of 115.3/km² (298.8/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 96.56% White, 0.33% Black or African American, 0.40% Native American, 0.88% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.49% from other races, and 1.30% from two or more races. 1.87% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There are 5,432 households out of which 47.1% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 65.7% are married couples living together, 10.7% have a female householder with no husband present, and 20.3% are non-families. 17.2% of all households are made up of individuals and 5.8% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.78 and the average family size is 3.14.

In the city the population is spread out with 31.5% under the age of 18, 7.6% from 18 to 24, 34.0% from 25 to 44, 19.0% from 45 to 64, and 7.9% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 32 years. For every 100 females there are 95.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 89.9 males.

The median income for a household in the city is $49,389, and the median income for a family is $53,933. Males have a median income of $37,450 versus $26,209 for females. The per capita income for the city is $19,020. 7.1% of the population and 5.6% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 7.9% of those under the age of 18 and 10.4% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

Cabot History

Prior to settlement

Before the city of Cabot existed, an 1862 typhoid epidemic took the lives of about 1500 Confederate soldiers previously under Allison Nelson who were camped in the hills surrounding Cabot and nearby Austin, Arkansas. 428 poorly marked graves were exhumed in 1905 by a group of Confederate veterans and moved to a new site at Camp Nelson Confederate Cemetery located in Cabot on Rye Drive, just off Cherry Road between Campground and Mount Carmel Roads. Marble gravestones were placed over each grave and a large marble obelisk was erected to honor the dead. In 1982, a group of volunteers from Cabot began maintaining the cemetery, which had fallen into disrepair.

Early history

The city of Cabot began as a small settlement at a refueling station on the Cairo & Fulton Railroad. The settlement first appeared in the 1873 and is thought to have been named after a railroad surveyor. First Baptist Church was established in the late 1870s and the Bank of Cabot (now Community Bank) was founded in 1903. The city of Cabot was officially incorporated November 9, 1891 as the 139th city in Arkansas.

Cabot was often overshadowed in northern Lonoke County by the much larger city of Austin (originally named Oakland), which was briefly considered for the state capital. However, Cabot experienced growth during the 1950s and 1960s, due to its proximity to the Little Rock Air Force Base in nearby Jacksonville which opened in 1955.

Major transportation routes near/through Cabot are the railroad (currently owned by Union Pacific), the "old highway to St. Louis" (currently US Highway 67/167), and Interstate 40. Historically, Cabot lay on the Memphis to Fort Smith spur of the Butterfield Overland Stagecoach Route.

Recent history

A devastating tornado hit downtown Cabot during the afternoon of March 29, 1976, killing five people and destroying multiple buildings. During the rebuilding of the city, it was decided to build a new city hall, municipal courtroom, library (since relocated), and police station on the site of the debris-filled dividing point between the east and west sections of Main Street, creating City Plaza. Arkansas Highway 89, which follows the same path as West Main Street in Cabot, was redirected around City Plaza along one block of Second Street, to continue its path along Pine Street just south of the Cabot High School campus.

Cabot has experienced phenomenal population growth from the 1980s to today. New housing starts, as seen by new subdivided developments, now cover the town. One reason for such growth was the aforementioned Air Force base, yet the more plausible explanation stems from a more complicated issue: the school district.

Controversy Over Growth

In 1982, the Little Rock School District, slow to comply to the 1954 US Supreme Court case Brown v. Topeka Board of Education, was forcibly ordered by federal courts to immediately desegregate the school district. This desegregation was ordered to achieve racial balances between white children and non-white children, which resulted in massive busing of students.

The results of the court-ordered busing have been controversial. Critics claim the forced integration has destroyed the School District and any concept of "neighborhood schools": for example, black students from far east Little Rock (predominantly black), were sent to high schools in far west Little Rock (predominantly white). Supporters claim that the forced integration has fostered more diversity and better learning environments. Whatever the result, during the 1980s and 1990s Little Rock teachers repeatedly went on strike, and many residents relocated to the smaller communities around Little Rock, including Cabot, Benton, Bryant, Conway, and Maumelle. With time, new arrivals to the state chose to live in these towns (now veritable suburbs) because, by some educational indicators, their school districts were more successful.

Cabot received many families relocating during this time period. A 'commuter culture' developed as many residents lived in Cabot, sent their children to schools in Cabot, but worked in Little Rock. The Cabot School District steadily developed into one of the richest, most populous and top-performing districts in the state.

Critics of Cabot's growth, such as the Little Rock-based newspaper Arkansas Times, accused these residents of "white flight": simply giving up on an integrated Little Rock school district. While Cabot (and northern Lonoke County as a whole) has historically been predominantly white, nearby towns, such as Austin, Ward, Vilonia, and Searcy, also lack diversity. The resulting "whiteness" of the area (just like the Ozark Plateau or the pre-1990s Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers area) seemingly owes itself more to historical migration patterns and historical slave ownership. Currently, the Cabot School District encompasses the north end of Lonoke County. The bulk of the county's population today can be found in approximately the same area, containing the county's most populous and fourth most populous cities — Cabot and Ward, respectively.

Culture

Culture in Cabot has largely taken cues from its growing population and their desire to avoid traveling far into the Little Rock metropolitan area for entertainment. Products of this include a movie theater and larger city library built in the late 1990's, plus a growing number of restaurants, parks, amateur sporting venues and community organizations. A top draw of the city is its golf courses adjoining Greystone Country Club in the city's north end, and near Rolling Hills Country Club in southeast Cabot. Both of the country clubs and the Veterans of Foreign Wars post are exceptions to Cabot's legal status as part of a dry county, which prohibits the sale of alcoholic beverages elsewhere in the city. One of the city's biggest events, staged in the downtown area each October, is Cabotfest — a community fair that has grown in popularity as the city's population has swelled over the years since the tornado.

Much of the family-heavy population revolves around the school system, and Friday night high school football games are always a packed, city-wide event. The football team won the AAA state championship in 1983 and the AAAAA state championship in 2000 under head coach Mike Malham. In 2005, a new three story athletic complex was completing which contains an indoor practice field, weight room, and locker room and features a plasma screen for instant replay during football games. In addition to strong performance in athletics, notable events at the the school district's campuses each year include a regional music student competition, a student musical theater production, and a community beauty pageant. The Cabot High School Band is currently in a three-year rotation to represent the State of Arkansas in the National Independence Day Parade in Washington, D.C.

External links

Map of Cabot and surrounding area from the Arkansas Highway & Transportation Department

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Cabot,_Arkansas".