Monroe County Arkansas Landlord-Tenant Law: The Father of R&B, the Ghost Bird, a Courthouse That Survived a Flood, and What Every Landlord Needs to Know
In April 1927, the White River at Clarendon crested at 44 feet — 8.5 feet above flood stage. When the main levee failed on April 20, the town was inundated with up to 20 feet of water. Residents who could not evacuate climbed to the upper floors of buildings; hundreds took refuge in the upper stories of the Monroe County Courthouse, the 1911 structure designed by noted Arkansas architect Charles L. Thompson that stood on the central square. By the time the water receded, the town had been devastated. But the courthouse had held, its stained glass dome skylight intact, its original oak furniture undamaged. Today, the courthouse continues to serve as the seat of government for one of the smallest counties in Arkansas, and the dome skylight — richly colored, still intact after a century of Delta floods and Delta weather — is an architectural detail that few other rural Arkansas county courthouses can match.
Monroe County was established in 1829, named for President James Monroe, and took its county seat at Clarendon — a river port at the mouth of the Cache River where it meets the White River, originally called “Mouth-of-the-Cache.” The community renamed itself in 1824 for the Earl of Clarendon. For much of the nineteenth century, Clarendon was the most significant town in the county, connected by the Military Road from Memphis to Little Rock and served by steamboats on the White River. The Civil War brought occupation by Union forces and the demolition of the courthouse; its bricks were physically shipped away by Union troops. The county rebuilt, the courthouse rose again, and when Charles L. Thompson designed the current building in 1911, he gave it a courtroom whose dome skylight of richly colored stained glass has become one of the county’s most distinctive landmarks. Clarendon’s town square, with its 22 structures on the National Register of Historic Places, has been used multiple times as a movie set.
Louis Jordan: The Brinkley Boy Who Changed American Music
On July 8, 1908, in Brinkley — Monroe County’s largest city, located in the north of the county on the railroad line — a boy named Louis Thomas Jordan was born to a musical family. His father led the Brinkley Brass Band and the Rabbit Foot Minstrels. Young Louis studied clarinet under his father, then saxophone. He went on to study at Arkansas Baptist College in Little Rock, then left the state to pursue a career that would make him, for nearly a decade beginning in 1942, the dominant figure on the American R&B charts.
Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five were the first act to simultaneously top the pop, country, and R&B charts. Jordan was among the first Black musicians to achieve mainstream crossover success, and his stripped-down, blues-and-jazz-based combo format — far leaner than the big bands of the era — set the template for every R&B and rock combo that followed. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which inducted him in 1987, has called him both the “Father of Rhythm & Blues” and the “Grandfather of Rock ’n’ Roll.” Chuck Berry, B.B. King, James Brown, and Ray Charles all acknowledged Jordan as a foundational influence. A bust of Jordan stands at Brinkley’s Central Delta Depot Museum, and US Highway 49 from Brinkley to Marvell has been officially designated the Louis Jordan Memorial Highway. Al Bell, also born in Brinkley, went on to become the executive at Stax Records who shaped the careers of Isaac Hayes, the Staple Singers, and Johnnie Taylor — and wrote “I’ll Take You There.”
The Ghost Bird and the Cache River
In April 2004, a researcher paddling through the bottomland hardwood swamp forest of the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge near Brinkley captured four seconds of video of a large woodpecker. When the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology analyzed the footage and combined it with additional sightings and audio recordings gathered during a subsequent year-long search, they announced in April 2005 that the ivory-billed woodpecker — a species last definitively confirmed in the United States in 1944 and widely believed to be extinct — appeared to have survived in the big woods of eastern Arkansas. The announcement, published in the journal Science, was one of the most significant ornithological events of the century. Monroe County briefly became a global destination for birders; tourist spending in and around Brinkley increased approximately 30%. The county hosted “The Call of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker Celebration” in February 2006.
The scientific status of the sighting remains contested. The Cornell team’s analysis was challenged by several ornithologists who argued the video was more consistent with a pileated woodpecker, a common species. Despite extensive subsequent searching, no universally accepted additional evidence has confirmed the bird’s survival. The ivory-billed woodpecker was officially declared extinct by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, though that determination has also been challenged. Whatever the ultimate answer, the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge and the surrounding White River NWR bottomland hardwood forest remain among the most ecologically significant and biodiverse wetland ecosystems in the American South — premier destinations for waterfowl hunting, bass and catfish fishing, and birdwatching that draw visitors from across the region.
Screening in a Small Delta County
Monroe County’s 6,799 residents make it one of the five smallest counties in Arkansas by population. Agricultural employment dominates: soybeans, rice, sorghum, wheat, cotton, and corn cover more than 200,000 acres of the county’s 388,000 total acres. Farm operators should be screened on Schedule F two-year net income averages. School district employment in Clarendon and Brinkley and county and municipal government provide the most stable W-2 income profiles in the county. The Mid-Delta Health Center in Clarendon employs healthcare workers with reliable income documentation.
In a thin-demand market like Monroe County, the temptation to relax screening standards to fill vacancies is real. Resist it. A vacant unit costs rent; a problem tenancy costs rent plus eviction expenses, property damage, and time. Use consistent, written screening criteria and document all decisions.
Arkansas Landlord-Tenant Law in Monroe County
All residential rental relationships in Monroe County are governed entirely by statewide Arkansas law. For nonpayment of rent, serve a written 3-day notice to vacate after rent is at least 5 days past due. For lease violations other than nonpayment, serve a 14-day notice to cure or quit. Month-to-month tenancies require 30 days’ written notice to terminate. Security deposits are capped at two months’ rent for landlords with six or more rental units and must be returned with written itemized deductions within 60 days. Arkansas does not impose a default implied warranty of habitability; tenants have no repair-and-deduct remedy. Self-help evictions are prohibited.
All evictions in Monroe County are filed with Circuit Clerk Alice Smith, 123 Madison St., Clarendon, AR 72029, (870) 747-3615. Monroe County is a wet county.
This guide is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Arkansas landlord-tenant law is governed by the Arkansas Code Annotated and applies statewide, with no local rent control or just-cause eviction requirements in Monroe County. Consult a licensed Arkansas attorney or contact the 1st Judicial Circuit Court Clerk at (870) 747-3615 for guidance specific to your situation. Last updated: March 2026.
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