History
Miller County
Miller County is located in the southwestern corner of Arkansas. It is part of the Texarkana, Arkansas – Texarkana, Texas, Metropolitan Statistical Area. Although Texarkana, Arkansas and Texarkana, Texas have separate governments under different states, we have always shared many commercial and cultural interests, which includes our Post Office where you can stand with one foot in Arkansas and the other in Texas.
The county seat is Texarkana.
When first formed, Miller County was Arkansas’s sixth county, established on April 1, 1820, and named for James Miller, the first governor of the Arkansas Territory. Additionally, Miller County was the first of the state’s counties to be formed upon the creation of the Arkansas Territory. The first five — Arkansas, Lawrence, Clark, Hempstead, and Pulaski — were formed during Arkansas’s days as part of the Missouri Territory.
The county was abolished in 1838, and later recreated in December 1874 from a portion of neighboring Lafayette County.
Despite its proximity to Texas (which has no state personal income tax), Miller County residents are not exempt from Arkansas’s state personal income tax unless they currently reside within the city limits of Texarkana. Miller County is also one of only two counties in Arkansas (along with Little River County) to be separated from all surrounding Arkansas counties in the state by water — the Red River. The Red River forms the northern and eastern boundaries and is a favorite place for fishing.
The current Miller County Courthouse was constructed in 1939 and is located in downtown Texarkana. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998. This stately white concrete edifice has seen all manner of government business and trials large and small.
