Bluff City, Arkansas
16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1901 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Union Township. It lies in ZIP code area 71857. The Survey maps it on the Bluff City quadrangle. 118 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 367 feet above sea level.
Population over time
3 figuresBluff City fell from 158 to 118 between 2000 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 158 | |
| 2010 | 124 | -34 (-22%) |
| 2020 | 118 | -6 (-5%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 16 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1901 USGS Gurdon quadrangle1:125000, 3 printings
- 1953 USGS El Dorado quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS El Dorado quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS El Dorado quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1960 USGS El Dorado quadrangle1:250000
- 1973 USGS Bluff City quadrangle1:24000
- 1978 USGS Chidester quadrangle1:62500
- 1986 USGS Hope quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1989 USGS El Dorado quadrangle1:250000
Fires near this place
71 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 71 fires within 5 miles of Bluff City between 1997 and 2018, burning about 565 acres in total. 3 started naturally. 28 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Arson/incendiarism | 28 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 19 |
| Debris and open burning | 14 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 4 |
| Natural | 3 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 September 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 5 September 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 3.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 4 September 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 30 September 2015 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 3 September 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 2.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 29 September 2002 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 27 September 2006 | Debris and open burning | 4.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 20 September 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
5 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Bluff City: 4 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Clay. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
Storms near this place
8 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Bluff City in 8 storm reports between 1997 and 2025: 5 hail, 3 thunderstorm wind. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bluff City | - | Multiple trees downed across roadways, including Highway 24 east of Prescott. |
| May 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bluff City | - | Several trees uprooted at White Oak Lake State Park southeast of Bluff City near the Ouachita County line. |
| May 2009 | Hail | Bluff City | - | Hail was reported just northwest of town. |
| August 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bluff City | - | Trees were downed blocking Hwy 24 just west of the Hwy 368 split 2 miles west of the community of Reader. |
| April 2011 | Hail | Bluff City | - | no account filed |
| April 2003 | Hail | Bluff City | - | no account filed |
| August 2001 | Hail | Bluff City | - | no account filed |
| July 1997 | Hail | Bluff City | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gum Grove | 2.6 miles | 16 | |
| Reader | 2.8 miles | 17 | |
| Foss (historical) | 3.3 miles | 16 | |
| Cummings Springs | 3.5 miles | 17 | |
| Zama (historical) | 3.9 miles | 16 | |
| Lackland (historical) | 4.8 miles | 16 | |
| Dills Mills | 5.1 miles | 16 | |
| Morris | 6.8 miles | 16 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Bluff City | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2580681 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 46771. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.








