BlockBefore

Chester, Arkansas

16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1898 and the latest in 1978. It stands in District 13. It lies in ZIP code area 72934. It stands on McCaslin Branch. The Survey maps it on the Mountainburg quadrangle. 144 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 840 feet above sea level.

Chester within Crawford County

On record in Chester

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 3 records

Population over time

13 figures

Chester fell from 222 to 144 between 1890 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.

YearPeople Change
1890222
1900174-48 (-22%)
1910162-12 (-7%)
1920223+61 (+38%)
1930196-27 (-12%)
1940207+11 (+6%)
1950120-87 (-42%)
196099-21 (-18%)
197082-17 (-17%)
1980139+57 (+70%)
200099-40 (-29%)
2010159+60 (+61%)
2020144-15 (-9%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 16 printed sheets

Matched 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.

Fires near this place

70 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 70 fires within 5 miles of Chester between 1992 and 2020, burning about 917 acres in total. 3 started naturally. 14 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
Debris and open burning24
Missing data/not specified/undetermined24
Arson/incendiarism14
Equipment and vehicle use4
Natural3
Railroad operations and maintenance1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
6 August 2012Natural1.0 acresOzark-St. Francis National ForestsWARLOOP
21 August 2012Debris and open burning1.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
22 July 2011Equipment and vehicle use7.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
20 July 2001Equipment and vehicle use2.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
1 July 2010Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
15 June 2006Debris and open burning1.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
7 April 2006Arson/incendiarism60 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
6 April 1997Debris and open burning4.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Crawford County

Storms near this place

31 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Chester in 31 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 12 hail, 11 thunderstorm wind, 6 flash flood, 2 tornado. The reports record 2 injuries. 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
October 2014Flash FloodChester2 hurt, $100,000Heavy rains produced flooding that washed out several roads in the county. Two crew members were injured when a train derailed seven miles north of Chester as a result of the tracks being washed out.
April 1993Thunderstorm WindChester$500,000Thunderstorm winds blew down two barns and damaged a chicken house. A fence was also destroyed and several trees were uprooted.
April 2011Flash FloodChester$200,000Several county roads were washed out by flood water and some small bridges between Chester and Winslow were also washed out.
May 1998Thunderstorm WindChester$50,000Thunderstorm winds damaged the Boston Mountain Riding Stables along US Hwy 71 just north of Artist Point. The roof of a house on Boston Mountain Road was also torn off and the old zoo building was destroyed. There was also some damage in and near Chester.
September 2009Flash FloodChester$25,000Heavy rain caused flooding in the town of Chester. Severe street flooding occur and water entered a few shops.
May 2010Thunderstorm WindChester$5,000Strong thunderstorm wind blew down trees, one of which fell onto a car.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindChester$2,000Strong thunderstorm wind blew down trees onto Highway 71, and snapped power poles.
July 1996Thunderstorm WindChester$100no account filed
August 2023Thunderstorm WindChester-Thunderstorm wind gusts were estimated to 70 mph.
June 2019Flash FloodChester-Clear Creek flooded nearby roads in Chester.
August 2019Flash FloodChester-Roads were flooded near the Chester Exit off I-49.
June 2013Thunderstorm WindChester-Several trees were blown down by strong thunderstorm winds, partially blocking Highway 82.
April 2011Flash FloodChester-Highway 282 was flooded near I-540.
May 2006Thunderstorm WindChester-Thunderstorm winds estimated at 70 miles an hour blew down trees.
March 2004Tornado (F0)Chester-A F0 tornado briefly touched down near Chester. Damage was limited to blown down trees.
August 2003Thunderstorm WindChester-Thunderstorm winds estimated at 60 miles an hour blew tree limbs down.
October 2001Thunderstorm WindChester-Thunderstorm winds estimated at 70 miles an hour blew down trees.
May 1998HailChester-Reported at Artist Point
May 1998Tornado (F0)Chester-A tornado was reported over Lake Fort Smith. Amateur video captured this wide-funnelled storm as it moved across the hilly terrain of northern Crawford County. Path length and width are estimated.
May 1998HailChester-Reported at Artist Point
May 1998HailChester-Reported at Lake Shepherd Springs
March 2024HailChester-no account filed
April 2023HailChester-no account filed
February 2009HailChester-no account filed
June 2009HailChester-no account filed
March 2008HailChester-no account filed
September 2006HailChester-no account filed
August 2003HailChester-no account filed
April 1999Thunderstorm WindChester-no account filed
June 1996HailChester-no account filed
October 1995HailChester-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Crawford County

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 PlaceDistance Sheets
Armada (historical)2.7 miles16
Maddux Spring3.0 miles16
Mountainburg3.2 miles16
Schaberg3.2 miles16
Artist Point3.3 miles16
Locke5.4 miles16
Winfrey5.5 miles16
Cain5.6 miles17

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 ChesterAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1857654The 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 71128. 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.

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.