Emerson, Arkansas
13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Emerson Township. It lies in ZIP code area 71740. The Survey maps it on the Emerson quadrangle. 293 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 322 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresEmerson fell from 368 to 293 between 2010 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 368 | |
| 2020 | 293 | -75 (-20%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 13 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.
- 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
- 1971 USGS Emerson quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1986 USGS Magnolia quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1989 USGS El Dorado quadrangle1:250000
Fires near this place
59 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 59 fires within 5 miles of Emerson between 1998 and 2019, burning about 708 acres in total. 5 started naturally. 13 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 22 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 13 |
| Debris and open burning | 11 |
| Natural | 5 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 2 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 September 1998 | Debris and open burning | 80 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 25 September 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 24 September 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 22 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 14 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 19 August 1999 | Smoking | 1.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 18 August 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 17 August 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
31 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Emerson in 31 storm reports between 1993 and 2026: 13 hail, 12 thunderstorm wind, 2 tornado, 2 flash flood. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 1997 | Tornado (F1) | Emerson | $200,000 | A tornado touched down 1 mile southwest of Cotton Valley in Webster Parish, LA., and moved northeast past Shangaloo into Columbia County, AR., 7 miles southwest of Emerson. The tornado snapped numerous trees and damaged one home. |
| July 2007 | Lightning | Emerson | $80,000 | Lightning struck an oil and saltwater tank about 2 miles north of the La. state line just off Hwy. 79. Resultant fire spread and burned 8 tanks...three of which completely melted. Multiple fire agencies on the Louisiana and Arkansas side of the fire needed to be called in to extinguish the fire. No injuries or evacuations were reported. |
| November 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Emerson | $5,000 | Thunderstorm winds downed several trees. |
| August 1993 | Thunderstorm Wind | Emerson | $5,000 | Thunderstorm winds knocked down several trees. |
| April 2026 | Hail | Emerson | - | Quarter size hail reported on South Elm Street in Emerson. |
| July 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Emerson | - | Pictures were posted to social media of dozens of trees that were blown down in and near Emerson. |
| May 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Emerson | - | Tree reported down on Highway 98 in Emerson. |
| March 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Emerson | - | Trees were blown down on Highway 79 South in Emerson. |
| April 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Emerson | - | Numerous trees and powerlines were downed across the county. |
| January 2010 | Flash Flood | Emerson | - | Flooding was reported across numerous roadways southeast of Emerson, Arkansas. |
| October 2009 | Tornado (EF0) | Emerson | - | An EF0 tornado touched down near the town of Emerson, Arkansas near the intersection of Hwy. 79 and CR. 26. After the initial touchdown, the tornado crossed Hwy. 79 and moved north northeast. Sporadic tree damage associated with this tornado was observed just east of Hwy. 79 up to just north of Hwy. 98. Winds were estimated at 75 to 85 mph. |
| June 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Emerson | - | Trees down on Hwy. 19. |
| September 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Emerson | - | Trees downed across County Road 8 in the west side of town. |
| August 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Emerson | - | Trees downed across County Rd. 8 near Brister. |
| December 2002 | Flash Flood | Emerson | - | Highway 79 closed due to flash flooding. Several other roads in the region were also closed due to high waters. |
| May 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Emerson | - | Numerous trees down across the area. |
| May 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Emerson | - | Numerous trees down. |
| June 1997 | Flood | Emerson | - | Several roads were underwater in town. |
| April 2009 | Hail | Emerson | - | no account filed |
| April 2003 | Hail | Emerson | - | no account filed |
| May 2003 | Hail | Emerson | - | no account filed |
| December 2002 | Hail | Emerson | - | no account filed |
| March 2001 | Hail | Emerson | - | no account filed |
| April 2001 | Hail | Emerson | - | no account filed |
| April 2001 | Hail | Emerson | - | no account filed |
| May 2001 | Hail | Emerson | - | no account filed |
| January 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Emerson | - | no account filed |
| March 1998 | Hail | Emerson | - | no account filed |
| March 1997 | Hail | Emerson | - | no account filed |
| May 1994 | Hail | Emerson | - | no account filed |
| March 1993 | Hail | Emerson | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mohawk | 2.1 miles | 13 | |
| Brister | 3.0 miles | 13 | |
| Horsehead | 3.8 miles | 14 | |
| Forest Grove | 4.1 miles | 13 | |
| Noxobe | 5.7 miles | 12 | |
| Kerlin | 6.2 miles | 13 | |
| Walkerville | 6.4 miles | 14 | |
| Plainfield | 7.5 miles | 14 |
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 Emerson | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2652915 | 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 48887. 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.






