BlockFrom the record
One of 33 National Register listings published here for Polk County · listed in 2025 · category: District.
Sources: the National Register database, National Park Service
Old U.S. 71 Ouachita River Bridges
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2025.
The listing
- What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 3 structuress, 1 object as contributing to the listing.
- Still standing. The Park Service records this property as extant.
- Address. Polk County Road 109 over the Ouachita River, Acorn, 71953
- When was it listed? January 2025
- Category. district
- Township. Acorn township
- National Register reference number. 100011300 - assigned by the National Park Service when the property was listed.
Fires near this property
66 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 66 fires within 5 miles of Old U.S. 71 Ouachita River Bridges between 1995 and 2019, burning about 458 acres in total. 7 started naturally. 8 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 burning | 16 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 8 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 8 |
| Natural | 7 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 6 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 6 |
| Fireworks | 3 |
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 2005 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 29 September 2011 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 28 September 2015 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 22 September 2005 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 7 August 2006 | Natural | 21 acres | Ouachita National Forest | JOHNSON CREEK |
| 4 August 2012 | Natural | 4.0 acres | Arkansas Forestry Commission | not named |
| 23 August 2013 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Ouachita National Forest | NEW TOWER |
| 22 August 1998 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Ouachita National Forest | MILL CREEK |
Mines and quarries near this property
2 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Old U.S. 71 Ouachita River Bridges: 1 producer, 1 past producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Berg Pit & Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Unk | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this property
19 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Acorn, the town this property stands in, in 19 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 8 hail, 7 thunderstorm wind, 2 flash flood, 1 tornado. 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 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Acorn | $10,000 | A tree fell on a mobile home. |
| February 2013 | Lightning | Acorn | $2,000 | Lightning struck a mobile home just northeast of Mena. The clothes dryer was destroyed and part of the wall behind the dryer was burned. |
| April 2025 | Hail | Acorn | - | Tennis-ball sized hail fell near the town of Acorn, report via mPING. |
| April 2023 | Hail | Acorn | - | The report was received via mPING. |
| March 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Acorn | - | A tree was blown down on U.S. Hwy. 71 north of Mena. |
| May 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Acorn | - | Several trees were downed in the area. |
| May 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Acorn | - | A tree was down across Hwy 76 east in Acorn. |
| December 2015 | Flash Flood | Acorn | - | Water was covering some roads in Acorn. |
| August 2010 | Flash Flood | Acorn | - | Street flooding occurred on U.S. Highway 270. |
| May 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Acorn | - | Power lines were blown down. |
| November 1995 | Hail | Acorn | - | Tin roofs were blown off several chicken houses. |
| November 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Acorn | - | Tin roofs were blown off several chicken houses. |
| April 2020 | Hail | Acorn | - | no account filed |
| April 2008 | Hail | Acorn | - | no account filed |
| March 2004 | Hail | Acorn | - | no account filed |
| December 2003 | Hail | Acorn | - | no account filed |
| March 1999 | Tornado (F2) | Acorn | - | no account filed |
| June 1996 | Hail | Acorn | - | no account filed |
| March 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Acorn | - | no account filed |
Map coverage status
No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.
Listed places nearby
6 within 8 milesOther National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.
| Photograph | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Mena Commercial Historic District | 4.6 miles | 2009 |
 | Elks Lodge | 4.6 miles | 1998 |
 | Polk County Courthouse | 4.6 miles | 1992 |
 | Studebaker Showroom | 4.7 miles | 2000 |
 | Old Post Office | 4.7 miles | 1991 |
 | National Guard Armory | 4.7 miles | 1991 |
Sources for this property
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 100011300 in Record Group 79. |
| Polk County | All 33 listed properties in this county. |
Provenance
- Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
- Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
- How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
- 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.