Monette

Just across the Mississippi County line in Craighead County, Monette is one of the principal cities in the Buffalo Island region of northeastern Arkansas – the others being Leachville, Manila, Black Oak and Caraway. This area was impacted by the New Madrid Earthquakes of 1811-12, causing much of the land to sink and become swampland. Legend has it that later floodwaters of the St. Francis, Little River and Big Lake once stranded a herd of buffalo on an “island” of high ground now occupied by these communities.

A sparsely populated community exited when the railroad arrived in 1898-99, but the town experienced a boom at that time and was incorporated in 1910. It is said that the name was suggested by a railroad engineer who had two daughters, Mona and Nettie. He offered the name Monett, and the “e” was added later.   

Like other towns in the area, the primary industries at the beginning were timber and cotton. During World War I, however, the town began experimenting with cantaloupes and later radishes and other produce. During the 1950s, Monette was known for its strawberries, and watermelons have been grown in the area more recently. The town also became known for its semiprofessional baseball team, the Monette Buffaloes. Local sources claimed that their baseball tournament at Buffalo Park in Monette in 1930 was the first semi-pro tournament in the United States.

Monette is located 25 miles northeast of Jonesboro and is on the Buffalo Island Loop off the Great River Road National Scenic Byway. The history and heritage of the town and the region is preserved through the Buffalo Island Museum, located in the former First National Bank Building built in 1918 and listed in the National Register of Historic Places.