Centerton, Arkansas
city in Arkansas, USA
Centerton is a city in Benton County, Arkansas, United States. Located west of Bentonville on Highway 102, Centerton has grown from a railroad stop and fruit orchard community in the early 20th century into a suburban bedroom community within the rapidly growing Northwest Arkansas (NWA) region. The city's population has grown from 491 in 1990 to 27,176 in 2025. Centerton is considered to be one of the fastest growing cities in Arkansas and consistently ranks amongst the safest cities in the state.
History
Native American hunters and early settlers were drawn to present-day Centerton by natural springs, including what is now known as McKissick Spring. In the Antebellum South era, an early church and school built along the spring were named Center Point, for the community's central location in Benton County. Though the area did not see any formal action during the Civil War, Union troops camped at McKissick Spring on March 5, 1862, shortly before the Battle of Pea Ridge.
After the Reconstruction era, the Arkansas-Oklahoma Railroad Company connected Rogers, Arkansas and Grove, Oklahoma through western Benton County. The railroad opened the apple and strawberry orchards of the county to new markets, bringing economic prosperity, development, and population growth to the region. Upon laying out the town in 1900, the name was changed to Centerton, as Center Point was already registered in Howard County.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Centerton, Arkansas” is city in Arkansas, USA. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Centerton, Arkansas and city, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “city in Arkansas, USA” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q79436. Authority coordinates are 36.362, -94.287. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1990, 2025, 1862 and 1900.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Centerton, Arkansas”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Centerton, Arkansas primary sources, Centerton, Arkansas archive and Centerton research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Centerton, Arkansas”?
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Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Centerton, Arkansas” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.