Izard County, Arkansas
Izard County, Arkansas · Melbourne is the seat · not Batesville · not Mountain Home · Little Rock is the capital
Melbourne is the hall. Batesville is Independence. This is not a second Ozark capital.
Izard County, Arkansas, was formed 27 October 1825 as the thirteenth county of Arkansas Territory from part of Independence, and named for George Izard, second territorial governor. Association of Arkansas Counties: Melbourne is the county seat. Earlier seats were Liberty (Norfolk), Athens, Mount Olive, and Mount Vernon. Melbourne has been the hall since 1875. Calico Rock sits on White River bluffs — a town, not this hall. Horseshoe Bend is a resort city on the Strawberry — not this hall. Oxford, Guion, and Franklin are not the hall.
This is not Independence County. Batesville is that seat. This is not Baxter County. Mountain Home is that hall. This is not Fulton County. Salem, Arkansas, is that hall. Little Rock is the capital of Arkansas. It does not sit here.
The courthouse lists at 80 East Main Street, Melbourne, AR 72556 — Art Deco native limestone on a raised square, 1938–1940, National Youth Administration, National Register 1993. Combined County Clerk / Circuit Clerk lists at that door. The Sheriff lists at 300 Circle Drive, Melbourne, AR 72556. That is the shop. Melbourne remains the hall.
Places include Melbourne, Calico Rock, Horseshoe Bend, Oxford, Guion, Franklin, and the Ozark remainder. 2020 census: 13,577 (Association of Arkansas Counties). This page is Side One for the place. The Sheriff’s job — White-River-Ozark remainder patrol and the house at 300 Circle Drive this badge still holds — is taught at Office of the Sheriff — Izard County.
Nine JPs. Combined clerk at 80 East Main. They do not hire the Sheriff.
Izard is a County Judge plus a nine-member Quorum Court of Justices of the Peace. Amendment 55 made the Judge the executive and the Quorum Court the legislature. County Judge lists at 80 East Main Street (mailing P.O. Box 327). They fund roads, the limestone square, and the Sheriff’s budget. They do not hire the Sheriff. The people do. Melbourne City Council is a city body. Calico Rock is a town body. Horseshoe Bend is a city body. None of those is this Quorum Court.
County Clerk and Circuit Clerk are combined at 80 East Main (phone 870-368-4316). This county elects a separate Collector. Do not invent a combined Sheriff-Collector here. Confirm live at arcounties.org/counties/izard. 16th Judicial Circuit — shared with Independence, Stone, Cleburne, and Fulton. Independence’s court in Batesville is not this oval.
The Sheriff is four years, Arkansas Constitution Article 7, § 46 as amended by Amendment 95, on the gubernatorial table. Last regular Tuesday, 8 November 2022. Next regular Tuesday, 3 November 2026. Preferential primary Tuesday, 3 March 2026 (already sat). Primary runoff Tuesday, 31 March 2026 (already sat where needed). Take office 1 January 2027 (A.C.A. § 21-1-102). The Governor is 2026. That is a different desk in Little Rock. Justices of the Peace are two years — a different desk.
White River, Strawberry River, Ozark hills. Little Rock is the capital.
Rugged Ozark hill country. The White River forms the southwestern border. The Strawberry River cuts the east. Arkansas 9 and Arkansas 69 are through roads. Fulton is north — Salem, Arkansas, is that hall. Sharp is east — Ash Flat is that hall. Independence is south — Batesville is that hall. Stone is southwest — Mountain View is that hall. Baxter is west — Mountain Home is that hall. Staff who paste Batesville onto East Main, or treat a White River bluff as this hall, or file Little Rock as this seat, are on the wrong county.
How a Melbourne public finds 80 East Main and 300 Circle Drive
County Judge / Quorum Court / combined Clerk: 80 East Main Street, Melbourne, AR 72556. Sheriff headquarters, detention, and dispatch: 300 Circle Drive, Melbourne, AR 72556 — office (870) 368-4203. Confirm live doors at izardcountysheriff.org and arcounties.org/counties/izard before you drive. A student who only knows a Batesville photograph, or treats Mountain Home as this hall, has not found Melbourne.
Circle Drive still jails. North Central Unit is ADC in Calico Rock.
Crime in unincorporated Izard — Oxford remainder, Guion remainder, Franklin remainder, White River roads off Arkansas 9 — is this Sheriff. Crime in Melbourne is often Melbourne Police. This Sheriff is not that badge. Horseshoe Bend: the Sheriff’s own pages teach a Horseshoe Bend station from 1 September 2013, when this office assumed public-safety coverage for that city — a station of this Sheriff, not a second county. Confirm the live city-contract door. The Arkansas Sheriffs’ Association jail card lists a 34-bed house, male and female, at 300 Circle Drive, built 2003. A 2025 Quorum Court tour covered a jail expansion — confirm live capacity before you travel. That house is this badge’s shop (A.C.A. § 12-41-502). North Central Unit in Calico Rock is ADC. It is not this jailer. Do not send a family looking for a county booking to Batesville, to Mountain Home, or to an ADC door as this oval.
Care without inventing a White River chapel as this county
A peace order served in unincorporated Oxford. A court-ordered transport from 300 Circle Drive to 80 East Main without becoming Melbourne PD. Do not invent a church. Do not invent a bluff visitor center as this oval.
What Izard actually watches
Court calendar on East Main. A wreck on Arkansas 9. Fog in the hills. High water toward the White. Ice toward Horseshoe Bend. Coordination with Melbourne Police and ASP without becoming those departments. Coordination with Independence’s Sheriff or Fulton’s Sheriff is mutual aid between two offices, not a merger. The river is geography. It is not Batesville as this hall.
Melbourne snapshot (verify official sources)
- Seat: Melbourne · Calico Rock / Horseshoe Bend are not the hall · Capital of Arkansas: Little Rock
- Government: nine-member Quorum Court · County Judge 80 East Main · combined Clerk 80 East Main · court 80 East Main (1940 limestone)
- Sheriff: four years · 2026 · HQ/jail 300 Circle Drive · ASA 34-bed house — confirm live door · North Central Unit is ADC
- Neighbors: Fulton · Sharp · Independence · Stone · Baxter
- Not Independence / Batesville · Not Baxter / Mountain Home · Not Little Rock as this seat
What Melbourne is not, as this county
- Not Independence County. Not Batesville as this hall.
- Not Baxter County. Not Mountain Home as this hall.
- Not Fulton County. Not Salem, Arkansas, as this hall.
- Not Calico Rock as the county government. Not Horseshoe Bend as the hall.
- Not Little Rock as this county government — Little Rock is still the state capital.
- Not North Central Unit as this Sheriff.
- Not a campaign flyer.