Polk County, Arkansas
Polk County, Arkansas · Mena is the seat · not Bartow · not Des Moines · Little Rock is the capital
Mena is the hall. This is not Polk County, Florida. This is not Bartow.
Polk County, Arkansas, was created 30 November 1844 from Sevier and named for James K. Polk. Association of Arkansas Counties: Mena is the county seat. Mena is also the large city on this map. Dallas was the first seat after the 1844 split — Dallas is a community south of Mena now, not this hall. Wickes, Grannis, Cove, Hatfield, and Vandervoort are not the hall.
This is not Polk County, Florida. That seat is Bartow. This is not Polk County, Iowa (Des Moines is Iowa’s capital — not this oval). This is not Polk County, Oregon / Tennessee / Texas / Wisconsin. Do not read this page as Bartow-with-pines or a Florida citrus hall. Mena is an Ouachita mountain railroad town with its own 1939 Art Deco courthouse, its own Rich Mountain skyline, and its own Sheriff.
The courthouse lists at 507 Church Avenue, Mena, AR 71953 — four-story buff brick, 1939 WPA / PWA work by Haralson & Mott, National Register 1992, Arkansas seal over the principal entrance, at the foot of Rich Mountain. AAC and the Sheriff list headquarters and the jail on that same Church Avenue campus. County Judge, County Clerk, Circuit Clerk, Treasurer, and Assessor list on Church. Mena remains the hall.
Places include Mena, Wickes, Grannis, Cove, Hatfield, Vandervoort, Board Camp, Acorn, and the Ouachita remainder. 2020 census: 19,221 (Association of Arkansas Counties). This page is Side One for the place. The Sheriff’s job — Ouachita-line remainder patrol and the Church Avenue house this badge still holds — is taught at Office of the Sheriff — Polk County.
Nine JPs at 507 Church. They do not hire this badge.
Polk is a County Judge plus a nine-member Quorum Court of Justices of the Peace (AAC listing). Amendment 55 made the Judge the executive and the Quorum Court the legislature. County Judge lists at 507 Church Avenue, Box 7. They fund roads, the Church Avenue hall, and the Sheriff’s budget. They do not hire the Sheriff. The people do. Mena City Council is a city body. Wickes and Grannis are town bodies. None of those is this Quorum Court.
County Clerk and Circuit Clerk are separate on Church Avenue. AAC lists Collector at the same 507 Church Avenue Sheriff door — some Arkansas counties still combine those desks. Confirm live. Do not invent a split if the county still combines them. Do not invent a crown. Confirm at arcounties.org/counties/polk.
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.
Ouachita National Forest, Rich Mountain, Oklahoma line. Little Rock is the capital and it is not here.
Nearly half of Polk County lies in the Ouachita National Forest. Rich Mountain peaks at 2,861 feet. Queen Wilhelmina State Park sits on that ridge. Talimena Scenic Drive (Arkansas 88) runs west from Mena into Oklahoma. U.S. 71 and U.S. 59 / 270 / 278 are through roads. The Ouachita River originates here. University of Arkansas at Rich Mountain is a campus — not this government. Scott is north — Waldron is that hall. Montgomery is east — Mount Ida is that hall. Howard is southeast — Nashville, Arkansas, is that hall. Sevier is south — De Queen is that hall. Le Flore County, Oklahoma, is west. McCurtain County, Oklahoma, is southwest. Staff who paste a Bartow citrus postcard onto Church Avenue, or treat Mena as a Florida hall, or file the State Capitol as this seat, are on the wrong county.
How a Mena public finds Church Avenue
County Judge / Quorum Court / Circuit Clerk: 507 Church Avenue, Mena, AR 71953. Sheriff headquarters and jail: 507 Church Avenue, Mena, AR 71953 — office (479) 394-2511. Confirm live doors at the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Association — Polk and arcounties.org/counties/polk before you drive. A student who only knows a Bartow photograph, or only a Little Rock Capitol postcard, has not found Mena.
507 Church still jails. Mena PD does not. Queen Wilhelmina is a park.
Crime in unincorporated Polk — Hatfield remainder, Cove remainder, Wickes remainder, Board Camp remainder, U.S. 71 and Arkansas 88 frontage, forest roads under Rich Mountain — is this Sheriff. Crime in Mena is often Mena Police at 304 De Queen Street. This Sheriff is not that badge. Wickes and Grannis keep town departments where they exist. The Arkansas Sheriffs’ Association lists Polk County Jail at 507 Church Avenue — male and female, published capacity 24. That house is this badge’s shop (A.C.A. § 12-41-502). Aggregators print larger bed counts — confirm live. It is not a separate county Department of Corrections that retired this jailer.
Queen Wilhelmina State Park is a park. It is not this jailer. Ouachita National Forest is federal land with Forest Service officers — not this oval as a federal ranger. UA Rich Mountain Police is a campus badge. Do not send a family looking for a county booking to Bartow, to Des Moines, to a Florida citrus hall, or to Little Rock as this hall.
Care without inventing a mountain chapel as this county
A peace order served in unincorporated Hatfield remainder. A court-ordered transport on the Church Avenue campus without becoming Mena PD. Do not invent a church. Do not invent a Queen Wilhelmina lodge as this oval.
What Polk actually watches
Court calendar on Church Avenue. A wreck on U.S. 71. Fog on Rich Mountain. Ice on Talimena / Arkansas 88. High water on the Ouachita headwaters. Coordination with Mena Police, Forest Service, and ASP without becoming those departments. Coordination with Scott’s Sheriff or Sevier’s Sheriff is mutual aid between two offices, not a merger. The forest is geography. It is not Bartow as this hall. It is not Little Rock as this seat.
Mena snapshot (verify official sources)
- Seat: Mena · the large city on this map · Capital of Arkansas: Little Rock · not here
- Government: nine-member Quorum Court · County Judge 507 Church, Box 7 · separate Clerk and Circuit Clerk · court 507 Church Avenue
- Sheriff: four years · 2026 · HQ and jail 507 Church Avenue — ASA 24-bed male and female, confirm live door · AAC lists Collector on the same Sheriff door
- Neighbors: Scott · Montgomery · Howard · Sevier · Oklahoma Le Flore · Oklahoma McCurtain
- Not Polk County, Florida / Bartow · Not Iowa / Oregon / Tennessee / Texas / Wisconsin · Not a Bartow-with-pines rewrite
What Mena is not, as this county
- Not Polk County, Florida. Not Bartow. Not Lakeland as this hall.
- Not Polk County, Iowa / Oregon / Tennessee / Texas / Wisconsin.
- Not Dallas as the hall now. Not Wickes as the county government. Not Hatfield as the hall.
- Not UA Rich Mountain as this government. Not Mena Police as this Sheriff.
- Not Queen Wilhelmina as this jailer. Not Forest Service as this oval.
- Not a campaign flyer.