Van Buren County, Arkansas
Van Buren County · Clinton, Arkansas, is the seat · Crawford County is Van Buren the city · two different halls · Little Rock is the capital of Arkansas
Clinton, Arkansas, is the hall. Van Buren the city is Crawford County. Two different halls.
Van Buren County, Arkansas, was formed November 1833 from parts of Conway, Independence, and Izard, named for Martin Van Buren (then Vice President), the 29th Arkansas county. Association of Arkansas Counties: Clinton is the county seat. 2020 census: 15,796. About 714 square miles. Clinton is the seat. Fairfield Bay is a large lake town — not the hall. Shirley, Damascus (part), Dennard, Scotland, Bee Branch, Formosa, and Choctaw are communities in this county — they are not the hall.
This split is mandatory. Van Buren the city is the seat of Crawford County — already unique as 0128, on the Arkansas River opposite Fort Smith. Two different halls. Two different Sheriffs. Two different jails. Do not paste a river-city skyline onto Clinton. This is not Van Buren County, Michigan (Paw Paw). Not Van Buren County, Iowa (Keosauqua). Not Van Buren County, Tennessee (Spencer). Little Rock is the capital of Arkansas and sits in Pulaski County.
The live courthouse is the 1934 reddish sandstone New Deal house at 273 Main Street, Clinton, AR 72031 (AAC; Circuit Clerk Suite 2). Encyclopedia of Arkansas: Erhart & Eichenbaum; Earl and Carl Bird; stone from a quarry near Dennard; 100 feet by 43 feet — Arkansas’s smallest courthouse by covered ground; National Register 1991; remodeled 1973. Bloomington was the first seat; Clinton from 1844. County Clerk and Assessor list at the Highway 65 South annex (printed 1400 / 1414 Hwy 65 S). Confirm which door is live for which desk before you drive.
This page is Side One for the place. The Sheriff’s job — Ozark-foothill remainder patrol and the house at 184 Detention Drive this badge still holds — is taught at Office of the Sheriff — Van Buren County.
Nine justices. Circuit Clerk at 273 Main. County Clerk on Highway 65 South. They do not hire the Sheriff.
Van Buren is a County Judge plus a nine-member Quorum Court. The Judge lists through Clinton (501-745-2443; mailing P.O. Box 60). They fund roads, the sandstone hall, the annex, and the Sheriff’s budget. They do not hire the Sheriff. The people do. Clinton City Council is a city body. Van Buren City Council is Crawford County. The Arkansas General Assembly sits in Little Rock. None of those is this Quorum Court.
County Clerk lists at 1414 Hwy. 65 S., Suite 128. Circuit Clerk lists at 273 Main St., Suite 2. This county elects a separate Collector. Do not invent a combined Sheriff-Collector here. Confirm live at arcounties.org/counties/van-buren and vanburencountyar.gov. 20th Judicial Circuit — with Faulkner and Searcy on the court map, not a second sheriff, not a merger with Conway the city.
The Sheriff is four years, Article 7, § 46 / 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). 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.
Ozark south slope, Greers Ferry, not Van Buren County, Michigan.
Rugged north, rolling south. U.S. 65 is the spine. Greers Ferry Lake sits on this map and on Cleburne — a lake, not a second county. Little Red River, Gulf Mountain WMA, Natural Bridge of Arkansas are land. Searcy is north. Stone is northeast — Mountain View is that hall. Cleburne is east — Heber Springs is that hall. Faulkner is south — Conway the city is that hall. Conway County is southwest — Morrilton is that hall. Pope is west — Russellville is that hall. Staff who paste Van Buren the city onto Main Street, or treat Clinton as a Crawford suburb, or file Paw Paw, Michigan, as this oval, or file Little Rock as this seat, are on the wrong county.
How a Clinton public finds Main Street, Highway 65 South, and Detention Drive
Circuit Clerk / historic courthouse: 273 Main Street, Clinton, AR 72031. County Clerk / Assessor annex: 1414 Highway 65 South (county pages also print 1400 Hwy 65 S). Sheriff’s Office and Detention Center: 184 Detention Drive, Clinton, AR 72031 — mailing P.O. Box 451 — (501) 745-2112. Confirm live doors at vbcso.com and vanburencountyar.gov before you drive. A student who only knows a Van Buren-the-city riverfront photograph, or only a Michigan courthouse, has not found Clinton.
Detention Drive still jails. Clinton PD does not. Crawford County does not.
Crime in unincorporated Van Buren — Fairfield Bay remainder, Shirley remainder, Bee Branch, Dennard, Scotland, Damascus remainder — is this Sheriff. Crime in Clinton is often Clinton Police. This Sheriff is not that badge. Van Buren Police is a Crawford County city badge — a different oval. Arkansas Sheriffs’ Association lists a 52-bed house, male and female, at 184 Detention Drive. Confirm live capacity on the door the county posts today. That house is this badge’s shop. Crawford’s jail is 4235 Alma Highway in Van Buren the city — not this house. Do not send a family looking for a county booking to Van Buren the city, to Paw Paw, or to Little Rock. Civil process and court security at 273 Main are the Sheriff. Rights do not change because a visitor photographed a river city with the same name.
What the Little Red country actually watches
Court calendar on Main Street. A wreck on U.S. 65. Fog toward Shirley. Ice toward Bee Branch. High water toward Greers Ferry. Coordination with Clinton Police and ASP without becoming those departments. Coordination with Faulkner’s Sheriff or Cleburne’s Sheriff is mutual aid between two offices, not a merger. Coordination with Crawford’s Sheriff is mutual aid between two offices that happen to share a name on a map. Little Rock remains the capital. Clinton remains this hall.
Clinton snapshot (verify official sources)
- Seat: Clinton, Arkansas · not Van Buren the city · Capital of Arkansas: Little Rock · not here
- Government: nine-member Quorum Court · Circuit Clerk 273 Main · County Clerk 1414 Hwy 65 S · smallest covered-ground courthouse in the State
- Sheriff: four years · 2026 · HQ/jail 184 Detention Drive ASA 52 — confirm live
- Neighbors: Searcy · Stone · Cleburne · Faulkner · Conway County · Pope
- Not Crawford County / Van Buren the city · Not Van Buren County, Michigan / Iowa / Tennessee
What Clinton is not — not Van Buren the city
- Not Van Buren the city. Not Crawford County. Not Fort Smith. Not 4235 Alma Highway as this jailer.
- Not Van Buren County, Michigan. Not Paw Paw. Not Van Buren County, Iowa. Not Van Buren County, Tennessee.
- Not Fairfield Bay as the county hall. Not Shirley as the hall. Not Bee Branch as the hall.
- Not Clinton Police as this Sheriff. Not ASP as this oval.
- Not Conway the city as this hall — that is Faulkner. Not Morrilton — that is Conway County.
- Not Little Rock as this seat. Little Rock is the capital.
- Not a campaign flyer.