Town file
Kensett, Arkansas
Kensett, Arkansas (White County, Arkansas) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 30, "A Killer So Clumsy" (9 August 2017). Kensett is a small town in White County in central Arkansas, about an hour outside Little Rock, with a population the episode gives as 1,651.
- Town
- Kensett
- County
- White County
- State
- Arkansas
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 30
- Approximate location
- 35.235, -91.671
Episode 30 / 9 August 2017 / 73 min / full
A Killer So Clumsy
"Let's head out this week to Kensett, Arkansas... it's in White County, Zip Code 72082." about 0:06:39
The case: Murders of Marie Sullens, Margaret Brown and William Brown (November 1, 1989). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2017
- Population
- 1,651
- Median household income
- about $26,000 a year
- Two-bedroom rent
- about $667
- Cost of living
- 73
- Religious
- 60.1%
- Property crime
- about the national average
- Property crime
- ▼ well below the state average
- Violent crime
- ▼ about half
- Violent crime
- ▼ about one third
History, in brief
- Kensett was a stop on the Missouri and North Arkansas Railroad. about 0:07:35
- Before the Civil War the area was all farmland, and a graveyard in the county is said to have unmarked slave graves. about 0:07:51
- The Cairo and Fulton Railroad, later the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railroad, was built through the county in 1872. about 0:08:40
- The settlement was named for Thomas Kensett, a member of the railroad's board of directors. about 0:08:45
- People started to come to the town in the early 1900s. about 0:09:37
- By 1915 a fire had destroyed pretty much the whole business district, including the one grocery store. about 0:09:40
- By 1920 the town had 480 people. about 0:09:54
- In 1946, just after the Second World War, the railroad disestablished itself in the area. about 0:10:06
- In the 1950s the town built a two-storey high school, which was then destroyed by a tornado. about 0:10:12
- The lumber mill changed hands and went in and out of business before closing for good in 2005. about 0:10:43
- A Walmart opened two miles away in the late 1970s, and the town's downtown stores closed down. about 0:11:12
- Public schools in Kensett were finally integrated in 1966. about 0:11:56
The reviews read out
3.9 out of five stars
"Only 3.9 stars on Facebook, which the hosts take as a sign the police cannot even get four stars out of their own town."about 0:20:02
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Austin, Arkansas24 miles
- Cabot, Arkansas27 miles
- Pleasant Grove, Arkansas43 miles
- Bryant, Arkansas63 miles
- Jonesboro, Arkansas69 miles
- Horseshoe Lake, Arkansas80 miles
Everything here is as told in the episode, on the date it went out; figures and places may have changed since. Endings are covered: open an episode and use the spoiler switch to read them.