Town file

Mount Ida, Arkansas

Mount Ida, Arkansas (Montgomery County, Arkansas) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 133, "What's That In Your Pocket?" (22 August 2019). Mount Ida sits in Montgomery County in western Arkansas, about an hour and a half from Little Rock.

Town: Mount Ida
County: Montgomery County
State: Arkansas
Country: USA
Episodes: 133
Approximate location: 34.549, -93.630

Static locations; no street basemap. OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles Data from OpenStreetMap.

Episode 133 / 22 August 2019 / 147 min / full

What's That In Your Pocket?

"We're going all the way to Mount Ida, Arkansas; it's in Montgomery County, Zip Code 71957, Area Code 870, in the western part of the state." about 0:08:01

The case: Murder of Essie May Black (August 14th, 1986); Murders by (December 1987). Read the case file.

The figures, as told in 2019

Population: 1,227
Median age: 45.5
Median household income: $38,000
Median home value: $73,400
Two-bedroom rent: about $650
Religious: 44%
Property crime: right about average
Violent crime: ▼ slightly low, maybe 10% low

History, in brief

Stone spear and dart points found in the area show people were in Montgomery County around 8,500 BC, the Dalton culture. about 0:09:58
The Caddo Indians settled there in the 13th and 14th centuries. about 0:12:14
In 1541 DeSoto's people fought the Tula Indians at Cato Gap and he was injured in the battle. about 0:12:52
The first white settlers were Martin and Mary Caulier in 1812. about 0:12:59
Granville Whittington arrived in 1835 and built a road from Hot Springs, a mile north of the original Montgomery settlement. about 0:13:46
Arkansas became a state in 1836, by which time most of the native population had gone. about 0:14:02
Whittington opened a general store and the Mount Ida post office opened in 1842. about 0:14:45
The land was originally Spanish, then French, then part of the Louisiana Purchase. about 0:14:58
Montgomery became its own county in 1842 with Montgomery as the county seat; Salem took it in 1850 and Mount Ida became the seat later the same year. about 0:15:10
A silver boom through the 1880s made the area prosperous. about 0:16:08
When the Civil War broke out most of the county sided with the Confederacy and local men formed a company for the Confederate Army. about 0:16:36
After the war soldiers from both sides settled in the area. about 0:17:43
In the 1880s the town had a steam saw, a cotton gin and a grist mill. about 0:17:48
Mount Ida was incorporated in 1890. about 0:18:19
The Great Depression devastated the town and people began moving away to cities. about 0:18:23
During the Second World War people continued to leave for better paid war work. about 0:19:11
Mining, mostly quartz, was a big employer but did not last. about 0:20:14
Cattle, swine and poultry are now the main areas of employment in the county. about 0:20:40
The town's motto is 'Quartz Crystal Capital of the World'. about 0:08:14
Mount Ida covers about 1.6 square miles. about 0:08:06

The reviews read out

zero stars

"The town is small with little to do unless you attend church or like water sports; chiggers and ticks make the outdoors unbearable, the weather is hot, humid and stormy, the town is unkempt, most people seem unhappy, a thank you from staff would surprise you, and the medical care is the worst and not equipped for emergencies, so do not relocate there."

about 0:21:55

"A review titled 'never go there': it was horrible, there were roaches, the owners were creepy and lurked around and smelled horrible, the room smelled bad, the AC did not work, the reviewer got a refund and stayed elsewhere, and the view was just a ditch."

about 0:23:34

Open the episode file

Nearest Small Town Murder towns

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.