Since its incorporation in 1839 Pine Bluff, the seat of government for Jefferson County, has grown southward, away from the Arkansas River. As late as 1880, Pine Bluff was a town of 3,000, an agricultural community economically dependent on the local cotton crop. The Arkansas River offered the only means for transporting the crop, but the river's erratic patterns made it difficult and unpredictable to navigate. The year 1880 proved critical in the city's development, that year Pine Bluff was connected by rail to Little Rock, the capitol of Arkansas. During the decade that followed, two additional rail lines connected Pine Bluff to the cotton rich fields of Arkansas to the southeast and to the flourishing ports of the Mississippi to the east. As a result of this proximity to the rails, Pine Bluff became a major cotton processing and shipping center, boasting the second largest inland cotton warehouse in the United States and the world's largest cotton compressor. Soon, more industry was attracted to the city.
Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, Fifth Avenue Historic District, Jefferson County, Arkansas,, National Register of Historic Places (#80000777), listed 10/29/1980, www.arkansaspreservatin.com, accessed April, 2012.