Lenox (Clark County)

Lenox (sometimes spelled Lennox) was a small community in Clark County, located about four miles northeast of Fendley (Clark County), near DeGray Lake. The origin of the community’s name is unknown—while a Lenox family did reside in Clark County at the beginning of the twentieth century, they did not reside near the community.

The earliest settlers in the area arrived in 1860 when Benjamin Easley obtained 280 acres of land from the Federal Land Patent Office. Boley Matlock obtained eighty acres in the area the same year. After the Civil War, more families slowly moved into the area. Asa Holcomb and his family arrived in 1871. In 1913, his grandson obtained forty acres of land in the Lenox area. John Hughes received forty acres of land in the area in 1920. He later served as postmaster of the community as well as a justice of the peace. The surrounding area was heavily forested, and the families near Lenox operated small farms.

The Lenox Post Office opened in 1901. The post office in the nearby community of Sodom consolidated with the Lenox office in 1922. The Lenox post office closed in 1936, and operations were transferred to the Fendley office. At least one cotton gin operated in the area in the early twentieth century.

In late 1941, the community received electric power as part of the Rural Electrification Act. The first mention of a school in the community appeared in 1908. The Lenox School consolidated with the Amity School District in 1942.

A Methodist church served by a circuit rider operated in the community in the early twentieth century. A cemetery was established next to the church. A regular column written about the community appeared in the Southern Standard newspaper from 1907 until 1972. News from Lenox was often combined with information from other nearby communities, including Fendley.

In the twenty-first century, the community consists of several homes and serves as a bedroom community for Arkadelphia (Clark County) and other nearby towns. Part of the original land grant of Benjamin Easley is now covered by DeGray Lake.

For additional information:
Richter, Wendy, et al. Clark County Arkansas: Past and Present. Arkadelphia, AR: Clark County Historical Association, 1992.

David Sesser
Henderson State University