Tucker, Arkansas


Tucker is an Unincorporated community in Jefferson County, Arkansas. It has an elevation of 226 ft and is located southeast of Little Rock.

History

In 1871 John Woodfin Tucker established the Tucker Plantation, named after his wife, Sarah E. Tucker. The plantation, which mostly produced cotton, expanded to occupy. Paid farmworkers and resident sharecroppers worked the land. The Tucker family managed the post office and the store.

Demographics

Circa 1958, Tucker had 74 residents.

Government and infrastructure

Local government

The Tucker Volunteer Fire Department provides fire services. The fire station is along Arkansas Highway 15.

State representation

The Arkansas Department of Correction operates the ADC Complex in Tucker; the complex is off Arkansas Highway 15, south of England and north of Pine Bluff. The two prison units in the complex are the Tucker Unit and the Maximum Security Unit. The ADC training academy, the Willis S. Sargent Training Academy, is in the complex, adjacent to the Maximum Security and Tucker units.
In 1916 the state purchased of land to establish the Tucker Unit. In 1933 the death chamber moved from the Arkansas State Penitentiary to the Tucker Unit, because the penitentiary closed. The final execution at Tucker, before the death penalty in Arkansas was declared to be unconstitutional, took place in 1964. In 1974 male death row inmates, previously at the Tucker Unit, were moved to the Cummins Unit, which is not in Tucker. In 1978 a new death chamber opened in Cummins, so Tucker Unit was no longer the point of execution. In 1986, male death row inmates were moved to the Maximum Security Unit in Tucker. In 2000, the ADC training academy moved to its current location from the former Barnes School building. On Friday August 22, 2003, all 39 Arkansas death row inmates were moved from the Maximum Security Unit to the Supermax at the Varner Unit, which is not in Tucker.

Federal representation

The United States Postal Service operates the Tucker Post Office. When members of the Tucker family operated the post office, the family used the post office as a makeshift banking facility via money order sales; the scheme was used to support customers who were not able to afford establishing conventional bank accounts.

Education

Tucker is served by the Dollarway School District. Students are zoned to James Matthews Elementary School, Robert F. Morehead Middle School, and Dollarway High School, all in Pine Bluff.
Up until the 1980s its school district was the Plum Bayou-Tucker School District, which was to be annexed by the Wabbaseka School District due to financial difficulties; the Plum Bayou-Tucker district was to be dissolved with Wabbaseka absorbing the new territory. On July 1, 1983 the consolidation into the Wabbaseka-Tucker School District occurred. For a period the district operated Tucker Elementary School.
On September 1, 1993, Wabbaseka Tucker consolidated into the Altheimer Unified School District; Altheimer Unified operated two schools: Martin Elementary School and Altheimer-Sherrill High School. The Altheimer Unified School District consolidated into the Dollarway School District on July 10, 2006.