 The name change apparently was inspired by lingering distrust of Powell Clayton, as he had declared martial law and suspended elections in the county in 1868 when he was Governor of Arkansas and it was still part of Greene County.The first county seat was Corning, established in 1873, with the arrival of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway, as the first incorporated town in the county.The county seat was moved to Boydsville in 1877, in what was known as “Old Bradshaw Field”, because people living east of the Black and Cache Rivers had difficulty getting to Corning during the flood season.