Map of Bonanza city, Arkansas

Bonanza is a city in Sebastian County, Arkansas, United States. It is part of the Fort Smith, Arkansas–Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the 2010 Census, the population of Bonanza was 575. According to the 2018 US Census Bureau estimates, the population of Bonanza was 564. Bonanza began as a coal mining town of the Central Coal and Coke company.

Bonanza city overview:
Name:	Bonanza city
LSAD Code:	25
LSAD Description:	city (suffix)
State:	Arkansas
County:	Sebastian County
Elevation:	548 ft (167 m)
Total Area:	2.80 sq mi (7.27 km²)
Land Area:	2.79 sq mi (7.22 km²)
Water Area:	0.02 sq mi (0.05 km²)
Total Population:	587
Population Density:	210.62/sq mi (81.32/km²)
ZIP code:	72916
Area code:	479
FIPS code:	0507540
GNISfeature ID:	0057406

Online Interactive Map

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Bonanza online map. Source: Basemap layers from Google Map, Open Street Map (OSM), Arcgisonline, Wmflabs. Boundary Data from Database of Global Administrative Areas.

Bonanza location map. Where is Bonanza city?

Bonanza location on the U.S. Map. Where is Bonanza city. — Bonanza location on the U.S. Map.

Bonanza location on the Arkansas map. Where is Bonanza city. — Location of Bonanza in Arkansas.

History

On October 10, 1851, Sebastian County was created from parts of Crawford, Polk, and Scott County Arkansas placing Bonanza within the boundaries. Coal was discovered near the Arkansas-Oklahoma line about 12 miles southeast of Fort Smith. The Central Coal and Coke company laid tracks to the area in 1896 as part of the “St. Louis and San Francisco Railway”. Bonanza sprang up as a company town. Mine #10 did not give good results but Mine #12 soon had 144 workers. Mine #20 employed 185 workers and Mine #26 employed 76 workers. The workers and their families soon reached a sizable number and C.C. Woodson filed a petition to incorporate and on November 26, 1898 the town was chartered.

Bonanza Race War

Around 200 citizens held a meeting with the purpose of removing black workers from the town. A resolution was passed “demanding that about forty negroes employed by Central Coal and Coke Company leave town.”. On April 30, 1904, there was a gun battle between black and white miners. It was reported that around 500 rounds were fired and the Arkansas Gazette reported on May 7, “nearly all black residents had left the city.”.