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Medford

Ghost town · Desha County, Arkansas

Red Fork quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1935, 1:62,500)
Red Fork quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1935, 1:62,500) · U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection · Public domain

Medford is a ghost town in Desha County, Arkansas. It is one of 10 former communities in Desha County on the federal names register. That ranks the county 36th among the 74 Arkansas counties with a vanished settlement on record.

The U.S. Geological Survey lists Medford as a historical populated place on the Watson topographic quadrangle: the name is no longer in official use for a community, whether the settlement was abandoned, absorbed into a neighbouring town or renamed. The recorded location is 33.9459° N, 91.3501° W.

Key facts

USGS quadrangleWatson
Elevation169 ft
Nearest living townWatson, AR
Distance to it6.4 miles
GNIS feature ID63811
Coordinates33.94594, -91.35012

Open the location on a map

Then and now

Drag the slider: the old USGS map on the left, the same ground from the air today on the right. Both cover the same 1.9-mile square centred on the recorded location.

Medford today, aerial view
Red Fork quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1935, 1:62,500)

Left: Red Fork quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1935, 1:62,500), U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection. Right: The same ground today: NAIP aerial imagery, USDA Farm Service Agency, National Agriculture Imagery Program (via USGS). Both public domain.

What's there now

Medford is no longer a community in its own right. The nearest living town is Watson, AR (population 190), about 6.4 miles away in a straight line, and the site sits at roughly 169 feet above sea level. The aerial view above shows what covers the ground today. Much of the land around former townsites is private; check access before you visit.

Nearby places

Questions

Where is Medford?

Medford is in Desha County, Arkansas, at 33.9459, -91.3501.

How many ghost towns are in Desha County?

Desha County, Arkansas has 10 ghost towns on record at Wayfarrow.

Sources and licences

Facts marked "approximately" carry an uncertain date in the source. Text on this page is generated from the sources above; no encyclopedia prose is copied. Last updated 2026-11-05.