Named for early Arkansas Territory settler Richard Searcy, the city of Searcy was established by the Arkansas State legislature as the county seat in 1837. Early resident and surveyor Israel Moore named Searcy's original streets after those of Old Philadelphia, including Race, Arch, Vine, Market, Spring, Cherry, Locust, Pine, and Spruce, while replacing Chestnut Street with Main Street because he considered it more fitting for a frontier town. Along these streets stand many of Searcy's oldest historic homes and businesses, including the Georgian-style White County courthouse completed in 1871, the Hicks-Dugan-Deener house built in 1855, the Lattimer house built in 1895, the site of Galloway College founded in 1889 and later the location of Harding University since 1934, and Yarnell's Ice Cream Company and the Rialto Theater, both built in 1923.