Lawrence County was formed in 1815 from the Territory of Missouri and became part of the Arkansas Territory in 1819 when Missouri became a state. Thirty-one other counties were formed from Lawrence County, earning it the name "Mother of Counties." Records housed in 130-year-old courthouse vaults form one of the oldest unbroken sets of courthouse records in Arkansas, dating from 1813, and the research room contains family and regional histories, census records, and cemetery and community locator maps for genealogical and other research. Historic Powhatan includes five original structures that reflect 19th-century life. The 1888 Italianate courthouse, equipped with a dumbwaiter and speaking tube, houses exhibits on north Arkansas settlement, life in this once bustling riverport, river transportation, and the Great Powhatan Pearl Rush. Also preserved are the 1828 Ficklin-Imboden House with separate kitchen and slave quarters, the 1875 stone jail with its original cells, the 1887 Telephone Exchange Building, the old steamboat landing, and the 70-foot-high pylons that once supported a suspension bridge over the river. The 1889 Powhatan Male and Female Academy, the park's newest restoration, was widely known in its day as the state's finest elementary and secondary educational institution.