For Little Rock Public Radio, this is Dan Boice, with Naming Arkansas.
Several Arkansas counties are named for presidents, and most of these are straightforward enough. But Cleveland County received its name in a unique way. Carved from parts of four other counties in 1873, the county was originally named Dorsey County in honor of a railroad executive from Ohio, Stephen Wallace Dorsey, who had lived in Arkansas exactly two years, and had been elected by the Republican state assembly to the United States Senate just one month before the new county was named for him. From the start, Dorsey’s term in the senate was marred by many accusations of corruption. Although he was never convicted, Dorsey’s reputation was ruined, and in 1885, the now Democratic General Assembly renamed the county in honor of the new president who had been sworn in the previous day, Grover Cleveland. Despite his troubles, Stephen Dorsey did help designate Washington’s birthday as a national holiday, tying him indirectly back to another Arkansas county name.
For the University of Arkansas at Monticello, this is Dan Boice.