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Sterling

Ghost town · Chicot County, Arkansas

Readland quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1939, 1:62,500)
Readland quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1939, 1:62,500) · U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection · Public domain

Sterling is a ghost town in Chicot County, Arkansas. It is one of 11 former communities in Chicot County on the federal names register. That ranks the county 24th among the 74 Arkansas counties with a vanished settlement on record.

The U.S. Geological Survey lists Sterling as a historical populated place on the Readland 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 33.0260° N, 91.1834° W.

Key facts

USGS quadrangleReadland
Elevation142 ft
Nearest living townKilbourne, LA
Distance to it7.8 miles
GNIS feature ID61793
Coordinates33.02596, -91.18344

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.

Sterling today, aerial view
Readland quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1939, 1:62,500)

Left: Readland quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1939, 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

Sterling is no longer a community in its own right. The nearest living town is Kilbourne, LA (population 384), about 7.8 miles away in a straight line, and the site sits at roughly 142 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 Sterling?

Sterling is in Chicot County, Arkansas, at 33.0260, -91.1834.

How many ghost towns are in Chicot County?

Chicot County, Arkansas has 11 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.