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Sydenham

Ghost town · Washington County, Arkansas

Elkins quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1958, 1:24,000)
Elkins quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1958, 1:24,000) · U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection · Public domain

Sydenham is a ghost town in Washington County, Arkansas. It is one of 12 former communities in Washington County on the federal names register. That ranks the county 21st among the 74 Arkansas counties with a vanished settlement on record.

The U.S. Geological Survey lists Sydenham as a historical populated place on the Elkins 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 36.0551° N, 94.0252° W.

Key facts

USGS quadrangleElkins
Elevation1,497 ft
Nearest living townElkins, AR
Distance to it2.6 miles
GNIS feature ID81635
Coordinates36.05508, -94.02520

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.

Sydenham today, aerial view
Elkins quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1958, 1:24,000)

Left: Elkins quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1958, 1:24,000), 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

Sydenham is no longer a community in its own right. The nearest living town is Elkins, AR (population 3,710), about 2.6 miles away in a straight line, and the site sits at roughly 1,497 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 Sydenham?

Sydenham is in Washington County, Arkansas, at 36.0551, -94.0252.

How many ghost towns are in Washington County?

Washington County, Arkansas has 12 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.