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is a city in Marion County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 1,312 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Marion County.
Yellville is named after Archibald Yell who was the first member of the United States House of Representatives from Arkansas, second Governor of Arkansas, and who fell in combat at the Battle of Buena Vista in the Mexican-American War. Yellville existed well before the state of Arkansas was accepted into the United States in 1836, but under a different name. The actual name of Yellville is explained by Marian Burnes in the 1979 book,
''In 1836 Marion County was formed...At that time, Yellville was chosen as a name for the town, in honor of Arkansas's second governor, Archibald Yell. The story has been handed down that he wanted the new town named in his honor and offered the founding fathers $50 to do so. They named it Yellville, but the $50 was never paid. Before Archibald Yell, the settlement was called Shawneetown for the Indian villages located here. Yell fought in the Mexican War under General Zachary Taylor and died in the war in 1848. The name Yell can be seen across Arkansas, as in Yell County, Arkansas and Archibald Yell Boulevard in Fayetteville, Arkansas. At least two biographies of Yell have been written, the most recent published by the University of Arkansas Press in Fayetteville.
In the late 1840s it was the scene of several intense gunfights during the Tutt-Everett War. Interestingly current relatives of Governor Yell read about how Yellville got its name and in 2006 paid the naming fee without interest.
To honor the original town name, the local town branch that flows near Crooked Creek and through town is called the Shawnee Town Branch. There is also a Shawneetown Days Festival.