Pine Bluff, city, seat of Jefferson County, central Arkansas, a port on the Arkansas River; incorporated 1849. It is a manufacturing and commercial center in an area of cotton, rice, and soybean farms. Manufactures include paper products, fabricated metal products, and transformers. A federal toxicology research center and the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (1873) are here. Pine Bluff Arsenal is nearby. Settled in 1819 as Mount Marie, the community was renamed in 1832 for a forest of pines overlooking the river. Union forces held the city during the American Civil War, successfully repulsing a Confederate attack in October 1863. Population 56,636 (1980); 57,140 (1990); 52,968 (1998 estimate).
