  baxter county is a county located in the u.s. state of arkansas. as of the 2010 census, the county's population was 41,513. the county seat is mountain home. it is arkansas's 66th county, formed on march 24, 1873 and named for elisha baxter, the tenth governor of arkansas. the mountain home, ar micropolitan statistical area includes all of baxter county. it is in the northern part of the state, and shares a border with missouri. it is commonly referred to as the twin lakes area because it is bordered by two of arkansas' largest lakes, bull shoals lake and norfork lake. on its southern border is the norfork tailwater and the buffalo national river. the baxter bulletin weekly newspaper was named in 1973 by the newspaper enterprise association as the "best overall weekly newspaper in the united states" in the over 10,000-circulation category. at the time it was published by harold e. martin and was the largest weekly paper in arkansas. ==geography== according to the u.s. census bureau, the county has a total area of , of which  is land and  (5.5%) is water. ===major highways===  *20px us 62 *25px us 412 *25px u.s. route 62 business *20px arkansas highway 5 *20px arkansas highway 14 *24px arkansas highway 101 *24px arkansas highway 126 *24px arkansas highway 177 *24px arkansas highway 178 *24px [[arkan
1873_establishments_in_Arkansas Arkansas_counties Populated_places_established_in_1873