page_title: Halley, Arkansas
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Halley, Arkansas / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Tornado damage to farm south of Halley, Arkansas.
context_page_description: Halley is an unincorporated community in Desha County, Arkansas, United States.
context_section_description: John J. Bowie (eldest brother of James Bowie) purchased land in the area in 1857.
  Construction of the Mississippi, Ouachita and Red River Railroad—the first chartered railway in Alabama—began in 1852, and 7 mi (11 km) of track had been laid west from Eunice by the start of the Civil War.  The line passed through Bowie's land, and a stop there was called "Bowie Station".  The railroad was completed after the war, but abandoned in 1875 after flooding on the Mississippi River damaged the railbed and bridges.  Highway 208 between Eunice and Halley was built on the abandoned railbed.
  Bowie Station was later renamed "Halley" after early settlers, the Halley family.
  In 1901, a line of the Missouri Pacific Railroad was built through Halley.
caption: This farm south of Halley was damaged when an EF2 tornado struck  Chicot and Desha counties on December 20–21, 2013.[2]
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