city, seat (1869) of Boone county, northwestern Arkansas, U.S., in the Ozark Mountains on Crooked Creek, 80 miles (129 km) south of Springfield, Missouri. The Union general M. Larue Harrison laid out the town site in about 1860. The arrival in 1900 of the Missouri and North Arkansas Railway spurred development and transformed Harrison into a shipping point for livestock, dairy products, timber, limestone, dolomite, and marble.

Its farm- and forestry-based economy is now supplemented by a freight transport company and the manufacture of clothing, aluminum die castings, small appliances, and furniture frames. Tourism became significant after completion of the White River dams, which created such recreational areas as Bull Shoals Lake and State Park (to the northeast). Buffalo National River and sections of Ozark National Forest (Ozark–Saint Francis National Forest) are to the south, and several limestone caves are nearby. Harrison is the home of North Arkansas College (1973), a two-year institution. Inc. town, 1876; city, 1954. Pop. (1990) 9,922; (2000) 12,152.