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Canaan Community is located near Marshall, in Searcy County, Arkansas. Canaan was first settled by several families from Wayne County, Tennessee, who moved to Arkansas about 1851, looking for cheap land. They wanted the same type of land they had lived on in Tennessee, and they found it in Searcy County.
Canaan Community was originally called Horton Bend, because of the large number of Horton families that settled in that area in the 1850's. Ikey Horton had a large family of 16 children --12 of whom lived to adulthood and settled their families in that area.
Another early settler was John Leslie, a country doctor and a Baptist preacher. He helped organize a Baptist church there in 1872. At that time the church was given the name Canaan, from the Bible. From that time on, the community also was called Canaan.
The Adams families were also early settlers of the area. They settled on Bear Creek. Another early settler, Lemuel Holsted, settled his family on what became known as Holsted Creek.
Still another early settler was Gipson Parks. He settled on Bear Creek. The Canaan Cemetery was started on land belonging to Gipson Parks.
The first known schoolhouse was a log structure built in the 1860's. It was used until the late 1890's, when a new schoolhouse and church was built.
A cotton gin was built in the community and used from the 1860's to the 1900's.