The landmark Merchants and Planters Bank Building in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Built in 1872, the turreted building epitomized what was then a vibrant and prosperous city in the rich, agricultural south-central Arkansas. Falling crop prices and headlong “white flight” to the suburbs sent the city and its population into a steep decline. According to the nationally distributed USA Today newspaper, Pine Bluff’s population dip was the largest among the nation’s 382 metro areas from 2010 to 2017.