Arnette

Arnette, Texas is a fictional town and location in The Stand by Stephen King. Just over 100 miles from Houston, it is where the hero Stuart Redman was born and raised, and Hapscomb's Texaco just outside it is the place where the Flight of the Campions ends, which begins the story. As a result, it appears in almost all versions and adaptations.

History and Demographics
In the Complete and Uncut Edition, it is stated it had two factories in 1980 - a paper plant for picnic products and a calculator factory. By 1990, the paper plant has closed, and the calculator factory (where Stu works) is shrinking, due to that work moving overseas to Asia.

The town was never a bustling metropolis, however. In the 1950s and '60s, the Red Ball Truck Stop outside it was a main source of jobs both for Stu and his mother, but it burned down in 1969 and was never rebuilt. One of the few ways to escape the town was to play football, which is how the local hero Eddie Warfield succeeded.

Even Bill Hapscomb's gas station is struggling, as very little traffic reaches the town from Houston anymore.

The east side of town is where most of its small black population lives.

Arnette is likely at least loosely based on the real-life town of Arnett, Texas, which is about as far from Austin as Arnette is from Houston. Due to its few businesses, however, Arnette would be somewhat larger, as the census population of Arnett in 2000 was twenty.

In Story
After Charles Campion's crash, the town - along with the much larger neighboring Braintree, on which Arnette relies for most of its services, including police and hospitals - is quarantined by the United States government, but Captain Trips is already spreading across the country. Almost all of the residents of Arnette are taken into quarantine, but only Stu himself survives, as he is immune.

Complete and Uncut Edition

 * Chapter 1 - first appearance
 * Chapter 3