Greenland occupies the point where Washington County's farmland begins its climb into the Boston Mountains, immediately south of Fayetteville. Interstate 49 runs along the city's western edge and US Highway 71 through its center, giving residents a direct line north into Fayetteville and the University of Arkansas while keeping a noticeably slower pace of life than its larger neighbor. The town's modern history traces to the 1882 arrival of the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway, which turned early fruit-growing and poultry farms into a settled community incorporated in 1910. Greenland School District, including Greenland High School, serves the area today. The town suits buyers drawn to Ozark terrain, acreage, and small-town scale who still want a quick highway run into Fayetteville.