Entries - County: Hot Spring - Starting with G

Verna Mary Cook Garvan was one of the first women in Arkansas to own a construction/manufacturing business and was the benefactor of what is now Garvan Woodland Gardens in Hot Springs (Garland County). Verna Cook was born on January 22, 1911, in Groveton, Texas, to Arthur Bacillius Cook and Essie Louise Bordis Cook. Verna Cook and her sister, Dorothy, were raised to be “proper ladies,” but Verna often accompanied her father to work and absorbed his business acumen. In 1916, her father moved the family to Malvern (Hot Spring County) to manage the Wisconsin and Arkansas Lumber Company, an enterprise producing oak and pine flooring. Malvern Brick and Tile was also purchased by Verna’s father, who later served as a …

The Gatewood House, designed in the Shingle architectural style, is gambrel-roofed home located in Malvern (Hot Spring County). Constructed in 1905, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 24, 1992. The house was constructed by Matthew and Hannah Duffie for their daughter, Annie Sinney Duffie Gatewood. Amie married Edwin Lee Gatewood in Dallas County in 1893, and the couple had three children between 1894 and 1902. Edwin died in Beebe (White County) on April 14, 1905, and Annie lived in the home with her children, Anita, Edwin, and Estell. She died on March 2, 1947, and is buried with her husband in Malvern. The home is located at 235 Pine Bluff Street and faces north. …

Thomas Jefferson (Tom or T. J.) Gentry Jr. served two terms as Arkansas’s attorney general (1953–1956) and, during his tenure, was the state’s most influential racially moderate elected official. He helped guide the state’s initial response to the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, putting the state on an early path that won accolades from national Black press and condemnations from segregationists. Gentry’s (and the state’s) moderation, though, could not survive the rise of massive resistance that followed the Arkansas congressional delegation’s signing of the Southern Manifesto in March 1956. He would never win statewide office again, and a once promising political career had been derailed. Tom Gentry was born in Malvern (Hot Spring County) on April 3, 1915, …

Gifford is an unincorporated community located in Hot Spring County about five miles northeast of the city limits of Malvern (Hot Spring County). It is located about one mile northeast of the intersection of U.S. Highway 67 and U.S. Highway 270 in Gifford Township. Early settlers in the community include John West, who obtained eighty acres of land in 1857. He farmed the land with his wife and children. Other land grants were awarded after the Civil War, with John Richardson receiving eighty acres in 1875 and Christopher Chapman claiming land three years later. Additional residents moved to the area after the completion of the Cairo and Fulton Railroad in 1873. The railroad proved to be an important part of …

Glen Rose is located ten miles northeast of Malvern (Hot Spring County) on U.S. Highway 67. Residents of this community have Malvern mailing addresses and phone numbers, but the population of the area is served by its own school district. There are two stories as to how the community of Glen Rose got its name. One story states that when a salesman called on the school, he learned that the school did not yet have a name. He suggested Glen Rose—Glen for “valley” and Rose for the rose bushes on the campus. However, a 1941 Malvern Daily Record article states that the community was named for a coach, Glen Rose, at the University of Arkansas (UA) in Fayetteville (Washington County). Rose served …