Entries - County: Logan - Starting with B

During a period of about three months in the winter of 1947 and 1948, Arkansas was the site of the crash of two military planes on routine flights. On November 17, 1947, a B-25 crashed into Mount Magazine in Logan County, and on February 6, 1948, a B-25 crashed into Round Top Mountain near Jasper (Newton County). A total of eleven people died in the two crashes, with six dying in the 1947 crash. On November 17, 1947, a B-25 lifted off from Chicago, Illinois, at 4:32 p.m. on a routine return flight to Barksdale Field in Shreveport, Louisiana. The plane, with a crew of six, circled over Franklin County around 7:00 p.m. and dropped four flares about forty miles from …

William Corinth Bacon was a decorated career U.S. Air Force officer who flew bombers in World War II and later led strategic bombing groups and nuclear missile wings during the Cold War. William Corinth Bacon was born on April 17, 1919, in Booneville (Logan County), the son of dentist William T. Bacon and Sallie Maxie Bacon. Growing up in Booneville, Bacon proved to be a promising athlete, but as war loomed in 1940 he turned down an opportunity to play baseball professionally—as well as an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York—to enlist in the U.S. Army as an air cadet. He trained at Kelly Field in Texas. Bacon married Doris Fox of San Antonio on …

Barber is an unincorporated community located in southwestern Logan County; it was originally in Scott County, until the county boundaries were changed in 1903. The community was established north of the Petit Jean River along Washburn Creek. Agriculture and the railroad have historically contributed to the economy and way of life in Barber. The community was likely named after a member of the Barber family who lived in the area. Prior to European exploration, the area surrounding Barber was wilderness. Several species of wildlife that no longer inhabit the area, such as elk and buffalo, were present throughout the region. Numerous archaeological sites and burial mounds can be found along the banks of prominent waterways such as the Petit Jean …

Blue Mountain is a town on State Highway 10 in Logan County. It is roughly halfway between Havana (Yell County) and Magazine (Logan County). The town was intended to be a resort community when it was planned in 1900; however, it has remained a quiet residential community in the valley between the Ozark and Ouachita mountains. The town derives its name from a spur of Magazine Mountain, the highest point in the state of Arkansas. One of the first white settlers in the area was Thomas Ryles, who acquired a land patent in 1860. On June 19, 1862, a scout of Federal soldiers visited the Blue Mountain area from Batesville (Independence County) but encountered no resistance. After the Civil War, …

Blue Mountain Lake is a manmade lake, or reservoir, on Petit Jean River in Logan County. A portion of the lake extends into Yell County. The dam was built in the 1940s as a flood-control project, but since its completion, the lake has also provided numerous recreational opportunities. It is named for Blue Mountain, an outcropping of Mount Magazine. Land patents on farmland where the lake now lies were granted to William Mobly, James Henard, and Augustus Ward, all in 1861. By 1891, an unincorporated community called Patsie had developed in the area. Several cemeteries had to be relocated during the development of the lake. In 1899, when the Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad was built to the north of …

Booneville, one of the two Logan County seats, is a progressive community with a wide range of facilities in addition to the normal municipal services. Its commercial activity consists of retail stores and small industries. Booneville supports a community center, a senior citizens center, a community hospital, and a municipal airport. Recreational facilities include two parks and a baseball complex. Louisiana Purchase through Early Statehood One of the oldest towns in western Arkansas, Booneville was founded about 1828, when Walter Cauthron built a log cabin and opened a store near the Petit Jean River in what was then Crawford County. According to the Cauthron family tradition, he intended to name the settlement Bonneville in honor of his friend Captain Benjamin …

Jay Bradford is an Arkansas businessman and government official. A longtime member of the Arkansas General Assembly, he capped a public career of over thirty years with a six-year stint as state commissioner of insurance. Jay T. Bradford was born on April 30, 1940, in Little Rock (Pulaski County) to J. Turner Bradford and Chrystal Jacobs Bradford. He had one brother and two sisters. After Bradford’s mother died when he was eight years old, his father, who was a traveling salesman, placed his children in the care of relatives in Paris (Logan County). After receiving his early education in the local schools, he attended Subiaco Academy, a Catholic college preparatory school in Subiaco (Logan County). After graduating from Subiaco, he …

James Bridges was an Arkansan who became a movie producer, director, and screenwriter. He was known for some of the biggest hit films of the 1970s and 1980s, such as The China Syndrome and Urban Cowboy. He also filmed one of his movies, 9/30/55, in Conway (Faulkner County). James Bridges was born on February 3, 1936, in Paris (Logan County) in western Arkansas. From 1954 to 1956, he attended Arkansas State Teachers College (now the University of Central Arkansas) in Conway, where he was drum major with the marching band and was involved with the performing arts. While in school, Bridges heard about the death of screen legend James Dean on September 30, 1955, an event that later influenced Bridges’s …