Entries - County: Nevada

Allen Tire Company and Gas Station

The Allen Tire Company and Gas Station was a Craftsman-style, purpose-built gas station located in Prescott (Nevada County). Constructed in 1924, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 25, 2001. The building burned around 2019 and no longer exists. The building was constructed by Henry Harrison Allen after his retirement from the lumber industry in 1924. Built on the corner of the same lot as his home, the station was located at 228 First Street Southwest. (First Street is also U.S. Highway 67.) The Allen family operated a combined gas station and tire company in the building, and for at least part of that period, the station sold Magnolia-brand gasoline. Allen operated the station until …

Bluff City (Nevada County)

  Bluff City is a town on State Highway 24 in eastern Nevada County. It is near both Poison Springs Battleground State Park and White Oak Lake State Park. When European explorers and settlers first came to what would be Nevada County, the Caddo were already living there. By the time of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the Caddo lived mostly in the Red River valley but still claimed land to the north as hunting territory. In 1835, a treaty removed the Caddo from Arkansas. Settlement was gradual, but, by the 1860s, a number of plantations had been established in the township that was to include Bluff Springs. Among the landowners in the township were James Barlow, Elijah Frisby, Enoch …

Bodcaw (Nevada County)

Bodcaw is a town in southern Nevada County on State Highway 53, about sixteen miles south of Prescott (Nevada County). The name Bodcaw was first given to a creek in Nevada County. It appears on a map from 1824, spelled Bodcau. The name is thought to be either from the Choctaw word “bokko,” meaning hillock or mound, or a misreading of the French name Bodeau or Badeau. The Caddo, who lived in the Red River valley, used to hunt as far north as Bodcaw. Among the first white settlers to claim land in the area were Jenkins Scott in 1855, David Montgomery in 1860, and Robert Berry in 1861. A post office opened in Bodcaw in 1878, and a stagecoach …

Boughton (Nevada County)

Boughton (Nevada County) is an unincorporated community in Boughton Township. Boughton is about four miles northeast of Prescott (Nevada County) and about ten miles southwest of Gurdon (Clark County). The area around Boughton belonged to Hempstead County before Nevada County was formed in 1871. J. T. Cooper opened a general store in the Boughton area in 1872. Created by the Cairo and Fulton Railroad, Boughton served as a stop on the rail line. It was laid out in the summer of 1873 by R. F. Elgin, along with townsites at Prescott and Emmet (Nevada and Hempstead counties). Boughton and the others grew quickly as people from across the countryside were attracted to the new settlements. In 1875, the Nevada County …

Cale (Nevada County)

Cale is a town on Highway 200 near the center of Nevada County. Created as a lumber community around the beginning of the twentieth century, Cale did not incorporate until 1971. Several landowners received land patents for the location where Cale would be built just before the Civil War. They include Jessee C. Capshaw in 1857; Charles Muirehead in 1859; and John Atkins, George Daniell, and Andrew Walker, all in 1860. Although many of the men of the area fought in the Civil War, leaving their farms to be tended by wives and children, the actual conflict did not come closer than the Camden Expedition of 1864, which was turned back some miles east of the area. Cale was built …

Camden to Washington Road, Rosston Segment

The Camden to Washington Road formerly connected the towns of Camden (Ouachita County) and Washington (Hempstead County). Some sections of the road still exist in the twenty-first century, including a segment near Rosston (Nevada County) that is part of Nevada County Road 10. This portion of the road was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 29, 2009. The first effort to create the road began in 1821 when residents of Hempstead County petitioned the Court of Common Pleas to construct a road linking their county with a point on the Ouachita River. This would allow farmers to transport their crops to the nearest navigable river. A map drawn that same year shows a road leaving Ecore …

Carolina Methodist Church

The Carolina Methodist Church is located near Rosston (Nevada County). Constructed in 1871, the building and associated cemetery are the last remnants of the Carolina community. The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 3, 1991. The first settlers to the area began arriving around 1855, when the land was part of Ouachita County. Some evidence suggests that the church congregation was founded the following year. The land where the church would be built was purchased by the board of trustees for twenty-five cents on January 15, 1870, from the John W. Shell and W. C. Hatley families. The church building was likely constructed by the following year, and the property records were transferred to …

D. L. McRae House

The D. L. McRae House is located in Prescott (Nevada County). Designed by architect Charles Thompson and commissioned by Duncan McRae Sr., the house was constructed in 1912 and added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 22, 1982. The son of Arkansas governor and member of the U.S. House of Representatives Thomas Chipman McRae, Duncan McCrae was born on October 27, 1885. He grew up in Prescott and graduated from Prescott High School before attending several colleges, including Arkansas College (now Lyon College) and Vanderbilt University. After being admitted to the bar in 1907, McCrae worked as an attorney in Prescott and served as the city recorder in 1908–1909. He became a member of the firm McRae …

Daily Picayune

The Prescott Daily Picayune was the oldest newspaper in Nevada County. For over 140 years, it chronicled the lives of Nevada County’s citizens. Its long history was marked by frequent name changes and numerous owners. When it ceased production in 2018, it left a legacy of reporting the news for the people of Nevada County. In 1875, brothers Eugene E. White and W. B. White established Nevada County’s first newspaper, the Prescott Banner, in Prescott (Nevada County). Over the next two years, the paper’s name changed from the Prescott Banner to the Prescott Clipper, both closing after a short publication run. Meanwhile, Eugene E. White opened the Nevada Picayune on February 14, 1878, as owner and editor. He remained until …

De Ann Cemetery Historic Section

The De Ann Cemetery Historic Section is part of the Prescott City Cemetery located in Prescott (Nevada County). The original cemetery, the De Ann section, was created in the 1870s and officially opened in 1880. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 1, 2005. The cemetery is located on U.S. Highway 371/Greenlawn Street to the west of downtown Prescott. The original section is located south of the highway, and an addition is located to the north. Only the original section was added to the National Register. It is named for Prairie D’Ane (or De Ann), on which it rests. The earliest dated grave in the cemetery is for an infant who died on December 18, …

Dickinson, Samuel Dorris

Samuel Dorris Dickinson was an archaeologist, historian, journalist, linguist, and college instructor. He was one of the early academically trained archaeologists to work and teach in Arkansas. He was a participant in the development of the field of archaeology in the United States, when few who worked as archaeologists had college degrees. He was an editor at the Arkansas Gazette, Arkansas Democrat, and Shreveport Journal for nearly thirty years. Dickinson was a well-known collector of antiques from the early territorial period of Arkansas. He also acquired folk art, religious art, books, paintings, and fossils. Dickinson published widely on his archaeological and historical research in a number of regional professional journals. Sam Dickinson was born on February 26, 1912, in Prescott …

Emmet (Nevada and Hempstead Counties)

The city of Emmet was established in Nevada County in 1883 as a stop on the Cairo and Fulton Railroad. Located halfway between Prescott (Nevada County) and Hope (Hempstead County), the city has expanded its boundaries to include a small portion of Hempstead County. The second-class city was at one time home to a carriage factory and historic village. Nevada County was not created until 1871. Before the arrival of European explorers and settlers, the land was home to the Caddo, until it was acquired by the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase. Dominated by pine forests, the land was only gradually cleared for cotton and other crops. Larger plantations were built to the south, but northern Nevada …

Emmet Lynching of 1891

On Saturday, December 12, 1891, an “unknown tramp,” apparently a white man, was hanged at Emmet (Nevada and Hempstead Counties) for having allegedly attempted to rape a schoolgirl named Bettie McGough. According to a report in the Arkansas Gazette, on Tuesday, December 8, McGough and schoolmate Hattie McFarland, after the dismissal of school for the day, started to make their way to the home of a Mrs. Rosenberry, where they planned to spend the night. The road to Mrs. Rosenberry’s house led through a wooded area, and “when the young ladies reached the thickest part of the timber,” they found that a “dirty tramp” had been following them. The two girls fled in separate directions, but McGough “became entangled in …

Emmet United Methodist Church

The Emmet United Methodist Church is located at 209 Walnut Street in Emmet (Nevada and Hempstead counties). The church was constructed around 1917 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 23, 2009. Emmet was platted in 1873 when construction on the Cairo and Fulton Railroad reached the area. Most of the land where the town is located became the property of the president and vice president of the railroad in 1874. Several lots in the town were set aside for the use of schools and churches. A Methodist church was established in the area around 1855 and was used for several decades. The church received a lot in the new town for construction of a …

Ephesus Cemetery

The Ephesus Cemetery is located north of Emmet (Nevada and Hempstead counties). The cemetery is next to the original location of the Ephesus Primitive Baptist Church, established in 1860. The oldest dated burial is from November 1876, and the cemetery was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 22, 2009. Early settlers to the area began arriving in the 1850s. A post office in the Emmet area was established in 1871, and the town was platted in 1873. The Ephesus Primitive Baptist Church was one of the earliest churches in the area. A school also operated at the site at the time of the founding of the church, according to the deed dated January 3, 1860. The …

Falcon (Nevada County)

Falcon is an unincorporated community in southern Nevada County. One of the oldest communities in the area, it reached its pinnacle even before the creation of Nevada County. Located about six miles south of Bodcaw (Nevada County), it is also twenty-three miles south of the county seat of Prescott (Nevada County) and sixteen miles southeast of Hope (Hempstead County). The community is centered on the intersection of Arkansas Highways 53 and 355 about one mile north of the Lafayette County line. Many settlers arrived in the area in the 1850s. Early landowners in the area included John Richardson, who received almost forty acres of land in 1850. Elijah Lewis, James Hardwick, and James H. Hardwick jointly received a land patent …

Gilmore, Felix (Lynching of)

On May 26, 1916, Felix Gilmore (sometimes referred to as Felix/Phelix Gilman or Gillmore) was hanged by a mob near Prescott (Nevada County) for allegedly attempting to assault a seventeen-year-old girl. At the time of the federal census in 1910 (six years before the incident), Gilmore was listed as a ten-year-old African American living in Prescott with his parents, Frank and Pearl Gilmore. His father was working in a sawmill, and his mother was a washerwoman. They were renting their home, and they could all read and write. If the census record is correct, Gilmore was only sixteen at the time of his death, although newspapers reported him to be older. He had apparently been in trouble before. According to …

Greeson, Martin White

Martin White Greeson was an attorney and civic activist who spent most of his adult life advocating for the construction of a dam on the Little Missouri River. He believed that such a structure was critical both to flood prevention and economic development. While he did not live to see his dream come to fruition, the dam was completed not long after his death. The resulting Lake Greeson was named in his honor. Martin W. Greeson was born on November 7, 1866, in Clinton (Van Buren County). He was one of two children of Hartwell and Louisa Greeson, and he had two half-sisters from his father’s previous marriage. He received his early education in the local schools, and he himself …

Hamby, Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus Hamby of Prescott (Nevada County) was an attorney and political figure who served as acting governor of Arkansas for four months in the summer of 1892 during Governor James P. Eagle’s illness and absence from the state. Born on September 14, 1851, in Calhoun County, Mississippi, C. C. Hamby was the son of Thomas Jefferson Hamby, a farmer who served in a Mississippi regiment of the Confederate army, and his wife, Nancy Elizabeth Byars. Because of the hardships during the Civil War, Hamby’s education was limited. He went to work as a brakeman for the Mississippi Central Railroad at the age of eighteen. In 1872, Hamby moved to Logan County, Arkansas, where he attended school and worked on …

Henry McKenzie House

The Henry McKenzie House is a transitional Queen Anne/Colonial Revival home located in Prescott (Nevada County). Constructed in 1902 at 324 East Main Street, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 3, 1998. Prescott was founded as a railroad town in 1874 and became the seat of Nevada County in 1877. The growing town attracted many professionals, including attorney Henry McKenzie. McKenzie purchased the lot from the nieces of former Arkansas governor Thomas C. McRae. Local oral tradition suggests that the house was designed by Charles Thompson, although no evidence has been found to support this claim. McKenzie sold the home to fellow attorney William V. Tompkins, who was McRae’s law partner, and his wife …

Kitchens, Wade Hampton

Wade Hampton Kitchens was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He represented the Fourth District of Arkansas in the Seventy-fifth and Seventy-sixth Congresses from 1937 to 1941. Wade Hampton Kitchens was born on December 26, 1878, on a farm near Falcon (Nevada County) to James Monroe Kitchens and Margret Sherrill Kitchens. He had eleven siblings. His formal education included the area’s local common schools, Southern Academy, and then the University of Arkansas (UA) in Fayetteville (Washington County), which he attended from 1895 to 1898. With no academic legal education available at the university or anywhere within the state, Kitchens left UA and continued his formal studies at the law department of Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee, from …

Laneburg (Nevada County)

Laneburg is an unincorporated community in Nevada County about eight miles southeast of Prescott (Nevada County) and about fourteen miles east of Hope (Hempstead County). The community is located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 371 and Arkansas Highway 372. Early settlers in the area included John Norris, who obtained a federal land patent for forty acres of land in the area in 1839. Gad Bradly, a free African-American man, moved onto 120 acres southwest of Laneburg in 1839 and received the patent to the land in 1844. Melson Washington also obtained forty acres in the community in 1849. Other early landowners included George Smith and Calvin McCleland, who jointly obtained 160 acres in 1851. Before the formation of Nevada …

Lindsey, Donnie Lee, Sr.

Donnie Lee Lindsey, longtime bishop within the Church of God in Christ (COGIC) in Arkansas and noted businessman, founded the regionally famous Lindsey’s Barbecue in North Little Rock (Pulaski County). He was inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame in 2015. Donnie Lee Lindsey was born in Bluff City (Nevada County) on April 17, 1924, to Newton Lindsey and Anna Lindsey. His father was a sharecropper. By the 1930 census, he had one brother and four sisters. The family moved to the Maumelle (Pulaski County) area when Lindsey was four years old. In an interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Lindsey described himself as a rebellious youth who dropped out of school, only returning at age seventeen to attend the …

Meahl, Helen Mae Eidson Buchanan

Helen Meahl served in the Fifty-fifth Arkansas General Assembly, representing Nevada County, from 1945 to 1946. She later served as a professor of sociology in Tennessee and Pennsylvania.  Helen Mae Eidson was born in Springdale (Washington and Benton counties) on September 3, 1912, one of four children in the family of Robert Anson Eidson, who was a farm laborer, and Ruby Ann O’Neil Eidson, a homemaker. After graduating from Springdale High School in 1931, she lived with an aunt and uncle in Oklahoma for a year then attended Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee for one semester.  Moving back and enrolling at the University of Arkansas (UA) in Fayetteville (Washington County), Eidson was vice president of the Home Economics Club, president of the Baptist Student Union, active in the YMCA, on the editorial staff of Arkansas Agriculturalist magazine, and named Who’s Who in Ag School, one of four senior women …

Moscow, Action at

The Action at Moscow on April 13, 1864, signaled that Major General Frederick Steele’s Union forces would not be allowed to occupy Camden (Ouachita County) without a fight. Although Confederate Washington (Hempstead County) would be spared from Union occupation, the Confederates were not content to merely defend this town—they went on the offensive. Steele withdrew from Prairie D’Ane in Nevada County and began marching on Camden on April 12, 1864. His rear guard was the Frontier Division, consisting of about 5,000 men commanded by Brigadier General John M. Thayer. This division was camped near the village of Moscow, on the edge of Prairie D’Ane, on April 13, 1864. Steele’s army made slow progress on its march to Camden, so Thayer’s …

Mount Moriah (Nevada County)

Mount Moriah (Nevada County) is an unincorporated community located in Caney Township along U.S. Highway 371. The community is about three miles southeast of Laneburg (Nevada County) and eleven miles southeast of Prescott (Nevada County). Mount Moriah served as the first seat of Nevada County, although only temporarily. Early settlers in the area included John and Daniel Morrison, who obtained more than 185 acres of land in the area in 1837. John Dillard obtained 120 acres in 1857. William Dillard obtained more than 107 acres two years later. Mount Moriah’s post office opened in 1844. It closed in 1918, and the community is served by the office located in Rosston (Nevada County) in the twenty-first century. Established on March 20, …

Munn, John Calvin

Lieutenant General John Calvin “Toby” Munn was a commander in the Pacific Theater of World War II and a pioneer among U.S. Marine aviators who perfected the use of aircraft carriers for combat operations. After the war, he was responsible for securing the major Japanese Yokosuka Naval Base, which became the largest U.S. naval base in the Far East. During his career, he continued to guide the improvement of U.S. Marine air capabilities, and he rose to the top echelon of marine leadership as the assistant commandant of the United States Marine Corps. John Calvin Munn was born in Prescott (Nevada County) on October 17, 1906, to a recently widowed schoolteacher named Cora Hitt Munn. At the age of five, …

Nevada County

Located in the West Gulf Coastal Plain, Nevada County has a variety of sandy loam and silty clay loam soils, as well as extensive pine and hardwood forests. The Little Missouri River, the major stream in the area, separates Nevada County from Clark and Pike counties to the north. The Reconstruction legislature formed Nevada County in 1871 from Hempstead, Ouachita, and Columbia counties. Prescott, the county seat with a population of 3,101 (as of the 2020 census), is the largest city. Other important towns are Emmet, Willisville, Rosston, Bodcaw, Falcon, Cale, and Bluff City. The reason for the selection of the county’s name has been lost. “Sierra nevada,” as in the Sierra Nevada in California, means “snowy range” in Spanish. …

Nevada County Courthouse

The Nevada County Courthouse is located in downtown Prescott (Nevada County). Constructed in 1964, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 24, 2018. Nevada County was organized on March 20, 1871, from portions of Hempstead, Columbia, and Ouachita counties. The county court convened for the first time at Mount Moriah Methodist Church on May 8, 1871. No incorporated towns existed in the county. The following year, Rosston was named as the county seat by a governor-appointed commission, and in 1877, the voters of the county selected Prescott as the county seat. When the county seat moved to Prescott, a two-story building on East First Street served as the courthouse. Three permanent purpose-built courthouses have served …

Nevada County Depot and Museum

The Nevada County Depot and Museum, founded in 1976, is the only museum in Nevada County. Located in the 1912 Iron Mountain Railroad Depot in downtown Prescott (Nevada County), it is a non-profit organization that preserves and promotes the history of Nevada County. In 1968, passenger service from the Prescott Depot was suspended by the successor to the Iron Mountain Railroad, the Missouri Pacific Railroad. The City of Prescott purchased the building and its adjoining parking lots from the Missouri Pacific in 1970 for one dollar. Over the next two years, the building was used for a variety of purposes, but the noise of passing trains soon forced the city simply to use the depot for storage. During the 1972 …

Nevada County Race War of 1897

On May 29, 1897, white employees of the Sayre Lumber Company near Prescott (Nevada County) set fire to a cabin where ten of the company’s African-American workers were sleeping. When the Black laborers attempted to flee, the mob fired shots at them. No one was killed, and, due to the diligence of a private detective, indictments were actually brought down in the case (although the accused were eventually acquitted). According to the New York Times, “bad blood had existed among the white and colored laborers of the lumbering district of that section for some time past, and frequently efforts have been made by the employees of the Nevada County camps to run the negroes off, but always without avail.” On …

Old Mike

Old Mike is the name given to a traveling salesman who died in 1911 in Prescott (Nevada County). The people of Prescott only knew him by his first name, Mike. He was subsequently embalmed and publicly displayed for over sixty years. Mike visited Prescott about once a month to sell pens, paper, and thread to homes and businesses near the railroad tracks in the center of town. He would arrive on the southbound 3:00 p.m. train and stay overnight. The next day, he would re-board the 3:00 p.m. train and continue his journey. During one trip to Prescott, Mike probably attended an outdoor revival in the city park. The next day, August 21, 1911, his body was found underneath a …

Ozan Lumber Company

The Ozan Lumber Company operated a number of mills across southwestern Arkansas from the late nineteenth century to its sale to the Potlatch Corporation in 1964. Two distinct companies owned by members of the Bemis family operated under the Ozan name. James H. Bemis and Benjamin Whitaker opened a sawmill in Prescott (Nevada County) in April 1891. In July, the owners incorporated the business as the Ozan Lumber Company. The name was apparently taken from the nearby town of Ozan (Hempstead County). Whitaker remained a part of the business for only a short period before selling out and embarking on other ventures. The lumber business proved to be successful, shipping timber on the company-owned Prescott and Northwestern Railroad. The company …

Pointer, Anita

Anita Marie Pointer was an original member of the singing group the Pointer Sisters. She started singing gospel in her father’s church in West Oakland, California, and went on to attain pop/R&B stardom. The group’s top-ten hits include the songs “Fire,” “Slow Hand,” “He’s So Shy,” “Jump (For My Love),” “Automatic,” “Neutron Dance,” and “I’m So Excited.” Anita Pointer was born on January 23, 1948, in Oakland, California, the fourth of six children (four of them daughters) of Elton Pointer and Sarah Elizabeth Silas Pointer. Her parents were Arkansas natives, and Pointer’s two older brothers, Fritz and Aaron, were born in Little Rock (Pulaski County). Shortly thereafter, their parents moved the family to Oakland. The family traveled by car almost …

Prairie D’Ane, Skirmish at

aka: Battle of Gum Grove

The Skirmish at Prairie D’Ane was an April 1864 battle in which Confederate troops tried to stop a Union advance into southwestern Arkansas. It was the second engagement of the Camden Expedition. After capturing Little Rock (Pulaski County) and Fort Smith (Sebastian County) in September 1863, Union forces were in control of much of the state. From these two occupied cities, Federal troops could launch an attack into southern Arkansas, northern Louisiana, and eastern Texas. In March 1864, the Union launched an attack on northwest Louisiana and eastern Texas from Arkansas and New Orleans, Louisiana. The attack launched from New Orleans became known as the Red River Campaign, while the invasion launched from Little Rock became known as the Camden …

Prescott (Nevada County)

Prescott, the county seat of Nevada County in southwest Arkansas, is also the largest city in the county. Originating as a railroad town, it remains a vital link on the land route between Little Rock (Pulaski County) and Texarkana (Miller County), as well as a local center of business and agriculture. As part of the West Gulf Coastal Plain, the land that now is Nevada County was sparsely populated both before and after the Louisiana Purchase added Arkansas to the United States. Caddo Indians moved through the area and inhabited some villages, and some European settlers made their homes along the rivers, but the land that is now Prescott remained wilderness, with a few cotton plantations introduced to the area …

Prescott City Jail

The Prescott City Jail is located in an alley behind city hall in Prescott (Nevada County). Constructed from concrete in 1912, the structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 28, 2005. Nevada County was formed in 1871, and Prescott was platted in 1873 when the Cairo and Fulton Railroad passed through the area. Incorporated in 1874, it became the county seat three years later. Little crime was reported in the early decades of the county. A jail was constructed on the courthouse lawn in 1896. By 1911, the building was no longer usable. That year, the home of a city council member was burgled, and while the thief was captured, he escaped from the jail …

Prescott Commercial Historic District

Located in the heart of downtown Prescott (Nevada County), the Prescott Commercial Historic District includes properties on both sides of the railroad tracks that divide the town. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 24, 2008. The borders of the district are roughly East Third Street, Walnut Street, West Third Street, and Pine Street. At the time of the district’s inclusion on the National Register, it contained eighty-six resources, of which forty-seven were contributing properties, with another property already listed on the National Register. The Nevada County Courthouse is located within the district and was individually added to the National Register on May 24, 2018. The Allen Tire Company and Gas Station and the …

Reader Railroad

The Reader Railroad, which ran through Nevada and Ouachita counties, was one of the last remaining trains drawn by steam locomotives. Though no longer in operation, either in industry or as a tourist attraction, it has drawn many to the area and was a featured set piece in the television miniseries, North & South. Sayre Narrow Gauge, the railroad’s original name, was constructed in 1889 to move the virgin timber that was being harvested south of Reader, which is on the Nevada–Ouachita County border, for a sawmill at the St. Louis Iron Mountain & Southern Railroad located in Gurdon (Clark County). In 1910, the line was purchased by the McVay Lumber Company and, in 1913, was taken over by the …

Rosston (Nevada County)

Rosston is a town in Nevada County at the intersection of U.S. Highways 278 and 371. It was the first county seat of Nevada County. Before the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, southwestern Arkansas was home to several communities of Caddo. Even after the United States acquired the land, organized the Arkansas Territory, and then granted statehood to Arkansas, settlement in the area was slow to develop. The first white landowners to settle the location that would become the town of Rosston were Josiah Jones in 1857, Thomas Abbot in 1859, and James Plunkett in 1860. The first settlers organized a church after their arrival, naming it Carolina Methodist Church because many of them had come to Arkansas from North or …

Sigler (Lynching of)

On July 29, 1901, a young African American identified only as a son of Lige Sigler (sometimes spelled Siegler) was lynched in Nevada County for allegedly murdering Lewis Haynie and Hop Halton. Lige Sigler is probably fifty-year-old Elijah Siegler, who in 1900 was living in Jackson Township with his wife, Elvira, and eight children. Four of these children were sons: Samuel (twenty-one), Jeff (nineteen), Hezeciah (eighteen), and James F. (fifteen). According to the Bolivar Bulletin, victim Lewis Haynie was the brother of state Senator George R. Haynie and victim Hop Halton was the brother of John Halton, a prominent merchant. According to the Bulletin, there were 400 Black and thirty white residents in Leake Township, and trouble with “obstreperous” Black …

Silas, Paul Theron

Paul Silas was an All-Star player and then coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA) over a period from 1964 to 2002. Playing for five different teams throughout his career, he was a two-time All-Star as well as a member of three NBA championship teams over the course of sixteen seasons. He then served as a head coach for over a decade. Paul Theron Silas was born on July 12, 1943, in Prescott (Nevada County) to Leon Silas, who was a railroad laborer, and his wife, about whom little is known. The family moved a few times and lived in New York and Chicago before returning to Prescott when Silas was six. When he was eight, Silas was sent to …

Smith, Robert Hardin

Robert Hardin Smith was a former Arkansas attorney best known for his string of high-profile thefts at archives in Arkansas and across the South and Midwest between 1995 and 2002. Born on February 19, 1959, in Prescott (Nevada County), Robert Smith was one of three children and the only son of Norman Murphy Smith and Nancy Ann Hardin Smith. Smith’s father served in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War and went on to become a respected judge in several jurisdictions in central and southern Arkansas. Smith’s maternal grandfather, Buren Hardin, served as sheriff of Clark County between 1955 and 1958. Robert Smith attended high school in Stuttgart (Arkansas County), graduating in 1978. He attended the University of Central …

T. C. McRae House

The T. C. McRae House is located in Prescott (Nevada County). Designed by architect Charles Thompson and commissioned by Thomas Chipman McRae, the house was constructed in 1919 and added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 22, 1982. Thomas McRae was born in Mount Holly (Union County) in 1851. Educated in New Orleans, Louisiana, and at Washington and Lee University, he began practicing law in Nevada County in 1873. McRae married Amelia Ann White in 1874, and the couple had nine children. Elected to represent Nevada County in the Arkansas House of Representatives in 1876, McRae moved to Prescott after the county courthouse was moved there in 1877. Subsequently elected to represent the Third Congressional District in …

Trammell, Albert (Execution of)

Albert Trammell was a Black preacher who was hanged at Rosston (Nevada County) on December 27, 1877, for the 1868 murder of his wife. The 1870 U.S. Census for Ouachita County shows that a twenty-eight-year-old farm worker named Albert Trammell was living in Camden (Ouachita County); he could be the same man who had killed his wife Nancy (some sources say her name was Caroline) two years earlier. According to a newspaper account, Trammell “suspected the fidelity of his wife to her marital duties” and borrowed a gun from one person and buckshot from another. Early on the morning of December 29, 1868, Trammell went outside their cabin, stuck the barrel of his rifle through a crack in the wall …

White Oak Lake State Park

White Oak Lake State Park in Ouachita and Nevada counties in southwest Arkansas provides access to fishing on White Oak Lake and other recreational opportunities, including camping, picnicking, hiking, and interpretive programs. The lake contains bass, crappie, catfish, and bream, and the park is also rich in wildlife, including great blue herons, egrets, ospreys, green herons, and bald eagles. The land that is now White Oak Lake and White Oak Lake State Park was acquired by the federal government in the 1930s through the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act of 1937. This act was intended to assist farmers during the Depression by making it possible for them to own land rather than continuing in tenant arrangements. In 1957, the State of …

Willisville (Nevada County)

Willisville is a town in southern Nevada County. It is located on U.S. Highway 371. Caddo Indians were living in what would become Nevada County when the land was acquired by the United States in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Gradually, white settlers moved into the area to farm cotton and other crops. Thomas Mendenhall purchased land south of the future location of Willisville in 1855 and 1856. Nathan Ray purchased land just north of that location in 1860. After the Civil War, Jason Tyson opened a general store where Willisville is now located. Tyson had moved from Alabama to Arkansas in 1860 and had served in the Confederate army. In 1883, his son John was named postmaster of a …