Entries - County: Saline - Starting with U

The former UA Little Rock Benton Campus was located in Benton (Saline County) at 410 River Street near the Benton Commercial Historic District. It began operations in 1994 as the Benton Center, and in 2016, its name was changed to reflect its status as a full branch of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (once known as UALR, then UA Little Rock). By 2018, the UA Little Rock Benton Campus offered three four-year programs and three two-year programs in addition to several nursing prerequisites. Due in part to a substantial decrease in student enrollment, however, it was closed in June 2020. UA Little Rock held night classes at Benton High School beginning in 1975. In 1991, Benton native and …

The USS Saline County (LST-1101) was an LST-542 Class tank landing ship built in 1944 that saw service in World War II and the Korean War. It was designated the USS Saline County on July 1, 1955, in honor of counties in five U.S. states, including Arkansas. LST-1101 was one of a class of vessels—called Landing Ship, Tank—created to carry tanks, wheeled and tracked vehicles, artillery, construction equipment, and supplies during military operations along coastal areas. Called “Large Slow Targets” by their crews, they were designed as shallow-draft vessels; when carrying a 500-ton load, LST-1101 drew only three feet eleven inches forward and nine feet ten inches aft. They carried pontoons amidships that could be used to create causeways when …

Robert Marshall Utley was a pioneer in the field of public history. Most of Utley’s early work was with the U.S. Army and the National Park Service (NPS). After serving as historian for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Utley was appointed chief historian of the NPS in 1964. In 1977, Utley became the deputy executive director of the President’s Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. He was influential in the establishment of the Fort Bowie, Hubbell Trading Post, Golden Spike, and Fort Davis National Historic Sites as units within the NPS. Utley also authored several books focusing on the American West and topics in Native American history. Robert M. Utley was born in Bauxite (Saline County) on October 31, 1929, to …