Entries - Entry Category: Clark - Starting with W

Whelen Springs is a small town located along state Highway 53 twenty-two miles south-southeast of the Clark County seat of Arkadelphia. It was once a main hub for powerful lumber companies. The initial settlement of Whelen Springs began in September 1881 as a result of lumber companies coming to the area. The town’s proximity to the Camden (Ouachita County) line of the Iron Mountain Railroad also played a role in its origin. The name of the town can be traced to Henry Whelen, the owner of the land that would become Whelen Springs. In 1882, Southern Lumber Company began construction of a sawmill, under the direction of a Mr. Thompson. In February 1882, a post office was established, with Francis …

Two unrelated communities in Clark County are named Witherspoon. The first was located about half a mile south of Hollywood (Clark County). Over the years, the name of the community evolved to Spoonville; it was under this name that the post office located in the community operated. The second is an unincorporated community in eastern Clark County just south of the community of the same name in Hot Spring County. Early settlement in the Witherspoon area began in the 1820s. Samuel Rutherford obtained a federal land patent for eighty acres in the area in 1823. Samuel moved to Arkansas from Tennessee in 1817. His brother, Archibald, moved to the state in 1831 and obtained a federal land patent for eighty …