Entries - Entry Type: Place - Starting with G

Gainsboro (Independence County)

Gainsboro is located between Pfeiffer (Independence County) and Moorefield (Independence County), about seven miles east-northeast of Batesville, the county seat. The community, which never had a post office, grew out of Sharp’s Cross Roads, located about one and a half miles north-northwest of Gainsboro; Sharp’s Cross Roads was earlier called Rust’s. The historic community of Gainsboro is located on Watson Road just south of its junction with Highway 25 (White Drive). Gainsboro likely received its name from the Gaines family, which was farming in the area before the Civil War. A short-lived post office was at Rust’s (1856–1859), with John David McKinney postmaster, but it was replaced by the Sharp’s Cross Roads post office established in 1859, with Samuel Y. …

Galla Creek Wildlife Management Area

Galla Creek Wildlife Management Area is situated near the Arkansas River and is currently managed by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, which purchased the first tract in 1959, with the last tract purchased in 1978. The wildlife management area (WMA) is split into two separate parcels, with the city of Pottsville (Pope County) in between. The total landmass of Galla Creek WMA is 3,356 acres, with 3,086 acres in Pope County and 270 acres in Yell County; about 2,500 of these acres are classified as forested habitat. Historically, the land now encompassed by Galla Creek WMA was used for farming and gathering timber. There are old homesites located in the area, though only rock foundations, wells, and an abandoned …

Galley Rock

aka: Galla Rock (Pope County)

Galley Rock in Pope County is a two-mile shale bluff that rises almost forty feet high on the north bank of the Arkansas River, just northwest of Petit Jean Mountain. It was a natural landmark for early explorers and settlers. The area was a site for Cherokee settlers of the early 1800s and became a thriving river town in the 1830s. However, by the 1870s, the town experienced a decline, and all that remains today is the town cemetery. During the late 1700s, river travel was the safest and most reliable mode of transportation. French explorers and trappers navigated the Arkansas River with only striking, geologic features marking the locations of their trading posts and hunting camps. Galley (or Galla) …

Galloway (Independence County)

Galloway is a historic community shown on an 1860 map of Independence County. It was located southeast of Sulphur Rock (Independence County) in the alluvial bottoms of the Black and White rivers and north of historic Akron (Independence County) near the Magness Ferry, lying between Newark (Independence County) and Cord (Independence County) on what is today Galloway Road. The road crosses Dota Creek. The community received its name from Robert M. (Bob) Galloway, who was appointed its postmaster on November 9, 1858. Robert Galloway married Harriet Robbins in Shelby County, Tennessee, in 1843 and moved the family to the Big Bottom region in the 1850s shortly after his father’s death. The 1860 census shows Galloway to be a slave owner …

Gangster Museum of America

The history of Hot Springs (Garland County) and its role in Arkansas and American history has, since 2008, been brought to life in the award-winning Gangster Museum of America, located at 510 Central Avenue in downtown Hot Springs. The museum was founded by Robert Raines, under the umbrella of Historical Attractions, Inc. (a for-profit corporation), and was the recipient of the 2009 Tourism of the Year Award in Garland County. It was also a 2011 Henry Award finalist in the Arkansas Heritage category. Although there are many artifacts and hundreds of photo exhibits, the museum experience is driven by a tour guide who navigates a series of eyewitness accounts on high-definition video presentations of those who lived through the “glory days” …

Gann Museum of Saline County

The Gann Museum of Saline County, established in 1980, is located in a historical structure at 218 Market Street in Benton (Saline County). Housed in the old medical offices of doctors Dewell Gann Sr. and Dewell Gann Jr., it contains an extensive collection of Arkansas artifacts: Quapaw and Caddo Indian artifacts, Niloak and other pottery made in Saline County, memorabilia depicting early county history up to the present, industrial and manufacturing items, photographs, and old newspapers. It is an incorporated, nonprofit institution, governed by a committee of thirteen county residents. The Gann building is an architectural landmark. Built in 1893 as the office of Dr. Dewell Gann Sr., it is the only known building in existence that is constructed out …

Gann Row Historic District

The Gann Row Historic District was located three blocks from downtown Benton (Saline County). It contained thirteen homes constructed between 1880 and 1924. The district was named for Dr. Dewell Gann Sr., who rented homes on the property to local workers and their families. The oldest homes in the district were in the Folk Victorian style, while the dominant style was Craftsman. The Gann Row Historic District was bordered on the north by West Maple, on the east by South Main, on the south by West Pine, and on the west by South Market. The Gann Row Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 5, 1999. By 2017, all the houses but one, 418 …

Garfield (Benton County)

Garfield is a town in Benton County, located just east of the Pea Ridge National Military Park. Named for James Garfield, the twentieth president of the United States, the community first rose to prominence as a railroad depot used for shipping water and fruit. After years of decline following the Depression, the town revitalized in the late twentieth century with the growing population of the county. The earliest settler at the location that would become Garfield was James Jackson, who arrived around 1839. Other families that settled in the area before the Civil War include those of Benjamin Mahurian, Joshua Brotcher, and Archibald Blansett. The Battle of Pea Ridge, fought March 7–8, 1862, near the present location of Garfield, was a …

Garland (Miller County)

The city of Garland is on the Red River in eastern Miller County. U.S. Highway 82 crosses the river at Garland, as do the tracks of the old Cotton Belt Railroad. The city is often referred to as “Garland City.” The first and most famous resident of the area was William Wynn, who arrived at the banks of the Red River and established a farm around 1835. At that time, confusion about the border between Arkansas and Texas and uncertainty about the size of Miller County resulted in many records placing Wynn’s land in Lafayette County. Wynn bought many acres of land, on which he grew cotton and other crops. By 1850, according to census records, he owned ninety-six slaves. …

Garland County

Garland County, in the heart of the Ouachita Mountains, is home to the nation’s first federal reservation, which later became Hot Springs National Park. It has a diverse economy supported by strong tourism, forestry, manufacturing, and regional medical facilities. Pre-European Exploration The first inhabitants of the area to be called Garland County arrived about 12,000 BC, and this region was occupied by native people until about AD 1600. Although they had left the area before the first white American pioneers arrived, artifacts indicate that the native residents were related to historic Caddo Indians. Pioneer archaeologist Mark R. Harrington dug into several sites along the Ouachita River. At some locations, he found burned buildings buried under low mounds that were built …

Garner (White County)

Garner is a town in southern White County on Highway 367, not far from Highway 67. Though the area was first settled around 1850 and became a stop on the Cairo and Fulton Railroad in the nineteenth century, the town did not incorporate until 1971. William Brown Walker received legal title to land in White County in 1841, and by 1850, he had built a house and established a cotton farm on that land. His homestead, with several houses added over the years, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. Walker and his family owned slaves until the Civil War; after the war, some of the freed slaves remained on the land as tenant farmers. The …

Garrott House

The Garrott House is the oldest surviving structure in Batesville (Independence County) and the first Batesville structure listed on the National Register of Historic Places (1971). The first house in Batesville’s School Addition, it was built in 1842 by Independence County pioneer George Case, who moved to Batesville from Ohio in 1837. A carpenter and cabinetmaker, Case built the house for his wife’s sister and her husband, Eliza (Ridgeway) and Robert Williams, who were also from Ohio. The house is of braced frame construction, its inner structure composed of squared logs mortised and pegged together at the base and top of each wall, each corner being “braced” by a diagonal log also mortised and pegged into the logs laid horizontally …

Garvan Woodland Gardens

Garvan Woodland Gardens in Hot Springs (Garland County) is a department of the School of Architecture at the University of Arkansas (UA) in Fayetteville (Washington County). It is a 210-acre botanical garden located on four and a half miles of Lake Hamilton shoreline and operates as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Its mission is to be a resource for people desiring to improve their aesthetic, cultural, and scientific knowledge of plants, gardening, architecture, and landscape architecture, within a woodland environment. Arthur Cook, a Malvern (Hot Spring County) businessman, purchased the acreage in the 1920s for the purpose of harvesting the timber to manufacture hardwood flooring at his mill, Wisconsin-Arkansas Lumber. Shortly after the acquisition, the land was transformed into a large …

Gassville (Baxter County)

Gassville of Baxter County has a history of settlement beginning in the 1840s. Its level, fertile plain and proximity to the White River made it an ideal location for families to build their homes. It was near enough to the river to provide transportation for marketing crops and far enough from the water to have a healthful climate. The area was originally called “Turkey’s Neck” because of the shape of the bend of the White River. The Mount Pleasant Baptist Church (later the Gassville First Baptist Church) was organized in 1868, making it the second-oldest church in Baxter County. In 1869, twenty-one families arrived by wagon train from Cherokee County, Georgia, led by James Coffee. His father, Colonel James A. …

Gate (Scott County)

The town of Gate is a historical community that was located in southern Scott County near the Polk County border. The community was originally established along a gated toll road (now Nella Road) and was subsequently named because of the actual “gate” that controlled the flow of traffic along the road. Gate was originally situated between the junction of Johnson Creek and Cedar Creek, which are tributaries of the Fourche La Fave River. Prior to European exploration, Gate was a wilderness lush with native vegetation and numerous species of wildlife, some of which no longer inhabit the area. Early inhabitants of the area were present during the Woodland, Archaic, and Mississippian periods. There are numerous archaeological sites located along Clear …

Gateway (Benton County)

Gateway is a town in northeastern Benton County. The town’s northern boundary is the state line with Missouri. Gateway is located on U.S. Highway 62, and its existence is largely a result of the highway. Although some claim that the name of the town reflects its relationship to people entering Arkansas from Missouri, the town actually was named for an arch over the highway that read, “Gateway to Eureka Springs.” Prior to the arrival of European explorers and American settlers, the Ozark Mountains were inhabited, but only sparsely. By the time of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the primary human residents were occasional visitors, especially the Osage of Missouri who came south into the Ozarks to hunt and fish. American …

Gentry (Benton County)

The city of Gentry, located in Benton County, was created in 1894 along the line of what eventually became the Kansas City Southern Railroad (KCS), established by Arthur E. Stilwell and designed to connect Kansas City, Missouri, with Port Arthur, Texas. At the time, the area was undergoing an economic boom due to the cultivation of orchard fruits, primarily apples, and the railroad connection made Gentry an important shipping point for fruit; the town was even called Orchard at one point. The post office opened on May 21, 1894. A newspaper, the Gentry Journal, began printing in 1894, though it was soon renamed the Journal-Advance. The city formally incorporated on July 9, 1898, named for the president of the railroad. …

George Klein Tourist Court Historic District

aka: Klein Center
aka: Racheau Center
aka: Green Elf Court

The George Klein Tourist Court Historic District at 501 Morrison Avenue in Hot Springs (Garland County) is a well-preserved example of Craftsman-style roadside lodging. Built by 1939 as a tourist court and apartments consisting of seven bungalows around an octagonal two-story office building, it later became the Green Elf Court Apartments. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 8, 1993. Hot Springs was an established resort town before the Civil War because of the widespread belief that the hot springs had medicinal qualities. The first bathhouses predated the federal government reserving the land around the springs in 1832. Access to the area increased over time, first via a narrow-gauge railway from Malvern (Hot Spring …

Georgetown (White County)

Georgetown is a small town located on the White River in the extreme southeastern corner of White County, about seventeen miles southeast of Searcy (White County). White County historians claim it to be the oldest existing town in Arkansas and only the second settlement established in the state, after Arkansas Post. Georgetown traces its establishment as a town to the arrival of its first permanent settler in 1789. Georgetown received its current name in 1909 in honor of three men from Clarendon (Monroe County) surnamed George who, a few years earlier, had purchased, sold, and developed land in the town. The town was previously called Francure Township, as well as Negro Hill or Nigger Hill, probably indicative of the first …

Gibson (Pulaski County)

Gibson is an unincorporated community in northern Pulaski County, between Camp Joseph T. Robinson and the Sherwood (Pulaski County) neighborhood of Gravel Ridge. Within the boundaries of Gibson are the silver deposits from which North Little Rock (Pulaski County) derived its alternate name of Argenta (after the Latin word for silver). After the territorial capital was moved from Arkansas Post (Arkansas County) to Little Rock (Pulaski County) in 1821, settlers began to acquire land around the growing city, including land north of the Arkansas River. Most of these settlers were farmers growing cotton or subsistence crops, and many used land grants from the War of 1812 to take possession of their land. Among the earliest to claim land in the future location of Gibson …

Gid (Izard County)

Gid is an unincorporated historic community in Gid Township of Izard County. Gid is located on Arkansas Highway 58 about six miles west-northwest of Mount Pleasant (Izard County), six miles northeast of Guion (Izard County) on the White River, and about six miles southeast of Melbourne (Izard County), the county seat. The wilderness around Gid served as hunting grounds for the early Native Americans of the area, among them the Osage, Cherokee, and Shawnee. Small game, deer, and bears were plentiful, as were edible wild plants, timber, and caves for shelter. White hunters and trappers began using the area mainly after the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. An early pathfinder of the area was John Lafferty, who began exploring the region …

Gifford (Hot Spring County)

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 …

Gilbert (Searcy County)

Gilbert, situated on the Buffalo River in Searcy County, was established at the turn of the nineteenth century, coinciding with the railroad’s moving south from Missouri. The town was named for Charles W. Gilbert, president of the Missouri and North Arkansas (M&NA) Railroad. As the town grew, it boasted four stores, two hotels, several sawmills, and three doctors. A new church was presided over by the Reverend John A. Battenfield from Illinois. Town historian Ray Jordan said Battenfield’s commanding voice captivated people as if he had preached for only moments, although he often preached three or more hours. His followers, a millennialist group called the Incoming Kingdom Missionary Unit, printed a weekly newspaper, the Kingdom Harbinger, beginning in October 1920. …

Gillam Park

Gillam Park was purchased by the city of Little Rock (Pulaski County) in the 1930s as a place to relocate jobless and homeless citizens during the Great Depression. It later became the site of a segregated Jim Crow–era park. Subsequently, it was the cornerstone of a multi-million-dollar slum clearance and urban redevelopment plan that sought to relocate much of the African-American population into that part of the city. In the twenty-first century, it is managed by Audubon Arkansas as a site of natural significance. The park is named in honor of Isaac Taylor Gillam. The purchase of Gillam Park was authorized by Mayor Horace A. Knowlton and the Little Rock City Council at a meeting on November 22, 1934, with …

Gillett (Arkansas County)

Gillett, a small city in southern Arkansas County, Stanley Township, is located on the west side of U.S. Highway 165 between DeWitt (Arkansas County), the county seat, and Dumas (Desha County). Gillett was founded on the rich prairie soil of the area and is the home of the renowned annual Gillett Coon Supper. The first white people to inhabit the area known as Gillett came in 1881 from Fulton County, Illinois. In 1883, the first German immigrants came, some directly from Germany, though most were from the Danville, Illinois, area. The first school was built in 1886; it also served as the first church and community meeting place. In 1888, the town was platted on land owned by the Leslie …

Gillham (Sevier County)

Gillham is a town in northern Sevier County. Originally founded as Silver City, it was relocated and renamed with the arrival of the railroad in the area. The main highway through Gillham is the concurrent route of U.S. Highways 59 and 71. A prosperous farmer named John Bellah claimed land in northern Sevier County in 1850. Sometime in the following decade, Bellah found a sample of gray metal on his land that he believed to be silver. He sank a shaft of ten to twenty feet but found no further samples. During the 1860s, the Confederate government also sought silver on Bellah’s property without success. Following the Civil War, investors drawn into Arkansas during Reconstruction further investigated Bellah’s land, and …

Gilmore (Crittenden County)

Gilmore is a small incorporated community in northern Crittenden County, situated along U.S. Highway 63, about two miles south of the Poinsett–Mississippi county line. Gilmore attracted interests in the timber industry during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and later became an agricultural community after the land was cleared. The first white settlers began immigrating to the Gilmore area in the 1850s, about thirty years before construction of the first nearby railroad. Virginia-born John Gilmore, for whom the community and later rail station were named, moved to the area with his family by way of Missouri in the late 1850s. As a young man, he distinguished himself as a hunter and outdoorsman and made his fortune as one of …

Gipson (Scott County)

Gipson is an unincorporated community in northwestern Scott County just south of Highway 28. The community was established circa 1887 just south of Bates along the Poteau River. Agriculture has traditionally been important in the area. Prior to European exploration, Gipson was a wilderness lush with native vegetation and numerous species of wildlife—including buffalo and elk, which no longer inhabit the area. Archaeological evidence from the Archaic, Woodland, and Mississippian periods has been discovered throughout the area. Additional evidence has indicated that the Caddo tribe had a strong presence along the Poteau River and other prominent waterways. Throughout the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, French trappers and explorers traveled west from the Arkansas Post along the Arkansas River. From …

Girard (Scott County)

Girard is a historical community located in northeastern Scott County. The community was established approximately three miles east of where the Petit Jean River begins in Scott County in what is now the Ouachita National Forest. Agriculture contributed significantly to the way of life in Girard. Prior to European exploration, the area surrounding Girard was a 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 River. Archaeological findings have provided evidence of early inhabitants dating to the Archaic, Woodland, and Mississippian periods. Further evidence has indicated that the …

Glen Rose (Hot Spring County)

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 …

Glenwood (Pike County)

Glenwood (Pike County), on U.S. Highway 70 west of Hot Springs (Garland County), is nestled in a bend of the Caddo River with a spectacular view of Arkansas’s Ouachita Mountains. It lies in what was once rated as the “best timber country in western Arkansas” and was the home of Arkansas poet, journalist, and humorist, Graham Burnham, publisher of the Glenwood Newspress and the Houn’Dog. Glenwood is also the location of historic Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, the oldest active church in the area, organized in August of 1848. Early Twentieth Century Glenwood’s origins can be traced to a number of large commercial ventures that began about 1900. One was the building of the Gurdon and Fort Smith Railroad (G&FTS) along …

Goshen (Washington County)

The city of Goshen is a residential community in Washington County, ten miles east of Fayetteville (Washington County) on Highway 45. Although the community was named and settled early in the nineteenth century, Goshen did not incorporate as a city until 1982. Eastern Washington County was known for farmland, timber, and game when white settlers first came in the nineteenth century. James Caldwell and John Neill both owned land near the site of Goshen before the Civil War. Some sources claim that Goshen was settled in the late 1820s, but Caldwell’s land grant was not approved until 1843 and Neill’s in 1854. According to some sources, a road named Oxford Bend may have extended from Fayetteville to the settlement as …

Gosnell (Mississippi County)

The city of Gosnell is a bedroom community near Blytheville (Mississippi County), a few miles south of the Missouri bootheel in northeastern Arkansas. The region was lightly populated in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and Gosnell grew only as a result of its proximity to Eaker Air Force Base, remaining unincorporated until 1968. It has hosted the Cotton Pickin’ Festival and Tractor Pull every fall since 1991. Pre-European Exploration Like much of the Delta region along the Mississippi River in Arkansas, the area that would become Gosnell was inhabited by various Native American tribes. A fifteen-foot mound built during the Mississippian Period (AD 900–1600) stands about two miles southeast of Gosnell. This mound is surrounded by a large …

Gould (Lincoln County)

Gould is a city in eastern Lincoln County, situated on U.S. Highway 65 and on the Union Pacific Railroad. Formed as a railroad city in the early twentieth century, Gould received national notoriety in the twenty-first century because of the fervor of its local political confrontations. When Lincoln County was formed in 1871, the swampy land between the Arkansas River and Bayou Bartholomew was largely uninhabited. Between 1870 and 1873, construction of the Little Rock, Pine Bluff and New Orleans Railroad (which eventually became part of the Union Pacific) brought traffic through the area. The part of the line where Gould would soon be established was known briefly as Palmer Switch. George H. Joslyn Sr., the first county judge of Lincoln …

Governor Mike Huckabee Delta Rivers Nature Center

aka: Delta Rivers Nature Center

The Governor Mike Huckabee Delta Rivers Nature Center in Pine Bluff (Jefferson County) is Arkansas’s first nature center. Located in Regional Park, it opened on July 28, 2001. It is run by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s Education Division. The construction of the center, originally known as the Delta Rivers Nature Center, was funded by a conservation sales tax passed in 1996. The center consists of a 13,000-square-foot main building with exhibits highlighting Delta wildlife and history; it also includes a large meeting facility, a working laboratory, and a nature store. Located outside the main building are two aquariums totaling 22,000 gallons in volume. They display fish and other aquatic species native to the region in a natural setting. …

Governor’s Mansion

aka: Arkansas Governor's Mansion

The Arkansas Governor’s Mansion, located on 8.5 acres on Center Street in the historic Quapaw Quarter of downtown Little Rock (Pulaski County), was established by an act of the state legislature in 1947. It was completed in January 1950 during Governor Sidney McMath’s term. Previously, Arkansas did not have an official residence for the governor of the state. The Governor’s Mansion Historic District is the area surrounding the Governor’s Mansion and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. In 1944, the Arkansas Federation of Women’s Clubs, led by its president, Agnes Bass Shinn of Harrison (Boone County), began a campaign for housing for the chief executive of the state. The first effort to obtain legislative funding for …

Governor’s Mansion Historic District

The Governor’s Mansion Historic District is the area surrounding the Governor’s Mansion in Little Rock (Pulaski County). Listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 13, 1978, the district has been expanded three times. The first two expansions of the district came in 1988 and 2002. Including properties constructed between 1880 and 1965, the boundaries of the district as of 2020 are roughly Wright Avenue, South State Street, West 22nd Street, South Chester Street, and West Roosevelt Road. A total of 626 contributing structures were included in the district with the third boundary expansion in 2018. This expansion came from a comprehensive survey completed in 2016 by the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program. The district includes the namesake Governor’s …

Grady (Lincoln County)

Grady is a second-class city in northern Lincoln County. Located near the Cummins Unit of the Arkansas Department of Correction, the city is bisected by Business Highway 65 but bypassed by the main highway, which runs from northwest Arkansas to southeast Arkansas, including such cities as Harrison (Boone County), Conway (Faulkner County), Little Rock (Pulaski County), Pine Bluff (Jefferson County), and Eudora (Chicot County). The first settlers of Grady included John S. Hall, who came with his family from South Carolina in 1846, and J. P. Williams, who immigrated to Arkansas from Ireland. The settlement was first called Hall’s Landing, but when Williams built the first store in the community and helped to establish a post office in 1881, the …

Graham (Independence County)

The historic community of Graham was located in Washington Township near where Lock and Dam No. 3 on the White River is today. It is on the Lock 3/Webber Chapel Road near Pilgrim Holler, about two miles north-northwest of Bethesda (Independence County). The University of Arkansas Livestock and Forestry Station is located on land that was once part of Graham. Moses Graham was a son-in-law of Abraham Ruddell, who helped establish Ruddell Mill, one of the first water-powered mills in the White River valley. Graham owned a farm at Bell Point on the White River opposite the mouth of Salado Creek. In 1815, he was appointed, along with the widow of John C. Luttig, as administrator of the Luttig estate. …

Grand Glaise (Jackson County)

aka: Grand Glaize (Jackson County)

During its heyday in the 1850s, the river port town of Grand Glaise (Jackson County), located on one of the highest points on the banks of the White River, was one of the largest towns in the area. Before the Civil War, the town, located about ten miles downriver from present-day Newport (Jackson County), served as an area commercial hub. The first white settler, Stith Tucker, arrived in the area in about 1817. By the late 1820s, a thriving river port named Grand Glaize had begun to develop. The first steamboat in the port, the Laurel, docked there in 1829. Further growth was prompted by the construction of a road in 1847 connecting the town to Searcy (White County). Several …

Grand Prairie

The Grand Prairie is a subregion of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain (commonly called the Delta) in eastern Arkansas that is known today as a major site of rice cultivation. Prairie County takes its name from this subregion. Located between the bottomlands of the White River and the Arkansas River, it was once a large, flat area of native grassland stretching across what are now Arkansas, Prairie, Lonoke, and Monroe counties, distinguished from the surrounding Delta land, which was largely swampy land dominated by bottomland hardwood. However, since the clear cutting of the Delta, the Grand Prairie is no longer as distinct a feature, though it remains agriculturally significant. Native Americans inhabited and hunted upon the Grand Prairie; the Museum of …

Grannis (Polk County)

Grannis is located on U.S. Highway 71 in southern Polk County. Like many of the cities of southwestern Arkansas, Grannis began as a railroad depot and grew with the development of the timber industry, turning later to the fruit and poultry industries. The heavily wooded slopes of the Ouachita Mountains were uninviting to the cotton farmers who first settled the area, and no landowners appear in records of the Grannis vicinity prior to 1893. The oldest monument to any human presence in the region is a tombstone on a hilltop that is now the location of the Grannis cemetery. The name of the traveler buried there has been erased by weather, but the year 1881 is still legible on the monument. A …

Grant County

Grant County, located in central Arkansas, is best known for its timber industry. Numerous logging operators are located in the county. The logs are transported to the International Paper Company mill in Pine Bluff (Jefferson County) and to sawmills in Leola (Grant County), Benton (Saline County), and nearby towns. The county’s largest community celebration, Timberfest, is held each October in Sheridan, the county seat. Other cities in the county include Grapevine, Prattsville, Poyen, and Tull. Sheridan has attracted some large manufacturing plants in the past forty years. Pre-European Exploration through Early Statehood The common occurrence of prehistoric archaeological sites in Grant County testify to the early presence of Native Americans, who dwelt in the area for thousands of years before …

Grant County Museum

The Grant County Museum in Sheridan (Grant County) aims to preserve the heritage of the county and to provide individual attention to both students and adults seeking information pertaining to local history. In 2002, the museum was awarded the Museum of the Year award by the Arkansas Museums Association. The Grant County Museum was established in 1963 by Prattsville High School history teacher Elwin Goolsby as a local history teaching project for his students. From 1963 until late 1970, the museum’s collections were housed in various classrooms provided by Prattsville (Grant County) and Sheridan schools. In 1970, the Sheridan Chamber of Commerce began looking for a permanent home for Goolsby’s rapidly expanding collections. This desire was sparked by the interest …

Gravel Hill (Saline County)

aka: Ralph Bunche Community (Saline County)
aka: Southside (Saline County)
aka: Jack Rhinehart Community (Saline County)
aka: Hardscramble (Saline County)

The community first called Gravel Hill is one of the oldest historically African-American neighborhoods in Saline County. Its roots were planted when the Rhinehart and Canady families from Bauxite (Saline County) moved there in 1894. Gravel Hill later changed its name to Southside Community, and then, in 2002, the community was renamed again, this time in honor of Ralph J. Bunche, the first African American to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The community’s boundaries include Willow Street on the north, Hillside Drive on the south, Neeley Street on the east, and Market Street on the west. Additions that make-up the community include the Cloud, D. S. Moore, Gingles, Gravel Hill, Houston, South Hill, Stewart Heights, and Wilkerson. Notable residents …

Gravel Ridge (Pulaski County)

Gravel Ridge has been part of the city of Sherwood (Pulaski County) in northern Pulaski County since 2008. Before that time, Gravel Ridge was an unincorporated community surrounded by the cities of Sherwood, Jacksonville (Pulaski County), and North Little Rock (Pulaski County), as well as the unincorporated settlement of Gibson (Pulaski County) and the Little Rock Air Force Base. As its name suggests, Gravel Ridge is a section of high ground consisting largely of loose stones. The ridge is bounded by Bayou Meto on the north and Kellogg Creek on the south. Although silver, lead, and copper deposits have been found near Kellogg Creek in Gibson, no similar minerals have been unearthed in Gravel Ridge. Moreover, once development began in the middle …

Gravette (Benton County)

Gravette, located in Benton County, is a tight-knit community whose motto is “The Heart of Hometown America.” It was once referred to as the “Gate Community,” presumably in reference to its being a gateway to northwest Arkansas from Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri. Highway 71, now running through Bella Vista (Benton County), once passed through Gravette. Gravette, at the intersection of State Highways 59 and 72, is a conservative community with a population calculated at 2,325 in the 2010 census. The town has nineteen churches, three of which are over 100 years old. Nebo (now referred to as Old Town) in Chalk Valley was the original settlement of the community. The settlement was platted in the 1870s by Joseph P. Covey, who …

Gray (Independence County)

Gray is a historical community in Barren Township that is somewhat an offshoot of Hickory Valley (Independence County). All that is left of the community today is Gray’s Chapel Cemetery located north of Sandtown Road on Arrowhead Lane between Highway 167 (North St. Louis Street) and Cold Creek Lane. Barnett Creek and Barnett Cemetery are close by, as is Basket Creek. The first white settlers in the area were members of the Barnett family of North Carolina. John Barnett and his two sons—Elijah Barnett and a brother who went by A. Barnett—were living in the Arkansas Territory by the early 1820s. The area was first known as Jefferson after President Thomas Jefferson, who had made the Louisiana Purchase possible. By …

Graysonia (Clark County)

Graysonia of Clark County was one of numerous mill towns that sprang up in southern Arkansas during the twentieth century as a result of Arkansas’s growing timber industry. At its peak, Graysonia had one of the largest mills in the South and a thriving community. Today, few visible remainders of the town exist. In 1902, William Grayson and Nelson McLeod became principal stockholders in Arkadelphia Lumber Company. The company moved to a site near the Antoine River in 1907 because there were not enough resources in the area to continue at their former location. The new town was named Graysonia, in honor of the company’s president. The mill at Graysonia became one of the South’s largest due to the high …

Great River Road-Arkansas National Scenic Byway

The Great River Road-Arkansas National Scenic Byway is part of a ten-state driving route along both sides of the Mississippi River, from its headwaters at Lake Itasca in Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico in Louisiana. In Eastern Arkansas, the route travels through ten counties that are along the river or historically associated with the river. The route began in 1938 when the Mississippi River Parkway Planning Commission was formed through the urging of the U.S. Secretary of the Interior. After more than ten years of discussion, a feasibility study was completed in 1951 by the Bureau of Public Roads (the predecessor of the Federal Highway Administration), and the National Park Service. The study recommended that, rather than constructing a …