Entry Type: Place - Starting with Q

Queen Wilhelmina State Park renewed and continues a tradition that began near the end of the nineteenth century by providing mountaintop lodging and recreation on Rich Mountain, Arkansas’s second highest peak at 2,681 feet above sea level. With the construction of the Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railroad (now the Kansas City Southern) through the Ouachita Mountains of west-central Arkansas, railroad officials sought to increase passenger traffic by opening, on June 22, 1898, a thirty-five-room hostelry on Rich Mountain. Its 300-seat dining room was sometimes used as a ballroom where an orchestra entertained guests. Because Dutch investors had provided financing for the railroad, the lodge was named Wilhelmina Inn after Holland’s Queen Wilhelmina. The venture proved unsuccessful, and after 1900, …

The eighty-acre Quigley Farm is located four miles south of Eureka Springs (Carroll County). Quigley’s Castle, which is located on the farm, conveys the unique design and creative workmanship of Elise Quigley. Quigley’s Castle was accepted into the National Register of Historic Places on May 30, 2003. The Quigley family had been cutting timber in the area since 1900. In 1921, W. D. Quigley, Elise Quigley’s father-in-law, chose the land to be the base of a new lumber operation. In 1930, W. D. Quigley deeded the property to his son, Albert, and Albert’s wife, Elise Fioravanti Quigley. Albert promised his bride a new house that she could design herself. Construction on the house began in 1943. Elise Quigley created a …

Quitman, originally a part of Van Buren County, is now located in both Cleburne and Faulkner counties. Twelve miles southwest of the Cleburne County seat of Heber Springs, the small commercial center was once home to Quitman Male and Female College. White settlers began to arrive in the area in 1840, attracted to readily available land and plentiful water. Early families were the Witts, McClures, and Newells. Methodists played an important role in the early years. In 1843, they founded Goodloe’s Chapel, the first church. At about that time, the settlement was known as Red River Mission. In 1848, a post office was established with Jesse Witt as postmaster. The budding town was named after Mexican War brigadier general John …