Photos of the Day - Starting with F

Social worker and community leader Lillian McDermott was known by many in the first half of the twentieth century as the “dean of social workers.” A graduate of Galloway Female College in Searcy (White County), McDermott began her public career during World War I when she was appointed the assistant Pulaski County probation officer. She later became the county’s chief probation officer and served as juvenile court referee for almost fifteen years. She remained active in community affairs most of her life. In 1961, just four years before her death, she was selected as the Woman of the Year in Greater Little Rock.

Bauxite, the most common ore of aluminum, was first found in Arkansas in 1887 and publicly identified by State Geologist John C. Branner in 1891. Bauxite is found mostly in Saline and Pulaski counties. In 1967, an omnibus bill, Act 128, contained a measure designating bauxite as the official state rock. The same measure designated the diamond as the official state gem and quartz crystal as the official state mineral.

The Little Rock Zoo (Pulaski County) began in 1926 with only two animals: an abandoned timber wolf and a brown bear. Today, the state’s only public zoo is home to more than 725 animals representing more than 200 different species. The zoo’s first buildings were built of native Arkansas stone by the Depression-era Works Progress Administration. One of those buildings, the bird building, is shown here in the 1960s.

Long before the streams of Arkansas were spanned by bridges, ferries were the most common way to cross deep water. Many early ferries were privately owned and generally were only large enough to carry one or maybe two vehicles. This 1930s Ouachita River ferry at Camden (Ouachita County) is one of those early small operations. Though most Arkansas ferries have been replaced by bridges, there still remain in the twenty-first century some isolated locations that employ ferry service.

Wiederkehr Wine Cellars is the oldest operational winery in the state, having been continually in business from 1880 to the present. It was founded in the late nineteenth century by Johann Adreas Wiederkehr, an immigrant from Switzerland who settled in Altus (Franklin County). He taught his son, Herman “J. B.” Wiederkehr (shown here), to carry on the tradition. Two of Herman’s sons, Leo and Alcuin, built the small family winery into the largest in the Southwest by the mid-1980s.

Hay Watson Smith, a Little Rock (Pulaski County) Presbyterian minister and son-in-law of prominent lawyer U. M. Rose, was a leading opponent of the attempts to outlaw the teaching of evolution in the 1920s. Many opponents labeled him a heretic for his belief that evolution was a scientific fact and posed no threat to Christianity. He actively spoke out against both the passage of a proposed anti-evolution law in 1927 and the eventual passage of a state initiated act. An investigation by the Arkansas Presbytery determined that his beliefs did not affect the necessary doctrines of the Church.

Horses and mules remained a major factor in labor and transportation well into the first half of the twentieth century in Arkansas. Many people moved from place to place by horse, and no farm was without horses and mules for hauling and plowing. While many shod their own animals, some preferred the convenience of a local blacksmith, such as Lee Pannell’s place of business in Arkadelphia (Clark County), shown here in the early 1900s.

While the number of German immigrants into Arkansas in the 1800s never reached the proportions of other nationalities, such immigrants made positive contributions to the state. Many who were attracted by business opportunities moved to the state’s larger cities. Shown here in 1897 is the interior of Kindervater’s Butcher Shop located on East 9th Street in Little Rock (Pulaski County).

In 1934, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service established one of the first experimental forests in the southern United States near Crossett (Ashley County). Although it closed for a few years in the mid-1970s, the newly rededicated Crossett Experimental Forest (CEF) opened with considerable fanfare on February 14, 1979. Although no scientists are currently stationed there, the CEF maintains an active program of forestry research and demonstration. A group is shown here in 1940 examining a pulpwood and post-thinning area.

During the Civil War, Jeff Williams, a Conway County mountain Unionist, served as captain of the First Arkansas Infantry Battalion until he was mustered out of the service in 1862 due to his health. By 1863, he had returned home, where, for approximately seventeen months, he led a group of men in guerrilla warfare against area Rebel bands. On February 12, 1865, while standing in his home’s open door, he was shot and killed by one of those rival bands.

Depicted in this 1863 Harper’s Weekly print is the bombardment of Fort Hindman during the Battle of Arkansas Post. The fort was named in honor of Arkansas Confederate general Thomas C. Hindman of Helena (Phillips County). Hindman survived extensive Civil War combat only to be murdered by an unknown assailant during Reconstruction.

In the mid-1850s, Simon Adler became one of the first Jewish immigrants to Batesville (Independence County). He quickly established himself as a successful businessman, operating a general store, speculating in real estate, serving as a cotton broker, and eventually founding his own bank. He fled the state during the Civil War but returned to Batesville shortly afterward, living as the town’s only Jewish citizen for many years. He successfully reestablished his business enterprises and again became one of the town’s leading citizens.

With the resignation of Governor John Martineau in 1928, Harvey Parnell became the first lieutenant governor to move into the governor’s office. Shortly afterward, he was elected to a full term. A major issue during his administration was road improvement. His ambitious road plan was a financial disaster for the state, though it brought uniformity to the road system and added several needed bridges across the state’s streams.

On September 5, 1854, Maine school teacher Caroline “Carrie” Eastman married Calvin Bliss. The next day, the newlyweds left for West Helena (Phillips County), where they established a school for “misses,” with Bliss as principal and his wife as teacher. They later moved to Batesville (Independence County), where Calvin Bliss worked as a land agent. During the Civil War, he served in the Union army, but the area became unsafe for Unionists by 1863. Caroline Bliss and several other families left the area in June, arriving safely in Bradford, Maine, over a month later. The Blisses reunited in Arkansas after the war.

Women played a prominent role in the establishment of the Church of the Nazarene in Arkansas. In the late 1800s, one such woman, Elliot Sheeks of Memphis, Tennessee, conducted revivals and helped form churches in Arkansas. Ordained as a minister in 1899, she organized a mission in Little Rock (Pulaski County) approximately a year later. She also served as the Arkansas District secretary until approximately 1915.

In many small Arkansas towns, such as Berryville (Carroll County) shown here in 1925, the town square was the center of business and a meeting place for local citizens. Even today, as business has moved away from downtown Berryville, the square remains active, with the old county courthouse serving as the home of the Carroll County Heritage Center Museum.

In 1963, Richard Allen, dubbed “Richie” by the media, became the first African American to play baseball for the minor league team based in Little Rock (Pulaski County). Signed by the Philadelphia Phillies, the AAA Arkansas Travelers was his last stop before being called up to the majors. Allen weathered the daily racism to lead the Travelers in batting and the league in three other categories. At the end of the season, he was voted the team’s MVP. After leaving Little Rock, Allen went on to a successful fifteen-year career in the majors.

Critically acclaimed artist Les Christensen serves as the director of the Bradbury Gallery, located in the Fowler Center at Arkansas State University (ASU) in Jonesboro (Craighead County). Christensen uses everyday objects in the creation of her works of art, as shown here in a 2005 piece titled Envy. The work consists of copper tacks, patina, adhesive, and papier maché.

Lake Georgia Pacific in Ashley County was built by the Georgia-Pacific Corporation in the early 1960s to provide water for its three paper mills near Crossett (Ashley County). Today, the small reservoir of approximately 1,800 acres is a popular recreation area for fishing and camping.

Roberta Waugh Fulbright, the mother of U.S. senator J. William Fulbright, was an influential newspaper publisher, columnist, bank president, successful business owner, and civic crusader in Fayetteville (Washington County). Her most active role in the community was as publisher of the Fayetteville Daily Democrat, later the Northwest Arkansas Times, in which she expressed her views and opinions in a column titled “As I See It.” She is shown here with her son, J. William, in 1935.

The stern-wheel towboat Mary Woods 2 is a reminder of the days of river traffic in the mid-twentieth century. Built in 1931 for the Woods Lumber Company, it served for thirty-six years, pushing logs to saw mills on the White River near Clarendon (Monroe County). Potlatch Forests Inc. donated the boat to Jacksonport State Park in 1967. After restoration, it was moored at the park and has served as a floating exhibit since 1976.

John Randolph of Roanoke, Virginia, was a descendent of a notable Virginia family and a prominent politician in the early to mid-1800s. His strong stance in support of states’ rights and less government led the Arkansas legislature to name the state’s newest county in his honor on October 29, 1835.

In the summer of 1863, Major General Benjamin M. Prentiss, commander of the District of Eastern Arkansas, made his Union headquarters at Helena (Phillips County). Prentiss’s force of approximately 20,000 manned four fortified positions—known as Batteries A, B, C, and D—around the city. His forces, reduced to 4,129, repelled an attack by Confederate forces on July 4, 1863, in the Battle of Helena. Combined casualties in that battle, one of the largest in Arkansas, were more than 1,800.

A visitor to just about any small Arkansas town will usually see a large structure towering above the community. That structure, often the tallest in the town, is designed to hold water at a sufficient height to pressurize the town’s supply. These water towers are sometimes emblazoned with a slogan, but more often they are like this one in McGehee (Desha County), displaying only the town’s name.

The Walnut Ridge Army Flying School, one of seven U.S. Army Air Forces pilot training schools located in Arkansas, was activated on August 15, 1942. Training for the first cadets began in October. By the time the last class graduated in 1944, a total of 4,641 cadets had completed the program. When the facility was decommissioned on March 15, 1945, many of the airplanes, like the ones shown here, were sold for scrap. In September 1946, the Texas Railway Equipment Company bought 4,871 of the aircraft for this purpose.

The worst natural disaster in the history of the Delta town of Brinkley (Monroe County) was the tornado that hit the small city on March 8, 1909. The storm devastated the area, killing over fifty citizens and leaving only one church and eight of the town’s approximately 1,500 homes and buildings untouched. Governor George Washington Donaghey quickly declared martial law in the area, and the town’s citizens began the cleanup and the rebuilding of their town and homes.

Entergy’s White Bluff Steam Electric Station, located near Redfield (Jefferson County), is just one of three low-sulfur coal-burning plants built in Arkansas in the 1970s and 1980s. The coal used at the plant to produce electricity is transported to the facility from Wyoming by way of barges on the Arkansas River and then the railroad system.

Though settled in 1836, Ozark (Franklin County) was not incorporated until 1850. The town is located on the northernmost bend of the Arkansas River, and its name is derived from “aux arc,” French words meaning “at the bend.” Local legend states that early French settlers shot an arrow into the air and determined to found the town where the arrow landed. The arrow is said to have landed just northeast of the present county courthouse, shown in this circa 1908 photo.

This young Kenyan woman milking a cow serves as an example of the original mission of Heifer International, the brainchild of Dan West. The idea for the program originated while West was providing aid in the form of powdered milk for children displaced by the 1930s Spanish Civil War. As the children returned day after day, West decided that it would be better to provide a cow for each family. The program, which began in 1944 with the shipment of seventeen heifers, has its international headquarters in Little Rock (Pulaski County) and has grown into a worldwide organization that today assists millions.

On March 17, 1896, American outlaw Crawford Goldsby, known as Cherokee Bill, was hanged at Fort Smith (Sebastian County). Approximately 3,000 sightseers gathered around the gallows, shown here in this engraving, to witness the execution. Just before the trap door was released, he addressed the crowd, saying, “Good-bye, all you chums down that way.” He was buried at Fort Gibson in the Indian Territory.

This 1888 election banner declared that Democratic candidate James P. Eagle was the “People’s Choice” for governor, although he was a narrow choice. Eagle had been one of five candidates at the state Democratic Convention, winning the party’s nomination on the 126th ballot. In the general election, under charges of fraud, he defeated opponent C. M. Norwood by only 15,000 votes. Regardless of Eagle’s close calls during his initial campaign, he was reelected two years later.

In 1955, M. E. Oliver, an artist from Madison County, created a book of illustrations he titled Strange Scenes in the Ozarks. Produced in the old-fashioned serigraph process, the book consists of approximately thirty colorful illustrations. The book was not bound in the typical sense, being assembled by hand with brass fasteners. Though the volume bears a date of 1955, illustrations were added as late as 1963.

In 1906, John Huddleston, shown here in about 1924, found two odd stones on his Pike County property. Expert examination determined them to be diamonds, making Huddleston the first person outside South Africa to find diamonds at an original volcanic source.

Lincoln County native Ozell Sutton was a key participant in many of the critical moments of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. In 1950, when hired at the Arkansas Democrat, he became the first black newspaper reporter for a white-owned paper in Arkansas. In 1957, Sutton escorted the Little Rock Nine as they entered Central High School. In the 1960s, he marched at Selma and Washington DC and was with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. when King was assassinated in 1968.

John James Audubon, a frontier naturalist and artist, is famous for illustrating and writing The Birds of America. He visited Arkansas Territory in 1820 and 1822 and documented Arkansas’s birds, including the Traill’s flycatcher, also known as the willow flycatcher, which is the only bird originally discovered in Arkansas. Audubon is shown here in this engraving from an 1850s publication.

In the mid-1930s, one of the most popular radio shows starred Lum and Abner, two fictional characters played by Chester Lauck and Norris Goff of Mena (Polk County). Their escapades centered around the fictional town of Pine Ridge. In 1931, during an elaborate ceremony on the steps of the state capitol, the town of Waters (Montgomery County) was renamed Pine Ridge. Seen in this undated photo is the Dick Huddleston Store located in Pine Ridge. The store was a gathering point for the characters in the radio show. Today, the building is the Lum and Abner Museum and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Just a few hundred yards off Interstate 540, near the small community of Rudy (Crawford County), rests a granite memorial honoring Parley Parker Pratt, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 1857, Pratt was murdered in a domestic squabble in nearby Alma (Crawford County). He is believed to be buried at the monument site shown here, though a 2008 exhumation at the site failed to find any trace of his remains.

The new $18 million student union building at Arkansas State University (ASU) in Jonesboro (Craighead County) officially opened with ribbon-cutting ceremonies on March 24, 2004. The 92,000-square-foot facility was first proposed in 1997 when the ASU Student Government Association began to promote the construction of a modern facility. The building was originally scheduled for completion in 2003, but contractor delays and bad weather slowed down the project.

In 1902, John N. Heiskell became the editor of the Arkansas Gazette when his family bought controlling interest in the Little Rock (Pulaski County) newspaper. He led the paper for more than seventy years, developing it into one of the most respected in the nation. During those years, the nation survived two world wars, the Great Depression, the civil rights movement, and the Vietnam War. Even though Heiskell stopped going to the office at age ninety-nine, he continued to have an avid interest in the paper. He died of congestive heart failure in 1972.

The popularity of the music of Scott Joplin, who composed more than forty ragtime piano pieces in the early 1900s, slowly waned after his death in 1917. Much of his popularity reemerged in the 1970s when his composition “The Entertainer” was used as the theme song in the 1973 Oscar-winning film The Sting. Composer and pianist Marvin Hamlisch’s recorded adaptation of the composition was a hit on the 1974 pop music charts. Joplin spent his childhood in Texarkana (Miller County).