Photos of the Day - Starting with M

William Jefferson Clinton, the forty-second president of the United States, lived the first four years of his life in his grandparents’ home at 117 South Hervey Street in Hope (Hempstead County). The President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home National Historic Site opened to the public as a museum in June 1997.

Songwriter and singer Iris DeMent, a native of Greene County, attained much greater critical acclaim than financial success during her career. Singing folk, country, bluegrass, and gospel music, she released her first album, Infamous Angel, to critical acclaim in 1992 and continued to make albums and tour.

In 1946, Judge John Miller (shown here in a 1917 photo) ruled that almost twenty-four percent of the Garland County poll tax receipts (the poll tax being a requirement for voting) issued in the primary election were fraudulent. Many of the receipts, normally issued in no particular order, had been issued in alphabetical order in this case. Miller ruled that this was a statistical improbability. The decision contributed to a major victory in the general election by the reform movement known as the GI Revolt.

Hazel Walker from Oak Hill (Little River County) and her Arkansas Travelers basketball team pose with their touring station wagon in 1949. In their best season, Walker’s Travelers won 201 games and lost only nineteen, playing only men’s teams. In sixteen seasons, the team averaged 220 games, three times what the NBA scheduled at the time.

During the 1880 governor’s race, former state treasurer and candidate Thomas Churchill faced allegations of misuse of public funds as treasurer. The former Confederate general easily won the election, but the charges did not disappear. An 1881 legislative committee determined that nearly $115,000, a sum that was then increased to over $230,000, was missing from state coffers. After leaving office, Churchill faced a lawsuit in the Pulaski County Chancery Court. Though never admitting any guilt, he did reimburse the state almost $24,000.

Withrow Springs State Park is located approximately five miles north of Huntsville (Madison County) in the Ozark Mountains of northwest Arkansas. The park was created among scenic mountains and valleys in a wilderness that surrounds the site’s key feature, Withrow Spring. At first, the park was also called Withrow Spring State Park—that name appears in literature from the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism as late as the mid-1970s—but common usage has made the name Withrow Springs State Park.

Jacksonport State Park, located in Jacksonport (Jackson County), was established in 1965 due mainly to the efforts of members of the Jackson County Historical Society. The park helps preserve the history of life in a nineteenth-century Arkansas town. While there are monuments and a view of the White River, the main components of the park are a 1931 paddlewheel boat and a museum of local history located in the restored 1872 courthouse.

Fishing, hiking, and camping are just three of the many activities available at Village Creek State Park, located near Wynne (Cross County). Dedicated in 1976, the park encompasses almost 7,000 acres, with most left in a natural state. Fishing can be enjoyed at either Lake Dunn, shown here, or Lake Austell.

Members of the Community of Olivetan Benedictine Sisters pose at their new home, Holy Angels Convent in Jonesboro (Craighead County) in 1898. The sisters first came to Arkansas in 1887 and established a school near Pocahontas (Randolph County). In addition to teaching, the group established Jonesboro’s St. Bernards Hospital.

On display in the Rose Law Firm’s downtown Little Rock (Pulaski County) offices (shown here) is the original hand-inked 1820 document agreed upon by Robert Crittenden and Chester Ashley, creating a “Partnership in the Practice of Law.” U. M. Rose joined the firm in 1865, and, in 1980, it officially became known as the Rose Law Firm, a Professional Association. Hillary Clinton, the first woman to be made partner, is among its many distinguished past members.

Arkansas Conference College (ACC) was founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church of Arkansas in Siloam Springs (Benton County) in 1899. Although it closed its doors in 1917, ACC provided an academically rigorous education, primarily for the benefit of Arkansans. The school curriculum emphasized classical studies along with practical skills such as typing. Students and faculty are shown here in 1910, posing with what was reputed to be the largest telescope in Arkansas.

In 1839, a group met at the home of Senator Chester Ashley in Little Rock (Pulaski County) and formed the Christ Episcopal Church. The first church building was constructed by the congregation in 1846 on Scott Street. It was destroyed by fire in 1873 and again in 1938; the present structure was completed in 1941. Though many of the church’s records were destroyed in the fires, some documents, such as this 1857 drawing of the woodwork for a chancel in the church, have survived.

The mysterious 1957 disappearance of attorney Maud Robinson Crawford, who was U.S. Senator John L. McClellan’s former associate, was believed by many to be linked to the senator’s investigation of organized crime. However, journalist Beth Brickel, in a 1986 series of articles for the Arkansas Gazette, implicated Arkansas State Police Commissioner Mike Berg, shown here, in Crawford’s disappearance. Though her body was never found, Crawford was declared dead due to foul play in 1969.

Oil field workers are shown here following the discovery of the Richardson No. 1 well in the Smackover Pool in Union County on July 29, 1922. The south Arkansas oil boom began on January 10, 1921, when the Busey No. 1 well came in near El Dorado (Union County). The boom peaked in 1925 with 3,483 producing wells.

To most Americans, Governor Orval Faubus is remembered for his role in the infamous Central High School desegregation crisis in 1957. However, during his six consecutive terms as governor, he also achieved many positive goals. His administration oversaw a steady increase in industrialization, increases in teacher pay, construction of new roads, expansion of state parks, and prevention of the federal government’s damming of the Buffalo River. He also led the way in improving the State Hospital for the mentally ill and in creating the Arkansas Children’s Colony for mentally handicapped children.

The North Little Rock Six were six African-American students who attempted to desegregate North Little Rock High School on September 9, 1957. Earlier, the North Little Rock School Board voted to begin integrating classes at the twelfth-grade level; however, after actions taken by Arkansas governor Orval E. Faubus to oppose the integration of Little Rock Central High School, the board halted its integration plan. Three of the six–Gerald Persons, Harold Smith, and Richard Lindsey–are shown here in 2007 at a fiftieth anniversary event. The system was finally desegregated in 1964, when eight students were admitted to elementary school.

Jurist and newspaper editor John Eakin was publisher of the Washington Telegraph, the only state newspaper to remain in operation throughout the Civil War. Eakin, who preferred to sign his name Jno (a common abbreviation for John at the time), was a strong supporter of women’s rights, served on the state Supreme Court, and was a member of the 1874 state constitutional convention. Eakin died in 1885.

Harold Snyder brought the poultry industry to the Arkansas River Valley. After serving in World War II, Snyder moved to Dardanelle (Yell County) to manage the Arkansas River Valley Feed Mill. In 1948, he worked out an agreement with a local farmer to help raise 6,000 broilers. For the next ten years, he worked to merge the companies involved in all phases of the broiler business. By 1960, his company, Arkansas Valley Industries, Inc., became the first wholly integrated poultry business to make stocks available to the public. The company is now part of Tyson Foods, Inc.

The Arkansas State Senate is shown at an informal meeting in Wonderland Cave in Bella Vista (Benton County) on July 25, 1931. The one-acre cave has a generally horizontal floor area and was developed by Bella Vista developer C. A. Linebarger as the Wonderland Underground Nightclub. The Senators’ Ball was held in the cave on the evening following this meeting.

Of the seventy-five counties in Arkansas, ten have been named in honor of presidents of the United States. On November 2, 1829, the territorial legislature named the newest county then to be created in honor of the nation’s third chief executive, Thomas Jefferson, shown here.

The Medal of Honor is the nation’s highest honor presented to military personnel for actions above and beyond the call of duty. Twenty-five soldiers having Arkansas connections have received the medal. One recipient was Edgar H. Lloyd, a World War II soldier serving in the 319th Infantry from Mississippi County. Before the medal could be personally presented, he was killed by sniper fire on November 16, 1944. He is buried on the grounds of the Mississippi County courthouse near this monument dedicated to him and all local soldiers killed in both world wars.

The Heifer International environmentally sound headquarters opened on a thirty-acre site in Little Rock (Pulaski County) in March 2006. The 94,000-square-foot facility incorporates many environmentally friendly features, such as a 25,000-gallon tank used to store water that is then used throughout the building. The impressive building was designed to use approximately one half of the energy needed to operate a typical building of its size.

This 1862 engraving depicts the explosion on board the 510-ton Union ironclad USS Mound City, shown here on the back right. The explosion has been called the “most deadly shot” of the war. While participating in the Engagement at St. Charles on the White River on June 17, 1862, the vessel took a single shot to the steam drum. Escaping steam scalded many of the crew, ultimately resulting in 105 deaths and forty-four injuries. Disabled and towed to safety, the ship was repaired and served until war’s end, when it was sold at auction and salvaged.

A Mississippi County survey team works in knee-deep water, circa 1912, preparing for construction of 1,000 miles of drainage ditches. Before the formation of drainage districts, ninety percent of the county was a mosquito- and malaria-infested swamp. Drainage district construction created more tillable soil and dramatically decreased instances of malaria.

While driving across Arkansas to a Dallas,Texas, gig in 1975, Rolling Stones members Keith Richards and Ron Wood, along with two friends, stopped at a Fordyce (Dallas County) restaurant. Shortly after leaving, Richards was pulled over for reckless driving. The officers, believing they detected the smell of marijuana, searched the car and found a small amount of cocaine and a hunting knife. Richards was only cited for carrying an illegal weapon; he posted bond and was released. This publicity photo was taken at the Alamo in Texas during the same 1975 tour, about a month before the incident.

A native of Fayetteville (Washington County), Charles Morrow Wilson was a nationally known freelance author. While the majority of his many books and magazine articles were on the topics of international trade, agriculture, and medicine, a significant number were on Arkansas culture and politics. Wilson died on March 1, 1977, of complications from diabetes. He is buried in Putney, Vermont.

Journalist and author Harry Ashmore, a South Carolina native, was hired in 1947 as an editorial writer for the Arkansas Gazette. He quickly became the paper’s executive editor. Though an accomplished author, he is best known for his acclaimed series of editorials on the 1957 desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock (Pulaski County), for which he won a Pulitzer Prize.

In 1902, a group of business leaders in Lincoln (Washington County) collected $1,500 for the construction of a depot along the local railroad tracks. The depot soon became a business shipping point for the community, especially for the export of locally grown apples. The depot is shown here in the early twentieth century with what is believed to be the first Frisco train to come through the town.

Governor Winthrop Rockefeller (at microphone), the first Republican governor of Arkansas since 1872, is shown here on his 1968 reelection campaign “Victory Special” train. Rockefeller, who was born into a privileged New York family, moved to Arkansas in 1954 and was appointed by Governor Orval Faubus, whom he succeeded, to the Arkansas Industrial Development Commission (which became the Arkansas Department of Economic Development).

When Yell County was founded in 1840, the settlement of Monrovia was designated as the county seat. By 1844, the local government had been moved to Danville, and a log courthouse was constructed. In 1875, when Dardanelle was also designated the county seat, Yell County became one of several Arkansas counties to have dual seats of government. The present Danville courthouse, shown here, is the fourth structure to house the county government in Danville since the 1840s.

Large-scale coal mining began near Altus (Franklin County) in 1873, establishing a proud coal-mining heritage for current citizens of the area. In 1998, a commemorative bronze statue of a coal miner was unveiled in the city park with the names of miners who worked in area mines listed on adjacent black granite columns.

In 1906, John Huddleston, shown here with his wife and daughters, 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.

Industrialist Harvey Couch (right), appointed chairman of the 1930 Arkansas Drought Relief Commission, toured stricken areas with humorist Will Rogers (left). The pair is shown here in Pine Bluff (Jefferson County), where Rogers gave a performance to raise funds for drought relief.

The town of Sulphur Rock (Independence County) was the site of the nation’s last mule-drawn streetcar. Opening in the late 1880s, the transportation system ran its last route in 1926. In 1983, the U.S. Postal Service issued a block of four twenty-cent stamps commemorating streetcars across the nation. One stamp depicted the Sulphur Rock line.

During their heyday in the nineteenth century, riverboats, both passenger and cargo, were seen regularly on the navigable streams of Arkansas. By the early twentieth century, such services were virtually discontinued, and riverboats, such as the one shown here on the White River near DeValls Bluff in 1910, were being used in the barge traffic.

In 1875, Ohio-born Isaac Parker was appointed the federal judge for Arkansas’s Western District, which consisted mostly of the Indian Territory. For approximately twenty-one years, Judge Parker presided over almost 14,000 cases, of which 344 were for capital offenses. He became known as the “hanging judge” for his 160 death sentences, of which seventy-nine were carried out by hanging. Parker died in 1896 and is buried in Fort Smith National Cemetery.

Welder Dan McCracken examines equipment during installation at Zero Mountain, a series of limestone caverns in Johnson (Washington County) that were developed into a refrigeration/freezer space of approximately 30 million cubic feet. Zero Mountain, Inc., a $50 million operation, was founded in 1955.

A family enjoys an outing at Glenwood (Pike County) near the Gurdon and Fort Smith Railroad bridge over the Caddo River. Construction of the railroad from Sebastian County to the Missouri Pacific line at Gurdon (Clark County) opened the Caddo Valley to the timber industry in the early 1900s. Glenwood grew from the two industries and was incorporated in May 1909.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Mississippi County experienced a lumber boom. One of the first to recognize the potential was Robert E. Lee Wilson. He purchased a controlling interest in the local railroad, gaining almost exclusive control of the shipment of timber. By the time of his death in 1933, he had amassed 65,000 acres of land, which he developed into a massive agricultural enterprise, making him one of the richest land owners in the state.

Jacob Trieber of Helena (Phillips County) and Little Rock (Pulaski County) was the first Jew to serve as a federal judge in the United States. Serving from 1900 to 1927 as judge for the U.S. Circuit Court, Eastern District of Arkansas, he became known in judicial circles as a “genius as lawyer and jurist.” He presided over more than 1,000 cases annually, kept his docket current, and had time to serve many assignments outside his own district.

Waldo (Columbia County) native and major league baseball player Travis Jackson played his entire major league career (1922-1936) for the New York Giants. He was nicknamed “Stonewall” because of the wall of defense he provided as shortstop. During his career, he hit 135 home runs and had six seasons of .300 plus batting average. He played in four World Series and was selected to the All Star team in 1934. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982.

Author Tom Morgan was also a well-known newsstand and bookstore owner in Rogers (Benton County) from the late 1800s to 1918, when he sold the Post Office Bookstore so he could concentrate on his writing. As a nationally known writer on Ozark life, he published many stories in magazines such as Life and the Saturday Evening Post. Never marrying, Morgan spent much of his time alone writing, sometimes well into the night. Five years before his death in 1928, he suffered a stroke from which he never fully recovered.

Charlotte Stephens, born a slave in 1854, became the first black teacher hired in the school system of Little Rock (Pulaski County) when she completed the 1868-69 term for a teacher who had become ill. Her teaching career spanned seventy years, and Stephens Elementary School in Little Rock is named for her.

While Daisy Bates receives most of the attention for her actions during the 1957 desegregation of Little Rock Central High School, she received assistance from her husband, L. C. Bates, who began his war against inequality with the publication of the Arkansas State Press newspaper beginning in 1941. His position as a member of the executive council of the Little Rock chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) put him in a position of influence during the Central High crisis. In 1956, Bates was one of the plaintiffs in Aaron v. Cooper, which was filed by the NAACP demanding enforcement of the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas.

During the last two decades of the nineteenth century, large paintings memorializing Civil War battles were very popular. Called cycloramas, they were displayed in a continuous circle with objects arranged to give the painting a three-dimensional look. All that remains of the cyclorama of the Battle of Shiloh are stereo views such as the one shown here depicting the charge of the First Arkansas Infantry on April 6, 1862.

At the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in 1898, Elisabeth Champline was one of 1,700 young people to serve as a volunteer nurse for America’s military forces. She was the only Arkansas woman to serve in that capacity. Active in veteran activities after the war, she served briefly as president of the local veterans’ auxiliary. In 1930, she was elected vice president of the Spanish-American War Nurses.

In 1831, Massachusetts native Albert Pike headed west, eventually settling near Fort Smith (Sebastian County). Long before his fame as a lawyer, author, soldier, and leading Freemason, he taught school for a short time in this one-room cabin once located in the hills of Sebastian County. The cabin was eventually removed to the grounds of the Crawford County Courthouse, where it was restored and made available for viewing.

Jeff Davis, whose 1901-1907 governorship was one of the most tumultuous in Arkansas history, is shown here in an 1895 photo with his hunting dogs. Davis was born near Rocky Comfort (Little River County) in 1862 and was named after Confederate president Jeff Davis.

In 1948, Little River County World War II veteran Silas Hunt was admitted to the University of Arkansas School of Law. Hunt was the first African-American student admitted to the university since Reconstruction and was also the first admitted for graduate or professional studies in any white Southern university. He is shown here filling out forms in the office of the dean on February 2, 1948.

The Brooks-Baxter War, which occurred during April and May 1874, was an armed conflict between the supporters of two rivals for the governorship–Joseph Brooks (bottom left) and Elisha Baxter (top right). The violence spilled out of Little Rock (Pulaski County) into much of the state and was resolved only when the federal government intervened. The result of the war, recognition of Baxter as the governor, brought a practical end to Republican rule in the state and thus ended the era of Reconstruction. This period print shows Baxter’s forces under General King White gathering at Pine Bluff (Jefferson County).