October 16, 2010

Italian priest Pietro Bandini spent a lifetime working for the betterment of Italian immigrants in Arkansas. He first came to Arkansas to assist with the Sunnyside (Chicot County) settlement in the Delta. After its failure, many of the Sunnyside settlers moved to land acquired by Father Bandini in northwest Arkansas, where they founded Tontitown on land similar to that in their home country. Tontitown became known nationally and internationally as a model immigrant settlement.