May 22, 1934

Thirteen hundred men whose names were taken from the relief rolls of Arkansas began construction of the Dyess Colony in Mississippi County. Dyess was one of the most famous “resettlement colonies” for impoverished farmers during the Great Depression. National attention focused on Arkansas when First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt visited the community in 1936. The Dyess Colony became particularly well known because one of its early residents was singer Johnny Cash. Although the town is smaller now and no longer a government project, Dyess—and the boyhood home of Cash—still attract tourists to northeast Arkansas.