September 2, 1887

A fire destroyed more than two-thirds of the business district of Wynne (Cross County), slowing its development. Damage was estimated at $200,000, but the buildings were quickly rebuilt. Wynne had become the headquarters for construction of the railroad being built from Bald Knob (White County) to Memphis, Tennessee, in the summer of 1885, and had developed into a “typical Western town.” With five saloons in Wynne, men working with the railroad drank and gambled for leisure. By 1887, Wynne had grown with six general stores, seven groceries, two drugstores, two hotels, three doctors, one jeweler, one blacksmith, one lawyer, a gentlemen’s furnishing store, two saloons, two barbers, and two meat markets.

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