Apples grown by Dave Eicher, Springdale, 1900s-1910s. Sydney D. Aaron, photographer. Dr. Roy C. Rom Collection (S-82-34-41)

The Railroad Comes Through

Transportation played a major role in the growth of the apple industry. At first few apples were grown for market because Northwest Arkansas didn’t have a railroad line or major navigable river. Apples had to be hauled by wagon great distances before they could be shipped. With the coming of the railroad in the 1880s, growers began planting apple trees by the thousands.

Not only did the railroad ship apples, it bought huge tracts of land, promoting the acreage in brochures with such titles as “Fruit Farming Along the Frisco.” While every county in Northwest Arkansas grew and shipped apples, Benton and Washington Counties were the major players. Arkansas apples won top prizes at expositions from the 1870s to the 1910s.

Scientific Orcharding

With orcharding becoming a big business, growers sought ways to increase their crop yield. As a 1908 Springdale News article saw it, the “era of scientific orcharding” had begun. National and state agricultural agencies set up research and experimental stations to test new practices, teach, and spread practical information to farmers. At the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, researchers began studying and improving techniques for grafting, pruning, and spraying.

Apples were so important in Northwest Arkansas that in 1906, with the help of Senator James Berry of Bentonville and the state horticultural society, a first-class U.S. Weather Bureau opened on the Bentonville square. Not only did it offer daily forecasts, it sent notices to fruit farmers regarding when to spray their trees for insects and disease.

This intensive planting of orchards and attention to scientific growing methods paid off. Bumper crops of apples were reported year after year. Accounts vary but in 1919 the total apple crop in Benton County was valued at almost $5.5 million. There were over 3,100 railroad cars of fresh apples, 250 cars of dried apples, and 618 cars of apples for vinegar. About 90,000 bushels of apples went to the canning factories.

New Businesses Develop

With the growth of the apple industry came a number of specialty businesses. Apple trees were propagated and grown at area nurseries. Barrels made from locally grown timber were used to ship high-grade fruit when it was green (not fully ripened) and better able to resist bruising. Ice from ice plants helped cool down refrigerated railroad cars. Cold storage plants overwintered apples before shipping them out in the spring.

Medium-grade apples were sent to the canneries for canning or to the evaporators to be sliced and dried. Low-grade fruit was sold in bulk and turned into vinegar or alcohol at the distillery. The Kimmons, Walker and Company evaporator in Springdale was said to have been the biggest plant in the area. In 1907 over 1,500 bushels of apples were processed daily. The women working at one of the company’s 18 peelers were paid from 75¢ to $1 a day, depending on their skill.

Wholesalers and fruit brokers bought fresh fruit from the growers or processed apple products, selling these items to distant markets. During the busy season thousands of men, women, and children were employed in the orchards picking apples and in the packing sheds, distilleries, vinegar plants, and evaporators. So many people benefitted from “King Apple” that in 1901 the apple blossom became the state flower.

To celebrate the crop that put Northwest Arkansas on the map, in the mid 1920s Rogers held spectacular Apple Blossom Festivals complete with pageants, orchard tours, and the crowning of the Apple Blossom queen. Many communities and organizations sent crepe paper blossom-covered parade floats filled with pretty girls. One year over 50,000 attendees enjoyed the show. The last festival was held in 1927. Several years of unexpected rainy, cold weather had put a damper on the proceedings. The shifting weather patterns didn’t help the apple trees, either.

“. . . acres of [apple trees] in such long rows one can not see the end of them, just long streaks of vivid red and green. . . . They will surely bring to the farmers a mint of money. You remember our mother used to say to us girls . . . “dollars don’t grow on every bush, my dear.” But dollars do grow on every apple tree in this country.”
Martha A. Warren, September 1, 1907
(quoted by Erwin Funk, Rogers Daily News, July 1, 1950)

Apples grown by Dave Eicher, Springdale, 1900s-1910s. Sydney D. Aaron, photographer. Dr. Roy C. Rom Collection (S-82-34-41)

The Railroad Comes Through

Transportation played a major role in the growth of the apple industry. At first few apples were grown for market because Northwest Arkansas didn’t have a railroad line or major navigable river. Apples had to be hauled by wagon great distances before they could be shipped. With the coming of the railroad in the 1880s, growers began planting apple trees by the thousands.

Not only did the railroad ship apples, it bought huge tracts of land, promoting the acreage in brochures with such titles as “Fruit Farming Along the Frisco.” While every county in Northwest Arkansas grew and shipped apples, Benton and Washington Counties were the major players. Arkansas apples won top prizes at expositions from the 1870s to the 1910s.

Scientific Orcharding

With orcharding becoming a big business, growers sought ways to increase their crop yield. As a 1908 Springdale News article saw it, the “era of scientific orcharding” had begun. National and state agricultural agencies set up research and experimental stations to test new practices, teach, and spread practical information to farmers. At the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, researchers began studying and improving techniques for grafting, pruning, and spraying.

Apples were so important in Northwest Arkansas that in 1906, with the help of Senator James Berry of Bentonville and the state horticultural society, a first-class U.S. Weather Bureau opened on the Bentonville square. Not only did it offer daily forecasts, it sent notices to fruit farmers regarding when to spray their trees for insects and disease.

This intensive planting of orchards and attention to scientific growing methods paid off. Bumper crops of apples were reported year after year. Accounts vary but in 1919 the total apple crop in Benton County was valued at almost $5.5 million. There were over 3,100 railroad cars of fresh apples, 250 cars of dried apples, and 618 cars of apples for vinegar. About 90,000 bushels of apples went to the canning factories.

New Businesses Develop

With the growth of the apple industry came a number of specialty businesses. Apple trees were propagated and grown at area nurseries. Barrels made from locally grown timber were used to ship high-grade fruit when it was green (not fully ripened) and better able to resist bruising. Ice from ice plants helped cool down refrigerated railroad cars. Cold storage plants overwintered apples before shipping them out in the spring.

Medium-grade apples were sent to the canneries for canning or to the evaporators to be sliced and dried. Low-grade fruit was sold in bulk and turned into vinegar or alcohol at the distillery. The Kimmons, Walker and Company evaporator in Springdale was said to have been the biggest plant in the area. In 1907 over 1,500 bushels of apples were processed daily. The women working at one of the company’s 18 peelers were paid from 75¢ to $1 a day, depending on their skill.

Wholesalers and fruit brokers bought fresh fruit from the growers or processed apple products, selling these items to distant markets. During the busy season thousands of men, women, and children were employed in the orchards picking apples and in the packing sheds, distilleries, vinegar plants, and evaporators. So many people benefitted from “King Apple” that in 1901 the apple blossom became the state flower.

To celebrate the crop that put Northwest Arkansas on the map, in the mid 1920s Rogers held spectacular Apple Blossom Festivals complete with pageants, orchard tours, and the crowning of the Apple Blossom queen. Many communities and organizations sent crepe paper blossom-covered parade floats filled with pretty girls. One year over 50,000 attendees enjoyed the show. The last festival was held in 1927. Several years of unexpected rainy, cold weather had put a damper on the proceedings. The shifting weather patterns didn’t help the apple trees, either.

“. . . acres of [apple trees] in such long rows one can not see the end of them, just long streaks of vivid red and green. . . . They will surely bring to the farmers a mint of money. You remember our mother used to say to us girls . . . “dollars don’t grow on every bush, my dear.” But dollars do grow on every apple tree in this country.”
Martha A. Warren, September 1, 1907
(quoted by Erwin Funk, Rogers Daily News, July 1, 1950)

Fred Vanzant at his farm stand, Lowell, August 17, 1984. Charles Bickford, photographer. Springdale News Collection (SN 8-17-1984)

End of an Era

Although folks didn’t see it at the time, by the early 1920s the apple industry was in decline in Northwest Arkansas. Many factors were responsible. Lots of people got into the apple business thinking they’d get rich, but most didn’t know much about controlling pests and disease or replenishing soil nutrients. Some growers and packing houses also shipped poor quality fruit, giving area orchards a bad name. With the advent of the automobile, independent sellers could drive a truckload of fruit to a distant town to make a sale. Not only did they cut into the fruit shipper’s business, but the product quality was often poor.

Too many apple varieties meant that commercial buyers couldn’t buy enough volume of one variety. And many of the varieties weren’t the best, including the Ben Davis, one of the area’s most planted apples. As apple-growing regions out west grew in prominence, the public began to favor the new varieties. Northwest Arkansas’ growers didn’t keep up with the changing tastes. The area’s orchards were also aging.

The weather brought late freezes, droughts, or too much rain. The narrow genetic base of local apples meant that trees were more susceptible to insects and disease. San Jose scale, the coddling moth, and the oriental fruit moth wreaked havoc, as did diseases like fire blight and bitter rot. Apples were sprayed with such things as lead arsenate and “Bordeaux mixture” (lime and copper sulphate), but these treatments left a residue.

Dried apples began losing popularity in the early 1900s. Part of their decline was due to the increasing ability to preserve and transport fresh apples. Also, newly enacted federal laws like the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 placed stiff regulations on a largely unregulated business. Should inspectors find bits of peel or seed in a dried apple shipment, the load was confiscated, the shipper arrested and fined, and the fruit reprocessed in order to conform to the law. Other regulations required growers to wash apples in a weak hydrochloric acid solution before shipping to remove pesticide residue. Treated apples didn’t keep as long as untreated fruit. All of these extra steps cut into profits.

With help from the economic toll of the Great Depression, the number of apple-growing acres declined in the 1930s and 1940s. Rather than relying on apples, the area’s agricultural economy began to focus on an up-and-coming industry—poultry.

The Apple’s Revival

A few orchardists held out. In the 1950s and 1960s growers like Forrest Rodgers of Lincoln and Fred Vanzant of Lowell believed in the future of Arkansas apples. They had new products for insect and disease control and newly developed tree stock that came to maturity more quickly. In 1984 Vanzant had 60 acres of Red Delicious and Jonathan apples. Today the family still runs the farm stand.

Apple research continues at the University of Arkansas. Along with many others, Dr. Roy Rom and his son, Dr. Curt Rom, have spent decades researching and improving apple varieties. Today modern growers reduce pesticide use by using integrated pest management programs to prevent and control insect damage. Computer programs can measure temperature, humidity, and rainfall and alert a farmer to when the trees need irrigation. Smaller trees have been developed to allow more trees to be planted per acre. They’re also easier to pick.

Today’s consumers are faced with limited apple choices. Grocery stores across the nation generally offer the same varieties—Granny Smith, Jonathan, Fuji, Golden Delicious, Braeburn, Macintosh. Gone are the choices of yesteryear. Northwest Arkansas was once the biggest apple growing region of the country, but today we can’t compete with major apple-growing regions such as Washington or Oregon. Instead, small orchards are seen as the future. Consumers are increasingly interested in organic foods, heirloom plants, farmers’ markets, and the “Eat Local” movement. As these trends grow, so too does the interest for homegrown apples.

“The big, red apple will never be King in Northwest Arkansas again. That era is gone forever but its reign, in retrospect, was benign. The countryside was beautiful with trees that blossomed in the spring and were crimson with fruit in the fall. The air was clean; the water was clear.”
Thomas Rothrock
Benton County Pioneer, Summer 1974

Fred Vanzant at his farm stand, Lowell, August 17, 1984. Charles Bickford, photographer. Springdale News Collection (SN 8-17-1984)

End of an Era

Although folks didn’t see it at the time, by the early 1920s the apple industry was in decline in Northwest Arkansas. Many factors were responsible. Lots of people got into the apple business thinking they’d get rich, but most didn’t know much about controlling pests and disease or replenishing soil nutrients. Some growers and packing houses also shipped poor quality fruit, giving area orchards a bad name. With the advent of the automobile, independent sellers could drive a truckload of fruit to a distant town to make a sale. Not only did they cut into the fruit shipper’s business, but the product quality was often poor.

Too many apple varieties meant that commercial buyers couldn’t buy enough volume of one variety. And many of the varieties weren’t the best, including the Ben Davis, one of the area’s most planted apples. As apple-growing regions out west grew in prominence, the public began to favor the new varieties. Northwest Arkansas’ growers didn’t keep up with the changing tastes. The area’s orchards were also aging.

The weather brought late freezes, droughts, or too much rain. The narrow genetic base of local apples meant that trees were more susceptible to insects and disease. San Jose scale, the coddling moth, and the oriental fruit moth wreaked havoc, as did diseases like fire blight and bitter rot. Apples were sprayed with such things as lead arsenate and “Bordeaux mixture” (lime and copper sulphate), but these treatments left a residue.

Dried apples began losing popularity in the early 1900s. Part of their decline was due to the increasing ability to preserve and transport fresh apples. Also, newly enacted federal laws like the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 placed stiff regulations on a largely unregulated business. Should inspectors find bits of peel or seed in a dried apple shipment, the load was confiscated, the shipper arrested and fined, and the fruit reprocessed in order to conform to the law. Other regulations required growers to wash apples in a weak hydrochloric acid solution before shipping to remove pesticide residue. Treated apples didn’t keep as long as untreated fruit. All of these extra steps cut into profits.

With help from the economic toll of the Great Depression, the number of apple-growing acres declined in the 1930s and 1940s. Rather than relying on apples, the area’s agricultural economy began to focus on an up-and-coming industry—poultry.

The Apple’s Revival

A few orchardists held out. In the 1950s and 1960s growers like Forrest Rodgers of Lincoln and Fred Vanzant of Lowell believed in the future of Arkansas apples. They had new products for insect and disease control and newly developed tree stock that came to maturity more quickly. In 1984 Vanzant had 60 acres of Red Delicious and Jonathan apples. Today the family still runs the farm stand.

Apple research continues at the University of Arkansas. Along with many others, Dr. Roy Rom and his son, Dr. Curt Rom, have spent decades researching and improving apple varieties. Today modern growers reduce pesticide use by using integrated pest management programs to prevent and control insect damage. Computer programs can measure temperature, humidity, and rainfall and alert a farmer to when the trees need irrigation. Smaller trees have been developed to allow more trees to be planted per acre. They’re also easier to pick.

Today’s consumers are faced with limited apple choices. Grocery stores across the nation generally offer the same varieties—Granny Smith, Jonathan, Fuji, Golden Delicious, Braeburn, Macintosh. Gone are the choices of yesteryear. Northwest Arkansas was once the biggest apple growing region of the country, but today we can’t compete with major apple-growing regions such as Washington or Oregon. Instead, small orchards are seen as the future. Consumers are increasingly interested in organic foods, heirloom plants, farmers’ markets, and the “Eat Local” movement. As these trends grow, so too does the interest for homegrown apples.

“The big, red apple will never be King in Northwest Arkansas again. That era is gone forever but its reign, in retrospect, was benign. The countryside was beautiful with trees that blossomed in the spring and were crimson with fruit in the fall. The air was clean; the water was clear.”
Thomas Rothrock
Benton County Pioneer, Summer 1974

Arkansas (aka Mammoth Black Twig)—propagated in 1869; the scion was cut from a tree grown from the seed of either the Black Twig or Limber Twig in the 1840s by John Crawford of Rhea’s Mill near Prairie Grove; exhibited at the New Orleans Exposition in 1884

Arkansas Black—conflicting origin; some say first fruited in 1879 on Mr. Braithwait’s farm near Bentonville; others say DeKalb Holt produced it near Lincoln; firm flesh harvested in late fall; excellent for overwintering; won first place at the 1900 International Exposition in Paris

Black Ben Davis (aka Reagan’s Red)— originated from a seedling found in 1883 by John Reagan on a waste pile near an apple evaporator on Alexander Black’s farm; gained acclaim at the International Exposition in Paris

Collins’ Red (aka Collins, Champion Red, Champion, Reagan’s Red)—found by chance in a field near Lincoln; commercially propagated around 1886; a good-colored fruit which keeps well, if kept properly

Etris—discovered by Jack Etris near Gentry in the late 1800s; a tart, red-striped fruit which keeps well; reaches its full flavor in late November

Highfill Seedling (aka Highfill Blue)—discovered by Hezikiah Highfill at his nursery in Highfill; a dark red fruit with a “blue frost” and a tart “whang;” won a medal at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis

Howard Sweet—the seedling is thought to have come from Earls Holt’s Cane Hill nursery after the Civil War; grown near Cincinnati by Mr. Howard; a sweet, highly colored dessert apple; the tree has a heavy bloom

King David—originated on Ben Frost’s Durham-area farm about 1890; a yellow-skinned fruit washed with red

Oliver Red (aka Oliver, Senator)—originated in Washington County; a yellow-skinned fruit washed with bright red; harvested in early September; a good dessert apple

Shannon Pippin—brought from Indiana in 1833; a yellow-skinned fruit with a faint blush, it had a sweet aroma and made for a good dessert apple; it wasn’t suitable for commercial growing because not many apples grew on the tree

Springdale—predicted to go far in 1890, it never gained prominence; a yellow-skinned fruit washed with mixed red and bright crimson splashes

Summer Champion—from W.T. Waller’s farm near Lincoln; originally from Abraham Tull’s farm in Grant County, Arkansas; a yellow-skinned fruit washed with red; sold to Stark Brothers Nursery for $45

Wilson June—one of 1,000 trees found at the Earles Holt nursery after the Civil War and transplanted to the Lincoln area by Albert and  A. J. Wilson; a sweet, yellow-skinned fruit with dark crimson stripes

Arkansas (aka Mammoth Black Twig)—propagated in 1869; the scion was cut from a tree grown from the seed of either the Black Twig or Limber Twig in the 1840s by John Crawford of Rhea’s Mill near Prairie Grove; exhibited at the New Orleans Exposition in 1884

Arkansas Black—conflicting origin; some say first fruited in 1879 on Mr. Braithwait’s farm near Bentonville; others say DeKalb Holt produced it near Lincoln; firm flesh harvested in late fall; excellent for overwintering; won first place at the 1900 International Exposition in Paris

Black Ben Davis (aka Reagan’s Red)— originated from a seedling found in 1883 by John Reagan on a waste pile near an apple evaporator on Alexander Black’s farm; gained acclaim at the International Exposition in Paris

Collins’ Red (aka Collins, Champion Red, Champion, Reagan’s Red)—found by chance in a field near Lincoln; commercially propagated around 1886; a good-colored fruit which keeps well, if kept properly

Etris—discovered by Jack Etris near Gentry in the late 1800s; a tart, red-striped fruit which keeps well; reaches its full flavor in late November

Highfill Seedling (aka Highfill Blue)—discovered by Hezikiah Highfill at his nursery in Highfill; a dark red fruit with a “blue frost” and a tart “whang;” won a medal at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis

Howard Sweet—the seedling is thought to have come from Earls Holt’s Cane Hill nursery after the Civil War; grown near Cincinnati by Mr. Howard; a sweet, highly colored dessert apple; the tree has a heavy bloom

King David—originated on Ben Frost’s Durham-area farm about 1890; a yellow-skinned fruit washed with red

Oliver Red (aka Oliver, Senator)—originated in Washington County; a yellow-skinned fruit washed with bright red; harvested in early September; a good dessert apple

Shannon Pippin—brought from Indiana in 1833; a yellow-skinned fruit with a faint blush, it had a sweet aroma and made for a good dessert apple; it wasn’t suitable for commercial growing because not many apples grew on the tree

Springdale—predicted to go far in 1890, it never gained prominence; a yellow-skinned fruit washed with mixed red and bright crimson splashes

Summer Champion—from W.T. Waller’s farm near Lincoln; originally from Abraham Tull’s farm in Grant County, Arkansas; a yellow-skinned fruit washed with red; sold to Stark Brothers Nursery for $45

Wilson June—one of 1,000 trees found at the Earles Holt nursery after the Civil War and transplanted to the Lincoln area by Albert and  A. J. Wilson; a sweet, yellow-skinned fruit with dark crimson stripes

Parker Brothers Nursery Company letter, 1921. Ruth Morris Collection

Part of the strength of the apple industry in Northwest Arkansas was due to the many nurseries that sprung up, beginning in the early 19th century. A few of the larger nurseries included Crider Brothers Nursery (Greenland), Benton County Nursery Company (Rogers), Stark Brothers Nursery (Farmington), and Parker Brothers Nursery Company and its offshoot, John Parker and Son Nursery Company.

Lewis Parker began a home nursery business in Aurora (Madison County) in 1887. As the business grew his elder sons James and John helped with the nursery and began selling stock further afield. A flowery 1922 account in the Fayetteville Democrat recounts the nursery’s early years:

“As a result of these labors, hundreds of home and commercial orchards have been established. . . . Who will say that these patient, plodding men labored only for the price brought by their trees? No, these men had a vision and as they worked and helped to lay the foundation of our great fruit industry this vision lured them on. They could see in the future vast orchards, vineyards and berry farms. They sensed afar the day that is now dawning when well developed fruit lands is bringing a flow of golden wealth to good old Northwest Arkansas.”

Eventually younger sons George and Elmer joined the business. After Lewis’ retirement in the early 1900s, his sons established their own nurseries. Elmer stayed in Aurora while James went to Oklahoma. George started the Parker Brothers Nursery Company in Fayetteville, with acreage for growing stock in Greenland. John worked for the company for 20 years as salesman and “Orchard Adviser.”

Early in 1922 John established John Parker and Son Nursery Company, “a clean little nursery” in Fayetteville. His split with brother George might have been acrimonious, as John’s early letterhead included the phrase, “Not connected in any way with ‘so-called’ Parker Bros. Nursery Co.” In 1922 John recounted his business philosophy:

“Father tried to grow the best trees possible. He was a firm believer in the ‘Golden Rule’ and applied it in his business dealings. I shall never forget the few sound principles which he tried to impress on us as we were getting our first years of experience with him in the Nursery work. . . . First, learn your business so that you will know a good tree and how to produce it. Be sure that you never put a tree in a man’s order that you would not plant yourself. Be absolutely honest with everybody you deal with.”

Certificate authorizing E. L. Morris of Lincoln, Arkansas, as a sales representative for Parker Brothers Nursery Company. Ruth Morris Collection

The following excerpts come from letters written to Emmett Lee Morris of Lincoln, who served first as an agent for the Parker Brothers Nursery Company before working for John M. Parker and Son Nursery Co. in 1922. Morris and his fellow agents worked on commission and were constantly being told to sell more stock, to write up orders correctly, to not promise something that couldn’t be delivered, and to follow through and get the payment due the company. The first few letters were written by George Parker; the remainder by John.

April 16, 1921
“We wish to offer here a little bit of advice to our salesmen and to stress the importance of starting early on Monday morning and to keep busy with hammer and tongs for the full six days of the week. We are lead to believe that Monday is the most important day of the week. . . . Week end vacations are all very well for retired business men, but you can’t indulge in this extravagance and stay in the business race. . . . Benjamin Franklin could not afford to waste a minute. Edison works eighteen hours a day. The men who win are the men who make every day stand on its own feet. They are Six Day Men. Are You?”

April 26, 1921
“Our letter of the 16th . . . evidently brought results as 26 men reported last week against the 14 the week before. Now men, this makes us feel optimistic. We are only two reports behind a year ago. This is fine, considering the cold, rainy, backward spring we have had, but summer is now here. . . . Remember, the more you work the more you get. Here are the ten high ones of this week. Are you a top notcher? . . . Morris $935.80, Gingles $513.75, Chamblin $340.50, Gilbert $237.94 . . . Each one of our salesmen should consider it his duty right now to suggest to his prospective customer that he plant and raise what he consumes . . . He will be apt to bring up the subject of canned fruit. Here is your opportunity. Make the best of it, and be an optimist all the time. Always read the optimistic parts of the news papers. Never read the pessimistic side.”

February 1, 1922
“Upon looking over our Sales Ledger this morning, I notice that you are not reporting, and wonder what our firm has done, or has not done, that this should be. Good opportunities and valuable time is fast passing away. I trust that the fact that you are not representing us now is not due to any discourteous or unsatisfactory treatment from this end. …It is now a desirable time to take up the work, there never was more money in circulation and more business activity in our history than at the present time, and I would like to have you represent us in your locality. Your name will be held on my desk, awaiting your prompt answer.”

October 30, 1923
“Sorry to hear you have not been able to work. . . . We can furnish the Summer Champion in the 3-4 ft. grade, but have no Shannon in stock. . . . One thing we want to avoid: Do not make a fellow believe that they will be 3-4 ft. and if the order is written is written up 2-3 ft. that is the grade we will send him. We guarantee the roots to be absolutely No. 1. . . .”

March 11, 1924
“We wish to thank you for the $108.10 and will say that we think you are handling that business very nicely, at least we are perfectly satisfied with your work.”

August 27, 1924
“You do not need a permit to sell trees in Oklahoma. However, we will guarantee to get you out of jail, and if you get in trouble we will pay the expenses. . . . We are very glad to hear that you have a car and that you are going to work at once. I believe the month of September and October will be the best two months in this year.”

December 4, 1924
“Please find enclosed our check for $3.12, the 10% advance commission due on your last report which amounted to $31.28.”

February 10, 1925
“I do not know just how the packing crew happened to leave C.E. Phillips order out. It was shipped out by C.O.D. express direct to him Feb. 7th. Roll in the orders as fast as possible. We will deliver the goods.”

February 10, 1925
“I wish that you were in the office so I could take my hat off to you. I would willingly expose my marble top to the man that gets one hundred cents on the dollar. . . . We are glad to know that you have prospects for more good business. Hit while the iron is hot. We all know we are giving the farmer the best deal he has ever had from any nursery company.”

February 18, 1925
“We sold over $700.00 cash business from the office that day, and got the money. About $300.00 yesterday. Get in the ring and tell the boys they had better close the deal now.”

December 4, 1925
“We note what you say in regard to Mr. Glidewell’s order. In regard to replacing, we will stand one-half the loss, but we really believe the dry weather was responsible for most of this loss.”

February 18, 1926
“We received a notice from the P.M. [postmaster] at Summers, that G.E. Hall had refused to accept his bill of nursery stock which we shipped out a few days ago. We would like for you to see what is the matter with him, and try to deliver it if possible. We cannot understand why he does not want it now, as this is fine weather for planting. We have written him telling him to call and get his stock at once, but we believe you had better see about it too, as he may be a pretty hard one to convince.”

March 12, 1926
“Just received your letter, and are glad to know you had 100% collections, and we always know that you will get the money when we ship to your customers. Will be glad to see you whenever you can come up with the money.”

January 21, 1928
“Don’t let anybody get by if they want to buy apples, peach, plum, pear or cherries.”

March 15, 1928
“We are wondering why it is you have not sent in some orders. You surely are not working very hard, as I am sure there is a number of people not far from where you live who want to buy some of our good trees. . . . Please put in at least 1 or 2 days and get some orders and rush them to us.”

March 19, 1929
“I was very much disappointed that I failed to meet you in the office this afternoon. I gave your boy samples of Stayman Winesap and we have a big surplus in Stayman, Red Delicious and Black Ben Davis in this extra fine 2 year old tree. Sell them at $20.00 per hundred if you can. If they take 50 or more sell them at 20¢. We will give you ¼ of all the money we collect. . . . We would like for you to go out and work a few days and see how much you can make. Rush the orders to us and if you have to give a fellow a Golden Delicious to buy, tell him we are making him a present of the same kind of tree that Stark Brothers sell for $1.50. Anything to get the business and we always appreciate your business because we have never failed to get the money on your orders.” Yours for More and Better Fruit, John Parker

Parker Brothers Nursery Company letter, 1921. Ruth Morris Collection

Part of the strength of the apple industry in Northwest Arkansas was due to the many nurseries that sprung up, beginning in the early 19th century. A few of the larger nurseries included Crider Brothers Nursery (Greenland), Benton County Nursery Company (Rogers), Stark Brothers Nursery (Farmington), and Parker Brothers Nursery Company and its offshoot, John Parker and Son Nursery Company.

Lewis Parker began a home nursery business in Aurora (Madison County) in 1887. As the business grew his elder sons James and John helped with the nursery and began selling stock further afield. A flowery 1922 account in the Fayetteville Democrat recounts the nursery’s early years:

“As a result of these labors, hundreds of home and commercial orchards have been established. . . . Who will say that these patient, plodding men labored only for the price brought by their trees? No, these men had a vision and as they worked and helped to lay the foundation of our great fruit industry this vision lured them on. They could see in the future vast orchards, vineyards and berry farms. They sensed afar the day that is now dawning when well developed fruit lands is bringing a flow of golden wealth to good old Northwest Arkansas.”

Eventually younger sons George and Elmer joined the business. After Lewis’ retirement in the early 1900s, his sons established their own nurseries. Elmer stayed in Aurora while James went to Oklahoma. George started the Parker Brothers Nursery Company in Fayetteville, with acreage for growing stock in Greenland. John worked for the company for 20 years as salesman and “Orchard Adviser.”

Early in 1922 John established John Parker and Son Nursery Company, “a clean little nursery” in Fayetteville. His split with brother George might have been acrimonious, as John’s early letterhead included the phrase, “Not connected in any way with ‘so-called’ Parker Bros. Nursery Co.” In 1922 John recounted his business philosophy:

“Father tried to grow the best trees possible. He was a firm believer in the ‘Golden Rule’ and applied it in his business dealings. I shall never forget the few sound principles which he tried to impress on us as we were getting our first years of experience with him in the Nursery work. . . . First, learn your business so that you will know a good tree and how to produce it. Be sure that you never put a tree in a man’s order that you would not plant yourself. Be absolutely honest with everybody you deal with.”

Certificate authorizing E. L. Morris of Lincoln, Arkansas, as a sales representative for Parker Brothers Nursery Company. Ruth Morris Collection

The following excerpts come from letters written to Emmett Lee Morris of Lincoln, who served first as an agent for the Parker Brothers Nursery Company before working for John M. Parker and Son Nursery Co. in 1922. Morris and his fellow agents worked on commission and were constantly being told to sell more stock, to write up orders correctly, to not promise something that couldn’t be delivered, and to follow through and get the payment due the company. The first few letters were written by George Parker; the remainder by John.

April 16, 1921
“We wish to offer here a little bit of advice to our salesmen and to stress the importance of starting early on Monday morning and to keep busy with hammer and tongs for the full six days of the week. We are lead to believe that Monday is the most important day of the week. . . . Week end vacations are all very well for retired business men, but you can’t indulge in this extravagance and stay in the business race. . . . Benjamin Franklin could not afford to waste a minute. Edison works eighteen hours a day. The men who win are the men who make every day stand on its own feet. They are Six Day Men. Are You?”

April 26, 1921
“Our letter of the 16th . . . evidently brought results as 26 men reported last week against the 14 the week before. Now men, this makes us feel optimistic. We are only two reports behind a year ago. This is fine, considering the cold, rainy, backward spring we have had, but summer is now here. . . . Remember, the more you work the more you get. Here are the ten high ones of this week. Are you a top notcher? . . . Morris $935.80, Gingles $513.75, Chamblin $340.50, Gilbert $237.94 . . . Each one of our salesmen should consider it his duty right now to suggest to his prospective customer that he plant and raise what he consumes . . . He will be apt to bring up the subject of canned fruit. Here is your opportunity. Make the best of it, and be an optimist all the time. Always read the optimistic parts of the news papers. Never read the pessimistic side.”

February 1, 1922
“Upon looking over our Sales Ledger this morning, I notice that you are not reporting, and wonder what our firm has done, or has not done, that this should be. Good opportunities and valuable time is fast passing away. I trust that the fact that you are not representing us now is not due to any discourteous or unsatisfactory treatment from this end. …It is now a desirable time to take up the work, there never was more money in circulation and more business activity in our history than at the present time, and I would like to have you represent us in your locality. Your name will be held on my desk, awaiting your prompt answer.”

October 30, 1923
“Sorry to hear you have not been able to work. . . . We can furnish the Summer Champion in the 3-4 ft. grade, but have no Shannon in stock. . . . One thing we want to avoid: Do not make a fellow believe that they will be 3-4 ft. and if the order is written is written up 2-3 ft. that is the grade we will send him. We guarantee the roots to be absolutely No. 1. . . .”

March 11, 1924
“We wish to thank you for the $108.10 and will say that we think you are handling that business very nicely, at least we are perfectly satisfied with your work.”

August 27, 1924
“You do not need a permit to sell trees in Oklahoma. However, we will guarantee to get you out of jail, and if you get in trouble we will pay the expenses. . . . We are very glad to hear that you have a car and that you are going to work at once. I believe the month of September and October will be the best two months in this year.”

December 4, 1924
“Please find enclosed our check for $3.12, the 10% advance commission due on your last report which amounted to $31.28.”

February 10, 1925
“I do not know just how the packing crew happened to leave C.E. Phillips order out. It was shipped out by C.O.D. express direct to him Feb. 7th. Roll in the orders as fast as possible. We will deliver the goods.”

February 10, 1925
“I wish that you were in the office so I could take my hat off to you. I would willingly expose my marble top to the man that gets one hundred cents on the dollar. . . . We are glad to know that you have prospects for more good business. Hit while the iron is hot. We all know we are giving the farmer the best deal he has ever had from any nursery company.”

February 18, 1925
“We sold over $700.00 cash business from the office that day, and got the money. About $300.00 yesterday. Get in the ring and tell the boys they had better close the deal now.”

December 4, 1925
“We note what you say in regard to Mr. Glidewell’s order. In regard to replacing, we will stand one-half the loss, but we really believe the dry weather was responsible for most of this loss.”

February 18, 1926
“We received a notice from the P.M. [postmaster] at Summers, that G.E. Hall had refused to accept his bill of nursery stock which we shipped out a few days ago. We would like for you to see what is the matter with him, and try to deliver it if possible. We cannot understand why he does not want it now, as this is fine weather for planting. We have written him telling him to call and get his stock at once, but we believe you had better see about it too, as he may be a pretty hard one to convince.”

March 12, 1926
“Just received your letter, and are glad to know you had 100% collections, and we always know that you will get the money when we ship to your customers. Will be glad to see you whenever you can come up with the money.”

January 21, 1928
“Don’t let anybody get by if they want to buy apples, peach, plum, pear or cherries.”

March 15, 1928
“We are wondering why it is you have not sent in some orders. You surely are not working very hard, as I am sure there is a number of people not far from where you live who want to buy some of our good trees. . . . Please put in at least 1 or 2 days and get some orders and rush them to us.”

March 19, 1929
“I was very much disappointed that I failed to meet you in the office this afternoon. I gave your boy samples of Stayman Winesap and we have a big surplus in Stayman, Red Delicious and Black Ben Davis in this extra fine 2 year old tree. Sell them at $20.00 per hundred if you can. If they take 50 or more sell them at 20¢. We will give you ¼ of all the money we collect. . . . We would like for you to go out and work a few days and see how much you can make. Rush the orders to us and if you have to give a fellow a Golden Delicious to buy, tell him we are making him a present of the same kind of tree that Stark Brothers sell for $1.50. Anything to get the business and we always appreciate your business because we have never failed to get the money on your orders.” Yours for More and Better Fruit, John Parker

E. B. Littlefield orchard east of Springdale, circa 1910. Dr. Lloyd O. Warren Collection (S-82-214-4)

“The apple is the king of fruits, and the mountains of Arkansas form its throne. Hurrah for Arkansas, for our fine flavored apples . . .”
Springdale News, October 30, 1894

“Verily, as the poet says, “God dreamed of apple trees” when his hand created these delightful hills and hollows, these wide plateaus and gentle slopes, for this is the world’s greatest apple orchard . . .”
John T. Stinson
Fruit Growing Along the Frisco System, 1904

“The countryside was beautiful with trees that blossomed fragrantly in the spring and were crimson with fruit in the autumn. . . . For me, the apple blossom festivals held in Rogers during the 1920s were symbolic of the beauty that was once down Northwest Arkansas’s lanes; and which brought the apple blossom to be the State Flower of Arkansas.”
Thomas Rothrock
Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Winter 1974

“We had a winesap, a tart-sweet apple, and a good “keeper”—we always tried to retain a few bushels in the root cellar, where they lasted well into the winter. Ingrams, a small sweet apple were the very best “keeper.” . . . I remember one [tree] that bore fruit which ripened early, but never lost its green color. We called them “June Apples.” They were so sweet that there were occasional pockets of crystallized sugar near the core. Also we had Arkansas Blacks, a yellow-fleshed apple, so dark red that it was almost black, firm, sweet, juicy.”
Caryn Schmitt and Steven Finney
Flashback, August 1986

“Pruning was commenced at once and continued all winter whenever the weather was mild. No pruning was allowed when the wood was in a frozen condition. . . . Weak, interfering and dead limbs were cut out, strong ones often shortened in to balance the tops. . . . [C]are was used to cut back to a fair-sized limb in a good position to continue growth and assist in healing the wound.”
Springdale News, February 21, 1908

“Orchard men from various other sections of the country began to discover that this region was most admirably adapted to horticulture, with the apple as the prime minister of progress. Rolling acres where from prehistoric days the forest had flourished were turned into symmetrical orchards, the flourishing trees burdened with plump fruit . . .”
John T. Stinson
Fruit Growing Along the Frisco System, 1904

“There is no longer little doubt about the beneficial results of spraying . . . It means better fruit and more fruit, and The News predicts that the time is not far distant when Northwest Arkansas will be up with other fruit sections in this particular.”
Springdale News, April 25, 1908

“My father [Harvey W. Gipple] held that insects would eventually become immune to the chemicals used in the spray material… Growers sprayed summer and winter but still there were diseases and insects which caused the fruit to be of an inferior quality. They thought the spray materials were diluted or had lost their effectiveness, but they finally realized—just as my father had thought—worms had become immune to the chemicals . . .”
Pearl Gipple Banks
Benton County Pioneer, July 1957

Anglin family working at Rupple’s apple shed, Fayetteville, circa 1910. Lois Conduff Collection (S-87-276-1)

“During World War I men laborers were scarce and Reed [Adcock] hired a number of us boys to pick apples for him . . . Someone threw an apple, another did the same, and that started the ball to rolling. . . . Almost spontaneously apples began to fly . . . The next morning . . .  [Adcock] told us in a very kind way that the program had changed. From now on, he said, I shall pay you 5¢ per bushel for picking apples, instead by the day.”
A. D. Lester
Benton County Pioneer, Summer 1972

“In the packing house [operated by Teasdale Fruit and Nut Products Co.] under the supervision of Miss Lizzie McFarlin, all were so busy and everything so nice and clean. The fruit is packed in 50-pound boxes, which are all nicely paperlined, carefully faced and made pretty by the use of lace paper.”
Martha A. Warren, September 1, 1907
(quoted by Erwin Funk, Rogers Daily News, July 1, 1950)

“From every source and from all parts of the country come complaints of last season’s packing of apples. The wholesalers denounce the packing of inferior fruit, because it has shut off consumption; the retailers have had grievance for the same reason and the consumer has been so disgusted he has simply passed the apples by and has bought oranges and bananas instead.”
Springdale News, June 15, 1908

“There would be such a line, we would take the truck over and leave it. A man would stay with it to pull it up. And at noon someone would take his place. We’d be lucky if we got it unloaded that day. And this was in the 1930s when the apple business was sort of winding down.”
Jack Yates
Benton County Daily Democrat, March 1, 1987

“As the hundreds of carloads were dispatched . . . Secretary Stroud’s office [of the Ozark Fruit Growers Association] . . . was kept in touch with the market conditions in cities from Denver and St. Paul eastward by representatives and salesmen who quoted prices . . . the refrigerator cars of local fruit were sent to points where there was the greatest demand. . . . Constant communications by wire kept the output of fruit from glutting any particular market, and results were soon evident in better prices to the grower.”
Will Plank
Benton County Pioneer, March 1963

“There is much more to a glass of cider than just squeezing apples so over came Cleva and Harry Douglas [of Rogers] with buckets and baskets, tubs and sacks . . . There were a few discussions with bees and wasps as to just which apples belonged to whom, but I didn’t push the issue, and let them have a fair share.”
Lanette Tillman
Oklahoma Ranch and Farm World, April 13, 1969

“Owing to the extensive apple orchards and the large returns received from the crops, much attention is being paid to methods of care and cultivation . . . as well as packing and marketing the fruit. It has been our observation that the grower who gives his orchard good care and cultivation is repaid many times over for the extra expense.”
Fruit Farming Along the Frisco, 1899

“The [Southern Fruit Products Co.] factory is nearly as large as all out doors. Uses apples of all grades, large and small, and has a capacity of 3,500 bushels per day and even then the bins get to running over though they work night and day. Last year it made 530,000 gallons of vinegar which finds its way to every section of the Union. Sells by the train load. Just think of that, Betsey, train loads of vinegar!”
Martha A. Warren, September 1, 1907
(quoted by Erwin Funk, Rogers Daily News, July 1, 1950)

“The Macon and Carson distillery has up to the present date used something over 30,000 bushels of apples in the manufacture of brandy. They expect before the season is over to use over a quarter of a million bushels of fruit.”
Unknown source, September 1899
(quoted by Robert G. Winn, Washington County Observer, 1970s–1980s)

“The apples were peeled, sliced, then dried by a night crew over wood stoves. Sulphur was thrown on the fires, the resulting vapors preventing the apple slices from turning too brown. When ready to market, the dried apples were sprinkled with soda water and then packed into wooden or pasteboard boxes.”
Thomas Rothrock
Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Winter 1974

Kimmons-Walker apple evaporator, Springdale, circa 1900. Austin Cravens/W. Fay Atkisson Collection

“The National Pure Food Commission seems to think that the use of sulphur will be a violation of the pure food law. . . . If Sulphur is barred from use in bleaching fruit, it will work great injury to the business and affect not only the evaporator men, but all who grow fruit.”
Springdale News, March 6, 1908

“. . . no commercial apple has even been as well adapted to Northwest Arkansas’s climate and soil as the Ben Davis; and probably no apple will ever be. . . . Said a Louisiana native to an Arkansas apple peddler, ‘That man Benny Davis up there sho’ do grow the apples.'”
Thomas Rothrock
Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Winter 1974

“The awards on apples [at the Chicago World’s Fair] have just been made and the Arkansas display . . . secured the highest award for the largest and best display of apples. . . . New York had long been noted for her apples but they did not begin to compare with the fruit from Arkansas, which was a great revelation to most of the people, who looked upon Arkansas as a wilderness.”
Springdale News, October 30, 1893

E. B. Littlefield orchard east of Springdale, circa 1910. Dr. Lloyd O. Warren Collection (S-82-214-4)

“The apple is the king of fruits, and the mountains of Arkansas form its throne. Hurrah for Arkansas, for our fine flavored apples . . .”
Springdale News, October 30, 1894

“Verily, as the poet says, “God dreamed of apple trees” when his hand created these delightful hills and hollows, these wide plateaus and gentle slopes, for this is the world’s greatest apple orchard . . .”
John T. Stinson
Fruit Growing Along the Frisco System, 1904

“The countryside was beautiful with trees that blossomed fragrantly in the spring and were crimson with fruit in the autumn. . . . For me, the apple blossom festivals held in Rogers during the 1920s were symbolic of the beauty that was once down Northwest Arkansas’s lanes; and which brought the apple blossom to be the State Flower of Arkansas.”
Thomas Rothrock
Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Winter 1974

“We had a winesap, a tart-sweet apple, and a good “keeper”—we always tried to retain a few bushels in the root cellar, where they lasted well into the winter. Ingrams, a small sweet apple were the very best “keeper.” . . . I remember one [tree] that bore fruit which ripened early, but never lost its green color. We called them “June Apples.” They were so sweet that there were occasional pockets of crystallized sugar near the core. Also we had Arkansas Blacks, a yellow-fleshed apple, so dark red that it was almost black, firm, sweet, juicy.”
Caryn Schmitt and Steven Finney
Flashback, August 1986

“Pruning was commenced at once and continued all winter whenever the weather was mild. No pruning was allowed when the wood was in a frozen condition. . . . Weak, interfering and dead limbs were cut out, strong ones often shortened in to balance the tops. . . . [C]are was used to cut back to a fair-sized limb in a good position to continue growth and assist in healing the wound.”
Springdale News, February 21, 1908

“Orchard men from various other sections of the country began to discover that this region was most admirably adapted to horticulture, with the apple as the prime minister of progress. Rolling acres where from prehistoric days the forest had flourished were turned into symmetrical orchards, the flourishing trees burdened with plump fruit . . .”
John T. Stinson
Fruit Growing Along the Frisco System, 1904

“There is no longer little doubt about the beneficial results of spraying . . . It means better fruit and more fruit, and The News predicts that the time is not far distant when Northwest Arkansas will be up with other fruit sections in this particular.”
Springdale News, April 25, 1908

“My father [Harvey W. Gipple] held that insects would eventually become immune to the chemicals used in the spray material . . . Growers sprayed summer and winter but still there were diseases and insects which caused the fruit to be of an inferior quality. They thought the spray materials were diluted or had lost their effectiveness, but they finally realized—just as my father had thought—worms had become immune to the chemicals . . .”
Pearl Gipple Banks
Benton County Pioneer, July 1957

Anglin family working at Rupple’s apple shed, Fayetteville, circa 1910. Lois Conduff Collection (S-87-276-1)

“During World War I men laborers were scarce and Reed [Adcock] hired a number of us boys to pick apples for him . . . Someone threw an apple, another did the same, and that started the ball to rolling. . . . Almost spontaneously apples began to fly . . . The next morning . . .  [Adcock] told us in a very kind way that the program had changed. From now on, he said, I shall pay you 5¢ per bushel for picking apples, instead by the day.”
A. D. Lester
Benton County Pioneer, Summer 1972

“In the packing house [operated by Teasdale Fruit and Nut Products Co.] under the supervision of Miss Lizzie McFarlin, all were so busy and everything so nice and clean. The fruit is packed in 50-pound boxes, which are all nicely paperlined, carefully faced and made pretty by the use of lace paper.”
Martha A. Warren, September 1, 1907
(quoted by Erwin Funk, Rogers Daily News, July 1, 1950)

“From every source and from all parts of the country come complaints of last season’s packing of apples. The wholesalers denounce the packing of inferior fruit, because it has shut off consumption; the retailers have had grievance for the same reason and the consumer has been so disgusted he has simply passed the apples by and has bought oranges and bananas instead.”
Springdale News, June 15, 1908

“There would be such a line, we would take the truck over and leave it. A man would stay with it to pull it up. And at noon someone would take his place. We’d be lucky if we got it unloaded that day. And this was in the 1930s when the apple business was sort of winding down.”
Jack Yates
Benton County Daily Democrat, March 1, 1987

“As the hundreds of carloads were dispatched . . . Secretary Stroud’s office [of the Ozark Fruit Growers Association] . . . was kept in touch with the market conditions in cities from Denver and St. Paul eastward by representatives and salesmen who quoted prices . . . the refrigerator cars of local fruit were sent to points where there was the greatest demand. . . . Constant communications by wire kept the output of fruit from glutting any particular market, and results were soon evident in better prices to the grower.”
Will Plank
Benton County Pioneer, March 1963

“There is much more to a glass of cider than just squeezing apples so over came Cleva and Harry Douglas [of Rogers] with buckets and baskets, tubs and sacks . . . There were a few discussions with bees and wasps as to just which apples belonged to whom, but I didn’t push the issue, and let them have a fair share.”
Lanette Tillman
Oklahoma Ranch and Farm World, April 13, 1969

“Owing to the extensive apple orchards and the large returns received from the crops, much attention is being paid to methods of care and cultivation . . . as well as packing and marketing the fruit. It has been our observation that the grower who gives his orchard good care and cultivation is repaid many times over for the extra expense.”
Fruit Farming Along the Frisco, 1899

“The [Southern Fruit Products Co.] factory is nearly as large as all out doors. Uses apples of all grades, large and small, and has a capacity of 3,500 bushels per day and even then the bins get to running over though they work night and day. Last year it made 530,000 gallons of vinegar which finds its way to every section of the Union. Sells by the train load. Just think of that, Betsey, train loads of vinegar!”
Martha A. Warren, September 1, 1907
(quoted by Erwin Funk, Rogers Daily News, July 1, 1950)

“The Macon and Carson distillery has up to the present date used something over 30,000 bushels of apples in the manufacture of brandy. They expect before the season is over to use over a quarter of a million bushels of fruit.”
Unknown source, September 1899
(quoted by Robert G. Winn, Washington County Observer, 1970s–1980s)

“The apples were peeled, sliced, then dried by a night crew over wood stoves. Sulphur was thrown on the fires, the resulting vapors preventing the apple slices from turning too brown. When ready to market, the dried apples were sprinkled with soda water and then packed into wooden or pasteboard boxes.”
Thomas Rothrock
Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Winter 1974

Kimmons-Walker apple evaporator, Springdale, circa 1900. Austin Cravens/W. Fay Atkisson Collection

“The National Pure Food Commission seems to think that the use of sulphur will be a violation of the pure food law. . . . If Sulphur is barred from use in bleaching fruit, it will work great injury to the business and affect not only the evaporator men, but all who grow fruit.”
Springdale News, March 6, 1908

“. . . no commercial apple has even been as well adapted to Northwest Arkansas’s climate and soil as the Ben Davis; and probably no apple will ever be. . . . Said a Louisiana native to an Arkansas apple peddler, ‘That man Benny Davis up there sho’ do grow the apples.'”
Thomas Rothrock
Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Winter 1974

“The awards on apples [at the Chicago World’s Fair] have just been made and the Arkansas display . . . secured the highest award for the largest and best display of apples. . . . New York had long been noted for her apples but they did not begin to compare with the fruit from Arkansas, which was a great revelation to most of the people, who looked upon Arkansas as a wilderness.”
Springdale News, October 30, 1893

“A. D. Lester Reminisces About Hiwassee and Area History.” Benton County Pioneer, Vol. 17, No. 3 (Summer 1972).

A. E. Rausher farm photo. Benton County Pioneer, Vol. 13, No. 4 (October 1968).

Allen, Eric. “Booming Era of Big Red Apple Seems Like Yesterday to Former Gentry City Recorder.” Southwest Times Record, February 14,1965.

“Apple Varieties Originated in Washington County.” From a 1913 U.S. Department of Agriculture bulletin, Flashback, Vol. 7, No. 3 (September 1962).

“Apples—Once Key Produce.” (unattributed/undated newspaper article in Shiloh Museum research files).

Banks, Pearl Gipple. “The Early Development of the Apple Industry in Benton County.” Benton County Pioneer, Vol. 2, No. 5 (July 1957).

“Beat the World—Arkansas Apples Carry off Highest Honors at the World’s Fair.” Springdale News, circa October 30, 1893.

“Big Distillery is Running in Arkansas.” Springfield Daily Leader, September 15,1914.

Black, J. Dickson. “Red Apple Once King of Benton.” (unattributed/undated newspaper article, Shiloh Museum research files).

Black, J. Dickson. “U.S. Weather Bureau Here Sign of Apple’s Importance.” Rogers Democrat, April 11, 1975.

Campbell, W. S. “Rise and Fall of the Apple Empire.” Flashback, Vol. XI, No. 1 (February 1961).

Cherry, Kim. “Apples: A Look Back at a Major Industry.” Northwest Arkansas Times, March 6,1982.

Cordell, Mike. Descendants of William Bennet Brogdon Sr. (1854-1929) and Dee Jackson (1862-1927). Mike Cordell, (unpublished manuscript) 2010.

Dupy, Gerald W. “The Bright Future for Ozarks Apples.” Ozarks Mountaineer, Vol. 45, No. 5 (October/November 1997).

“Eight Awards on Fruit.” Arkansas Democrat, October 1893.

“Evaporator Men Meet. Action of Pure Food Commission Causing Some Uneasiness in this Section.” Springdale News, March 6,1908.

Fruit Farming Along the Frisco. St. Louis and San Francisco Railway, St. Louis, MO: 1899.

Funk, Erwin. “Arkansas Was More than Rocky Hillsides.” Rogers Daily News, 7-1-1950.

Funk, Erwin. “Goldsmith Davis and the Ben Davis.” Benton County Pioneer, Vol. 2, No. 6 (September 1957).

Funk, Erwin. “Red Apple—Deposed King of Ozarks: A Major Regional Industry is Now Almost Extinct.” Ozarks Mountaineer, Vol. 2, No. 7 (February 1954).

“Good Packing of Apples—This is Absolutely Necessary in Order to Realize the Best Prices.” Springdale News, June 15,1908.

History of Benton County. Goodspeed, 1889.

Kennedy, Steele T. “Apple Orchards Staging Strong Comeback in Arkansas Ozarks.” Ozarks Mountaineer, Vol. 11, No. 10 (November 1963).

“Kimmons, Walker and Co’s. Evaporator.” Springdale News, August 9, 1907.

“Lincoln History Enmeshed in Apples.” (Cherokee Group Apple Festival Section), October 3, 1996.

McColloch, Lacy P. “Apple Industry at Cane Hill, Arkansas.” Flashback, Vol. XVI, No. 4 (November 1966).

McFee, Gladys Brogdon. “Dee Brogdon.” History of Washington County, Arkansas. Shiloh Museum of Ozark History, 1989.

Mores, Jeff. “Apple of the Country’s Eye.” Benton County Daily Record, November 10, 2008.

Neal, Joe. “Arkansas Apple Festival.” Grapevine, October 13, 1976.

Payne, Ruth Holt. “The Seedling that Made Good: The Story of the Black Ben Davis Apple.”  Flashback, Vol. IX, No. 1 (February 1959).

“Pictures from Benton County History—A Series.” Benton County Democrat, 4-3-1974.

Plank, Will. “The Ozark Fruit Growers’ Association, Our Great Marketing Organization.”  Benton County Pioneer, Vol. 8, No. 3 (March 1963).

Pollan, Michael. The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World. Random House: New York, 2001.

Reynolds, Sonja. “When Apples Were King—Festivals of Days Gone By.” Benton County Daily Democrat, March 1, 1987.

Rom, Roy C. “Apple Industry.” Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture (accessed May 2019).

Rothrock, Thomas. “A King That Was.” Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Vol. 39, No. 4 (Winter 1974).

Rothrock, Thomas. “King Apple and the Depression—Dust Bowl Years.” Benton County Pioneer, Vol. 19, No. 3 (Summer 1974).

Rothrock, Thomas. “William Bennett Brogdon: Pioneer Horticulturalist.” Flashback, Vol. 25, No. 3 (August 1975).

“S. B. Van Horn, Practical Ingrafter of Pears and Apples.” Springdale News, 1-17-1908.

Schmitt, Caryn, and Steven Finney. “Life in the Thirties, Washington County.” Flashback, Vol. 36, No. 3 (August 1986).

Sealey, Ross H. “Development of the Parker Nurseries: Good Nurseries the Foundation of the Fruit Industry.” Fayetteville Democrat, June 12, 1922.

“They are Spraying—Apple Growers are Awaking to the Importance of the Work.” Springdale News, April 24, 1908.

“Vanzants Named County Farm Family.” Springdale News, August 19, 1984.

Walker, Ernest. “Story of the Improvement of an Old Apple Orchard in Washington County, Arkansas.” Springdale News, February 21, 1908.

“When the Apple was King.” Springdale News, April 21, 1985.

Winkleman, T. A. “Benton County’s Biggest Apple Year.” Benton County Pioneer, Vol. 7, No. 1 (November 1961).

Winn, Robert G. “Glimpses into the Past.” Washington County Observer (undated).

Springdale Canning Company, looking northeast towards the intersection of Huntsville Road and the Frisco Railroad tracks, Springdale, about 1908. Speece and Allen, photographers. Bobbie Byars Lynch Collection (S-77-53-18)

Organized by Judge Millard Berry and others in 1886, Springdale Canning Company is believed to have been the first commercial cannery in Northwest Arkansas. It closed in 1903. The building was used by another cannery before becoming an ice plant. It was torn down in 2007.

” [Springdale Canning] . . . company was organized in 1886 with $3000 invested in the plant and an operating capital of about $7000. They employ over 100 people during their busy season—summer and fall. . . . Fifty cents a bushel was paid for peas in the hull and 20 cents per bushel for tomatoes. One bushel of peas in hull makes 13 pound cans. Three hands are now hired making cans. Four hands can turn out nearly 2000 cans a day. With three or four weeks experience, a country boy can make 600 cans per day—making a dollar.”

Benton County Democrat, April 23, 1887

Workers likely processing tomatoes, Prairie Grove Preserves Canning Factory, Prairie Grove, late 1910s. Helen Cook Collection (S-90-20)

In 1903 a group of people in and around Prairie Grove agreed to give C. J. French land, materials, cash, labor, and crops in exchange for the construction of a $20,000 canning factory. In 1953 the factory became the Kelly Canning Company. As fewer local farmers grew tomatoes the company had to ship tomatoes into the area for canning. The rising cost of shipping ended the business in 1978.

“. . . [W]orkers put in 10 hour days beginning at 7 a.m. and received ten cents per hour. Peelers received three cents per bucket of peeled tomatoes. The buckets were made of red easily cleaned fiber. . . . The tomato garbage (slop) was hauled away by wagon and team, some of it being fed to the hogs. The entire factory crew numbered 114 at the checker case. Miss Effie Bain was first checker of the peeled tomatoes. They were canned in No. 2½, No. 3 and No. 10 cans which were filled by hand.”

Neva Barnes McMurry, recounting the memories of Sarah Fidler, March 1967
Washington County Observer, November 14, 1985

Processing grapes, Welch Grape Juice Company, Springdale, circa 1923. Joanne Paisley Collection (S-2012-63)

Springdale’s Welch Grape Juice factory was built in 1923 to take advantage of nearby grape growers. During World War II, 120 German prisoners of war worked there. At its peak, the plant could process four million cases of juice-related products yearly. The plant closed in 1978 as Welch consolidated its many operations.

[The grapes were] “ . . . weighed and inspected at the receiving platforms, whence the grapes are taken to washers and from there conveyed by machinery to stemming machines. Here the grapes are separated from the stems and dropped though aluminum pipes to aluminum stirring kettles. . . . The kettles heat the grapes and the juice is extracted by hydraulic presses. The juice flows into heating kettles and from there goes to five-gallon glass carboys [bottles] in which it is stored in different cellars. . . . [Later] the juice is siphoned out, placed in automatic filters and then goes to automatic cappers. …the juice is pasteurized and the bottles labeled, packed and shipped away.”

Springdale News, April 29, 1937

Pettigrew Canning Company workers, Pettigrew, late 1930s–early 1940s. From left: unidentified, Edna Williams Bryant, Nancy Ahart, unidentified, unidentified, and Pap Ahart. Oleta Bryant Collection (S-2008-34-4)08-34-4)

W. Fletcher Keck started the Pettigrew Canning Company (Madison County) in 1935. The cannery was a welcome source of income during the Great Depression, at a time when the local timber industry was slowing down.

“People who worked at the [Pettigrew] canning factory made fifteen cents an hour, or if you were peeling tomatoes, you were paid by the bucket. Basically women did the processing and men ran the heavy equipment. Every time a woman finished peeling a bucket of tomatoes, somebody would bring her another bucket and punch a ticket to show how many buckets she had peeled. My mother [Elva Barker Martin] was very fast with her hands, so she worked at the packing vat. She put a lump of salt in a can with the tomatoes and sent it down to the capper, where the can was sealed.”

Wayne Martin
Pettigrew, Arkansas: Hardwood Capital of the World, 2010

Morsani Canning Company, Tontitown, 1910s. Edna Zulpo Collection (S-2007-110-13)

“When I left school, I did a lot of things. I worked out on a farm, I picked cowpeas. We would get maybe half a cent per pound. . . . Frank and Carrie Perona had a canning factory [in Tontitown]. . . . The cannery was just seasonal, but I worked most of the year for them. I did everything in that cannery. I fired the boilers. I cooked the food in the retorts. I hauled all the way to Fort Smith and Oklahoma City. We would work six days a week, ten hours a day, and at the end of the week we got a check for $6—a dollar a day.”

Floyd Maestri, 2002
Memories I Can’t Let Go Of: Life Stories from Tontitown, Arkansas, 2012

“There were several men hired by the Railroad to promote tomato factories.  . . . [A] group of businessmen would put up the money as loans to local banks. The banks would then contract with local businessmen to buy the canning equipment. This would include the racks, trays, boilers, etc., as well as putting up a building. The local businessmen would then contract with area farmers to grow tomatoes and guaranteed them a buyer for their crop. The bank would also advance money to the farmers. The Railroad’s part was to send men into towns and make all of the arrangements to get these businesses started, and of course they would guarantee shipping, etc.”

Oak Leaves, Spring 1990

Tomato pickers, Northwest Arkansas, 1930. Ray Watson Collection (S-96-56-23)

Some of the tomato varieties grown in Northwest Arkansas were Rutgers, Marglobe, and Baltimore. Rutgers was introduced in 1934 and boasted thick, fleshy outer and inner walls with few seeds—perfect for canning. Farmers often received seed and fertilizer from the canneries, the cost of which was deducted from the purchase price of the crop.

“Picking tomatoes was heavy, hot summer work and everybody helped pick. Crates of tomatoes were stacked high all over. . . . We all remember wagon loads of tomatoes leaving a trail of juice in the dust along the graded part of the road leading to Pettigrew [and its cannery]. . . . A wagon load of tomatoes is a very heavy load for a team of horses to pull up hill. On the steepest part of a mountain they could only pull a short distance before resting. . . . The horses would be wet with sweat and gasping for air in the summer heat. I felt sympathy for them, feeling they paid a high price in life for the little they got in return.”

Vernon Eaton
Madison County Record, May 30, 1996

Barrett Canning Factory, Grandview (Carroll County), circa 1910. Mrs. Tracy Barrett Collection (S-90-11-105)

Tracy Barrett (holding tray in photo above) convinced his father George to build Carroll County’s first canning factory in 1910. Tracy hated farm work and saw how the hard work of farming was affecting his father’s health.

Tracy Barrett persuaded “ . . . area farmers to plant tomatoes. . . . [H]e erected a truly commercial canning factory, with his own railroad siding and his own registered label. For several harvest seasons this went full bore, giving the farmers a ready market and providing many temporary jobs as he filled one boxcar after another with canned tomatoes.”

Richard H. Barrett
Carroll County Historical Society Quarterly, Spring 1985

Robinson Canning Company, Siloam Springs, September 24, 1931. M. Larrick, photographer. Dr. Lloyd Warren Collection (S-92-35-24)

Owned by Burtis A. Rudolph, during Robinson Canning Company’s first year of operation in 1925 it processed twenty-five railroad carloads of tomatoes. The cannery closed in 1935 when the Federal government bought exhausted, eroded farmland for the construction of Lake Wedington. There were few viable fields left for growing vegetables.

After its closing, “The Robinson factory stood empty until it was torn down in the fall of 1937. All that remain today are some cement columns. Boys of the area used the cement water tank . . . as a swimming pond.”

History of Robinson and Kincheloe Communities, 1995

Valley Canning Company display, Hindsville, 1920s. Willie Bohannan Collection (S-83-82-50)

In 1925 at least two libel suits were filed against the Valley Canning Company cannery in Hindsville (Madison County), alleging its string beans failed to meet Federal food production standards.

The U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas “. . . [alleged] that the article [80 cases of canned stringless beans] had been shipped by the Valley Canning Co., from Hindsville, Ark., on or about August 28, 1925 [to Marfa, Texas]. . . . Adulteration of the article was alleged in the libels for the reason that a substance, excess water, had been mixed and packed therewith so as to reduce, lower, and injuriously affect its quality and had been substituted wholly or in part for the said article [string beans]. Adulteration for the further reason that the article consisted in whole or in part of a filthy, decomposed, and putrid vegetable substance.”

W.M. Jardine, Secretary of Agriculture
Service and Regulatory Announcements, Bureau of Chemistry, January 28, 1927

Springdale Canning Company co-owners Luther Johnson (center left) and Joe M. Steele, Springdale, September 25, 1937. William McIntosh, photographer. Philip Steele Collection (S-2005-112-6)

The above photo shows the first complete trainload of canned vegetables ever shipped by one canning factory owner in Springdale, and perhaps the first such shipment from Northwest Arkansas. Cannery co-owner Joe Steele was thirty-two years old at the time and owned or co-owned five canneries.

“Mr. Steele stated that orders enough to fill the 24 cars . . . came in last week, and enough more goods were sold to fill eight more cars, had there been time to label [the cans] and load the cars by the time for the train to leave. . . . The cans were filled with . . . turnip greens, mustard greens, spinach, green beans, and tomatoes. . . . The Springdale plant processed 3,500 cases of beans in ten hours and three of the factories, which can spinach, processed 8,000 cases per day, the latter meaning the same as two and a half cars of empty cans.”

Springdale News, September 30, 1937

Alonzo Roberts turning green beans to keep them from overheating while awaiting processing for U.S. armed forces, Springdale Canning Company, Springdale, 1943. Howard Clark, photographer. Caroline Price Clark Collection (S-2002-72-569)

“For several days all of the boys at our mess had been talking about how good the canned beans have been lately. I remarked that the reason they’re so good is because they were canned in Arkansas [by Springdale Canning Company].

Pfc. John P. Woods, New Caledonia,
Springdale News, August 2, 1945

“Today I found a case of your No. 10 cans of Nancy Jo spinach right in our kitchen. Some of the soldiers probably thought I was shell-shocked the way I acted when I saw those labels. I pasted on enough of those labels one summer that I shouldn’t ever forget them. I don’t mind saying it—it was just like a letter from home.”

Lt. Edgar C. Wood, Tunisia, May 13, 1943
Steele and Springdale Canning Companies brochure, 1946

Workers picking and sorting spinach prior to its washing, Steele Canning Company, Springdale, circa 1948. (S-90-11-115)

“Only the choicest spinach is used which is grown in fields under natural weather conditions, harmonizing with the fine composition of the soil to produce the very finest flavored spinach. Careful hand-picked operations permit delivery of only the choicest leaves to the washers and a multitude of washing operations, many of them we have pioneered, assuring a product for the consumer’s table which is entirely free from grit.”

Steele and Springdale Canning Companies brochure, about 1948

Cooling vat, Steele Canning Company, Springdale, circa 1948. Shiloh Museum Collection (S-90-11-117)

In Steele Canning Company’s cannery, roughly 360 cans would be placed into a large metal basket for cooking. Once cooked, the cans were cooled with flowing water. Smaller operations skipped this step, letting their cans cool in the open air.

“. . . [the] cooling vat with [its] continuous flow of water. . . produces a quick chilled can resulting in a better vacuum. This quick chilling also produces accurate favoring because of temperature control of the finished canned product.”

Steele and Springdale Canning Companies brochure, about 1948

Canning Center, Springdale High School, Springdale, 1943. Howard Clark, photographer. Caroline Price Clark Collection (S-2002-72-568)

Springdale High School’s Canning Center was one of twenty such facilities throughout Arkansas, furnished and controlled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to aid home canners in the proper methods of food preservation.

The cannery had “. . . three large thirty-three-quart capacity retorts, a small pressure cooker, hot water cookers, three sealers, a dehydrator, bottle cappers, pre-cookers and other minor equipment. . . . The cannery is located in two north basement rooms of the school building and will remain a permanent feature of the school, being open for housewives and home canners of Springdale and neighboring territory . . .”

Springdale News, July 8, 1943

Welch Grape Juice Company, Springdale, June 1944. Howard Clark, photographer. Caroline Price Clark Collection (S-2002-72-336) Howard Clark, photographer. Caroline Price Clark Collection (S-2002-72-336)

An existing railroad spur was extended from the nearby ice plant to serve Springdale’s Welch Grape Juice factory, which relied on the railroad to distribute their products.

“. . . this region thus possesses some focal transportation characteristics, a fact of great value. To the canning industry this has meant that the canned product can be moved out readily. It has also meant that fruits and vegetables destined for the canneries can move in, not only from immediately adjacent areas, but also from contiguous regions north, west, and south.”

Irene A. Moke
Economic Geography, April 1952

Steele Canning Company trucks, Springdale, 1940s–1950s. V. D. McRoberts, photographer. Philip Steele Collection (S-2005-112-5)

Steele Canning Company was started in the Steele community near Tontitown in 1924, when Joe M. Steele needed money to attend college. His business later grew to be the largest canning operation in Washington County.

“The rural and small-urban economy has developed amazingly [in the past ten to fifteen years]. The business districts of the towns are spreading, the highway fairly hums with traffic, and anyone who knew the rather somnolent region in 1935 would scarcely recognize it now. No attempt is made here to credit the canning business alone with this progress. However, there is no doubt that the canneries play a leading role in the economy, and perform a most valuable function for the farm areas of this region and of other districts outside of northwestern Arkansas.”

Irene A. Moke
Economic Geography, April 1952

Allen Canning Company truck, Siloam Springs, July 23, 1964. Ray Watson, photographer. Ray Watson Collection (S-85-325-1472)

Earl Allen started Allen Canning Company in Siloam Springs in 1926. In his first year he had canned 4,000 cases of tomatoes. A family-owned business, in 1988 Allen’s had fourteen plants and distribution centers in five states and offered over eighty-five different products.

Filling cans with spinach, Steele Canning Company, Springdale, May 1969. Ray Watson, photographer. Ray Watson Collection (S-85-325-2074)

“Nothing was screened in [at the Georgetown Cannery near Japton]; flies were very thick, as the waste was just hosed off the floors and tables into a ditch or creek. . . . the women took their children with them to work. . . . My mother would put my younger sister and I on a quilt, then stretch a tent-like cover of mosquito netting up over us to keep the flies off. Most babies just lay in the flies, crawling in the eyes and mouths, no wonder so many had dysentery. Very few workers washed their hands after going to the toilet or diapering a baby. I guess seeing so much unsanitary conditions as a kid is the reason I didn’t want to eat commercially canned food.”

Lena Davis Law, August 1997
Madison County Musings, Fall 2006

“At the end of the day [at John Goucher’s cannery in Madison County], the canning factory was cleaned using scalding water. . . . the factory was sealed overhead with aluminum, the side walls were covered with linoleum, and the floors were concrete so that everything could be washed down. . . . they never had any trouble with contamination. Mr. Jones, who was the inspector that came around to check on the canning process, usually bought five cases of tomatoes each year . . . for his own use after he had watched the process and saw how clean the factory was.”

Joy Russell recounting the history of John Goucher
Fading Memories III: Stories of Madison County People and Places, 1999

Testing lab, Allen Canning Company, Siloam Springs, September 2, 1967. With Deward Bishop (right). Ray Watson, photographer. Ray Watson Collection (S-85-325-1547)

“We have quality control labs in every [Allen] plant and they check the quality on every lot of merchandise that is packed. …When the products are tested, the lab technicians look for factors that affect weight, color, characteristic or texture and they look for the absence of defects. The samples are also analyzed to test the salt content. The grading or sizing of each lot is also double checked to insure the count contained in each can size of the products is accurate.”

Inside Arkansas, Fall 1980

Steele Canning Company products, Springdale, April 3, 1961. Ray Watson, photographer. Marie Steele Collection (S-77-15-14)

“Back in 1924, when [Steele Canning Company] started, we bought the cans in the bulk, in [railroad] car load lots, unloaded them, and transported them, ricked in rows on hay frames on wagons from Johnson to Steele [Community]. There were four loads to a car, and it took one day and night and all the next day to unload the cars, and haul the cans to the plant. . . . Today the cans are bought by the car load in boxed paper bags which hold 210 No. 2 cans. Unloaded, stacked and as needed they are emptied into filling machines.”

Joe M. Steele
Springdale News, August 8, 1945

Heekin Can Company, Springdale, February 10, 1982. Charles Bickford, photographer. Springdale News Collection (S-86-31-16)

Heekin Can Company opened a manufacturing plant in Springdale in 1949 to be close to the major canneries. In 1986 Heekin shipped about 430 million cans. Ball Corporation acquired Heekin in 1993. The Springdale plant produced containers for Southern and Midwestern customers until its closing in 2020.

“The pieces of tin . . . are placed in the feed slots on this body maker machine. From there a button is pushed and the body takes off. It is notched, folded, fluxed, expanded, bumped, warmed, soldered, heated again, wiped and cooled. When it gets through with all of this you have a tin can . . . That is, you have everything except the top and bottom. All this folding, bumping, fluxing, etc., takes about half a second.”

Springdale News, June 1, 1949

Children pose with the Popeye statue, Allen Canning Company, Springdale, June 18, 1980. Mark Neil, photographer. Springdale News Collection (SN 6-18-1980)

Allen Canning Company bought the old Steele Canning Company building and the Popeye brand in 1978. The plant closed in 2002 because the property was landlocked; there wasn’t room for growth.

“ . . . [Popeye] caught on with millions of kids and soon became a national hero, much to the delight of spinach marketers. Spinach sales jumped 33 per cent and the vegetable has since enjoyed increasing popularity. . . . The first Popeye spinach label [from Steele Canning] will offer a three-piece Melmac dinnerware set featuring Popeye characters, which will be offered for $2 and [two labels].”

Springdale News, December 6, 1965

Beatles promotion for Wagon Master beans, Steele Canning Company, Springdale, August 1964. Art Pruett (left) and Phillip Steele. Charles Bickford, photographer. Springdale News Collection (SN 8/1964 #3)

Marketers used celebrities to increase brand popularity and consumer purchases.

“The beans were ‘terrific’ and the Beatles were popular, but the campaign didn’t save Wagon Master beans, which died a slow death . . . Consumers wouldn’t buy anything but pork and beans or chili beans.”

Philip Steele
Springdale News, April 10, 1994

Click on the names below to hear stories about the local canning industry from folks who were involved in it. Some memories are told by the people themselves or by family members. Other recordings are accounts of canning memories, retold and read by Shiloh Museum staff and volunteers.

Otto Bennett

Velma Bennett

Nathan Bowerman

Lloyd Bowling

Charles Brink

Kenny Bryant

Oleta Williams Bryant

Coy Collins

Doris Denzer

Jake Edens

Sophia Estes

Jean Gray

Edna Barnes Henderson

Dan Hendricks

James R. McNally

Jeanie Fultz Miller

Jerry Putman

Waneta Smith Redfern

Ginger Greathouse Roces

Sue Brashears Springer

Margaret Disney Stamps

Truman Stamps

Mary Maestri Vaughan

Arkansas Gazette. “Allen cans veggies, Popeye spinach.” 3-8-1989.

———. “Madison Tomato Crop Valued at Around $600,000.”  8-4-1939.

Barnes, Guy. “Steele Family Marks 65th Year in Food Processing Business.” Springdale News, 12-17-1989.

Barrett, Richard H. “A Chronicle of Carroll County Barretts.” Carroll County Historical Society Quarterly Vol. XXXI, No. 1 (Spring 1985).

Benton County Pioneer. “News from Benton County Democrat, Apr. 23, 1887, J.M. Thompson, Publ.” Vol. 4, No. 3 (March 1959).

Caraway, Steve. “Canning Plant to Close.” Springdale News, 9-19-2002.

Eaton, Vernon. “Remembering the Ozarks: Green Beans.” Madison County Record, 8-12-1999.

———. “Remembering the Ozarks: The Tomato Field.” Madison County Record, 5-30-1996.

Hendricks, Dan. Interview by Marie Demeroukas, Shiloh Museum of Ozark History. 3-8-1913.

History of Robinson and Kincheloe Communities, Yell Precinct, Benton County, Arkansas, Robinson Historical Committee: Siloam Springs, 1995.

Inside Arkansas. “Allen Tradition is Built on Can.” Vol. 16, No. 3 (Fall 1980).

Jardine, W. M. Service and Regulatory Announcements, Bureau of Chemistry, Supplement. United States Department of Agriculture, 1-28-1927. http://mdot.nlm.nih.gov/fdanj/bitstream/123456789/46929/4/fdnj14952.pdf (accessed 4/2013; no longer available online).

Law, Lena Davis. “More Cannery Information.” Madison County Musings Vol. XXV, No. 3 (Fall 2006).

Lucas, Margaret M. Ozark Canners and Freezers Association Progress Report. Ozark Canners and Freezers Association, 1963.

Lynch, Bobbie Byars. “The Springdale Canning Industry.” Shiloh Springdale 1878-1978. Springdale [Arkansas] Centennial Committee, 1978.

Martin, Wayne. Pettigrew, Arkansas: Hardwood Capital of the World. Shiloh Museum of Ozark History: Springdale, Arkansas, 2010.

May, Patricia. “From Popeye to the Beatles: Steele Adventures in Food.” Springdale News, 4-10-1994.

McMurry, Neva Barnes. “Factory Workers Remember…” Washington County Observer, 11-14-1985.

Moke, Irene A. “Canning in Northwest Arkansas: Springdale, Arkansas.” Economic Geography Vol. 28, No. 2 (April 1952).

Morelock, T. E. “Washington County Canneries Then and Now.” Flashback (Washington County Historical Society) Vol. 55, No. 3 (Summer 2005).

Oak Leaves. “Canning, Refrigerator Cars, and Fresh Produce.” Missouri and Arkansas Railroad Research Group, Spring 1990.

Prairie Grove Canning Factory Subscription List, 11-24-1903. Shiloh Museum Collection, Manuscript 42, Box 4A, Folder 23 (S-90-67-4).

Rothrock, Thomas. “The Judge Berry Story.” Arkansas Historical Quarterly Vol. XV, No. 2 (Summer 1956).

Russell, Joy. “John Goucher.” Fading Memories III: Stories of Madison County People and Places, Madison County Genealogical and Historical Society, 1999.

Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station. “What’s in Season from the Garden State: The Historic Rutgers Tomato Gets Re-invented in University’s 250th Anniversary Year” http://www.njfarmfresh.rutgers.edu/WhatabouttheRutgersTomato.htm (accessed 10-23-2020).

Shiloh Museum research files. “The Steele’s 65 Years in the Food Industry, From Canned Tomatoes to Microwave Desserts,” unknown source and author, 12-4-1989.

Siloam Springs Herald Democrat. “Allen Canning Co. continues to grow.” 6-28-1987.

Silva, Rachel. “Walks Through History: Historic Downtown Prairie Grove,” Arkansas Historic Preservation Program. http://www.arkansaspreservation.com/LiteratureRetrieve.aspx?ID=145012 (accessed 10-23-2020)

Springdale News. “‘Springdalia’ Manages for Preview Tour of New Factory…” 6-1-1949.

———. “Almost-Empty Welch Plant Reminder of Another Time.” 6-22-1986.

———. “Canner Ships Train Load of Products.” 9-30-1937.

———. “Canning Industry Has Close Ties to Agriculture.” 2-23-1982.

———. “Canning One of Sections [sic] Important Industries.” 4-29-1937.

———. “Formal Opening of Canning Center to be Held July 14.” 7-8-1943.

———. “Grape Juice and Wine Are Local Products.” 4-29-1937.

———.. “Heekin Can Company Formally Opened With Ceremonies Here Saturday.”  6-6-1949.

———. “Heekin Produces Millions of Cans.” Springdale News, 6-22-1986.

———. “Many Visitors Expected for Award Ceremony.” 8-2-1945.

———. “One of the ‘Big Deals’…” 6-1-1949.

———. “Prison Labor Necessary Says Welch Head.” Springdale News, 11-16-1944.

———. “Springdale Grew Up With the Food Processing.” 4-21-1985.

———. “Steele Canning Co. Gets Help of Beatles in Promoting Beans.” 8-26-1964.

———. “Steele Canning Co. Largest in Arkansas.” 11-30-1962.

———. “Steele Canning Now Has Popeye to Sell Its Spinach.” 12-6-1965.

———. “Tin Cans Hard to Handle in Early Days.” 8-2-1945.

———. “Tour of Plant Sees Beans Off to Armed Forces.” 8-2-1945.

———. “When History Was Made in Springdale.” 10-21-1937.

———.“The Springdale Canning Co. was organized…”5-15-1908.

Steele Canning Company and Springdale Canning Co. brochures, 1946 and circa 1948.

Swanson, Christie. “Allens: 84 Years and Counting.” Northwest Arkansas Newspapers, 10-3-2010.

Van Buskirk, Kathleen. “When the Tomato Was Queen.” Ozarks Mountaineer Vol. 26, No. 3 (April 1978).

Young, Susan, ed. Memories I Can’t Let Go Of: Life Stories from Tontitown, Arkansas. Farther Along Books: Fayetteville, Arkansas, 2012.

Track meet, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, 1941. Carl Smith, photographer. Ada Lee Shook Collection ( S-98-85-1798)

Camera in hand, Carl Smith recorded the town he loved.

One of Carl’s major interests was in the goings-on at Fayetteville High School and the University of Arkansas, his alma maters. During homecoming he captured scenes of float builders, marchers, and parades. At sporting events he caught the scramble of football players on the field and the moment when a racer crossed the finish line.

Around town he snapped images of buildings, streets, and new homes under construction. At one point he even hopped into an airplane to take a few aerial shots of the downtown and surrounding countryside. A bird’s-eye view of the University’s campus shows just a few buildings surrounding Old Main and an empty field where the Student Union now stands.

Of course some of the places he documented have changed over time. Gone are the dirt roads on Mt. Sequoyah and the ornate First Baptist Church. The city swimming pool at Wilson Park looks quite different as do a few of the buildings on the square. Carl’s photos are a legacy of Fayetteville as it used to be.

First National Bank, northeast corner of Block and Center Streets, Fayetteville, 1950s. Carl Smith, photographer. Ada Lee Shook Collection (S-2001-101-76)

Track meet, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, 1941. Carl Smith, photographer. Ada Lee Shook Collection ( S-98-85-1798)

Camera in hand, Carl Smith recorded the town he loved.

One of Carl’s major interests was in the goings-on at Fayetteville High School and the University of Arkansas, his alma maters. During homecoming he captured scenes of float builders, marchers, and parades. At sporting events he caught the scramble of football players on the field and the moment when a racer crossed the finish line.

Around town he snapped images of buildings, streets, and new homes under construction. At one point he even hopped into an airplane to take a few aerial shots of the downtown and surrounding countryside. A bird’s-eye view of the University’s campus shows just a few buildings surrounding Old Main and an empty field where the Student Union now stands.

First National Bank, northeast corner of Block & Center Streets, Fayetteville, 1950s. Carl Smith, photographer. Ada Lee Shook Collection (S-2001-101-76)

Of course some of the places he documented have changed over time. Gone are the dirt roads on Mt. Sequoyah and the ornate First Baptist Church. The city swimming pool at Wilson Park looks quite different as do a few of the buildings on the square. Carl’s photos are a legacy of Fayetteville as it used to be.

Carl Smith with his surveying equipment at his mother’s home on Locust Street, Fayetteville, about 1925. Ada Lee Shook Collection (S-98-85-39)

Building a Life, Building a Town

After receiving his civil engineering degree from the University of Arkansas in 1922, Carl worked on a variety of area engineering projects: sewer and paving improvements in Harrison; paving, water, and sewer projects in Fayetteville; and the waterworks plant in Prairie Grove. He went further afield, working for a sulfur company in Freeport, Texas, and as a resident engineer for a construction company in Monett, Missouri.

Carl’s biggest jobs came during the Great Depression, when the Federal government sponsored massive construction projects as a way to put people to work. From 1932 to 1933 he assisted with the building of the U.S. Veterans Hospital complex, which included the administration building, the dining hall, the nurses’ quarters, the boiler house, and various on-site residences.

From 1936 to 1938 he worked on another Federal project, the construction of the Lake Wedington recreational area just west of Fayetteville. As project engineer he laid out the road into the work site and built the 102-acre lake with its 1,000-feet-long earthen dam.

After World War II Carl served as water superintendent and city engineer for the City of Fayetteville. He advocated projects that would increase the water supply of a growing town and oversaw additions and renovations at the city hospital, the airport, and in residential areas.

Carl Smith’s 1945 surveying transit and accessories. Ada Lee Shook Collection

Carl Smith with his surveying equipment at his mother’s home on Locust Street, Fayetteville, about 1925. Ada Lee Shook Collection (S-98-85-39)

Building a Life, Building a Town

After receiving his civil engineering degree from the University of Arkansas in 1922, Carl worked on a variety of area engineering projects: sewer and paving improvements in Harrison; paving, water, and sewer projects in Fayetteville; and the waterworks plant in Prairie Grove. He went further afield, working for a sulfur company in Freeport, Texas, and as a resident engineer for a construction company in Monett, Missouri.

Carl’s biggest jobs came during the Great Depression, when the Federal government sponsored massive construction projects as a way to put people to work. From 1932 to 1933 he assisted with the building of the U.S. Veterans Hospital complex, which included the administration building, the dining hall, the nurses’ quarters, the boiler house, and various on-site residences.

From 1936 to 1938 he worked on another Federal project, the construction of the Lake Wedington recreational area just west of Fayetteville. As project engineer he laid out the road into the work site and built the 102-acre lake with its 1,000-feet-long earthen dam.

After World War II Carl served as water superintendent and city engineer for the City of Fayetteville. He advocated projects that would increase the water supply of a growing town and oversaw additions and renovations at the city hospital, the airport, and in residential areas.

Carl Smith’s 1945 surveying transit and accessories. Ada Lee Shook Collection

Ada Lee Smith in her sandbox, Fayetteville, 1933. Carl Smith, photographer. Ada Lee Shook Collection (S-98-85-336)

Was there ever a child in Northwest Arkansas more photographed than Ada Lee?

From the moment she was born in 1928 Carl began documenting his daughter’s life. There are snapshots of her with her toys, pets, outfits, and bicycles. Ada Lee on Christmas morning, on her birthday, playing in her sandbox, swimming in the creek.

The neighborhood kids weren’t left out. Not only did Carl take their picture, he also built go-carts, made playhouses, and organized adventures. In later years Ada Lee remembered, “Oh, he was a great dad! A lot of fun! He made kites for all the neighborhood kids out of tissue paper and sticks, with a tail made of rags. He knew exactly how to make them fly. He took all us kids for walks on Mount Sequoyah. He played with us in the sandbox. He made roads in the sand, and used twigs from our spirea bush to make trees.”

One of Carl’s interests was formal portraiture, as evidenced by the many posed shots he took of children and adults. He’d sit his subjects outside, perhaps with a dark blanket as a backdrop, and when the light was just right, capture a quiet moment.

Ada Lee with sled, Fayetteville, 1932. Carl Smith, photographer. Ada Lee Shook Collection (S-98-85-333)

Ada Lee Smith in her sandbox, Fayetteville, 1933. Carl Smith, photographer. Ada Lee Shook Collection (S-98-85-336)

Was there ever a child in Northwest Arkansas more photographed than Ada Lee?

From the moment she was born in 1928 Carl began documenting his daughter’s life. There are snapshots of her with her toys, her pets, her outfits, and her bicycles. Ada Lee on Christmas morning, on her birthday, playing in her sandbox, swimming in the creek.

The neighborhood kids weren’t left out. Not only did Carl take their picture, he also built go-carts, made playhouses, and organized adventures. In later years Ada Lee remembered, “Oh, he was a great dad! A lot of fun! He made kites for all the neighborhood kids out of tissue paper and sticks, with a tail made of rags. He knew exactly how to make them fly. He took all us kids for walks on Mount Sequoyah. He played with us in the sandbox. He made roads in the sand, and used twigs from our spirea bush to make trees.”

One of Carl’s interests was formal portraiture, as evidenced by the many posed shots he took of children and adults. He’d sit his subjects outside, perhaps with a dark blanket as a backdrop, and when the light was just right, capture a quiet moment.

Ada Lee with sled, Fayetteville, 1932. Carl Smith, photographer. Ada Lee Shook Collection (S-98-85-333)

Carl Smith in his home darkroom, Fayetteville, 1930s. Ada Lee Shook Collection (S-2009-79)

“Lt. Col. Smith Wears British Honor Medal,” [possibly] Fayetteville Daily Democrat, 1946?

McGlumphy, Veronica. “Wiggan’s Hole: History of Lake Wedington.” Flashback, Vol. 58, No. 1 (Spring 2008).

Miller, Leaford. “Urgency of Water Situation Here Stressed by Official.” Northwest Arkansas Times, June 26, 1956.

“Mountain Street District Paving Opened to Public,” Fayetteville Daily Democrat, September 18, 1925.

Resettlement Administration, Washington, D.C. Letters to William Carl Smith, December 16, 1935, and May 20, 1936. Shiloh Museum Manuscript Collection #79, Box 3, File 1.

Rucker, Steve. Email re: Carl Smith’s military service, July 18, 2001.

Shook, Ada Lee. “William Claiborne Smith.”  History of Washington County Arkansas, 1989.

USDA Soil Conservation Service, Washington D.C. Personal Data Memorandum for Carl Smith, September 1, 1939. Shiloh Museum Manuscript Collection #79, Box 3, File 1.

Young, Susan. “Carl Smith and His Photos.” Shiloh Scrapbook, Summer 2001.

Young, Susan. Notes from an interview with Ada Lee Smith Shook, 2001.

Carl Smith in his home darkroom, Fayetteville, 1930s. Ada Lee Shook Collection (S-2009-79)

“Lt. Col. Smith Wears British Honor Medal,” [possibly] Fayetteville Daily Democrat, 1946?

McGlumphy, Veronica. “Wiggan’s Hole: History of Lake Wedington.” Flashback, Vol. 58, No. 1 (Spring 2008).

Miller, Leaford. “Urgency of Water Situation Here Stressed by Official.” Northwest Arkansas Times, June 26, 1956.

“Mountain Street District Paving Opened to Public,” Fayetteville Daily Democrat, September 18, 1925.

Resettlement Administration, Washington, D.C. Letters to William Carl Smith, December 16, 1935, and May 20, 1936. Shiloh Museum Manuscript Collection #79, Box 3, File 1.

Rucker, Steve. Email re: Carl Smith’s military service, July 18, 2001.

Shook, Ada Lee. “William Claiborne Smith.”  History of Washington County Arkansas, 1989.

USDA Soil Conservation Service, Washington D.C. Personal Data Memorandum for Carl Smith, September 1, 1939. Shiloh Museum Manuscript Collection #79, Box 3, File 1.

Young, Susan. “Carl Smith and His Photos.” Shiloh Scrapbook, Summer 2001.

Young, Susan. Notes from an interview with Ada Lee Smith Shook, 2001.

Looking west on Emma Avenue, from near the railroad tracks, early 1900s. D. D. Deaver Collection (S-78-18)

When Springdale was incorporated in 1878, the land where the Shiloh Museum now stands was the center of town. It was surrounded by homes, businesses, churches, and farms. In the early 1880s Mayor Jo Holcomb encouraged merchants to move to his property a few blocks southeast by offering land at low or no cost. Why? Because that’s where the St. Louis & San Francisco (Frisco) Railroad built a depot in 1881 as it steamed its way through Northwest Arkansas. A commercial district formed on the new street named for Holcomb’s stepdaughter, Emma Dupree Deaver.

Some of the earliest buildings were made of wood, making them quick to build but also quick to burn down. When fire wiped out a block of wood buildings near the depot, more permanent brick structures were built in their place. In 1897 the core of the business district was from Main Street east to the railroad tracks. Emma was home to produce companies, banks, livery stables, barbershops, apple evaporators, and hotels, along with stores which sold food, clothing, hardware, and household supplies.

Spring Creek ran north through Emma, roughly along Spring Street. Flooding was a continual problem. Ditches and drains helped channel some of the water, but not all. A bridge of sorts was built over the creek to contain it, with structures built atop. But whenever there was a heavy rain, merchants reluctantly opened their doors to let the water flow through their buildings. Emma’s dirt roadbed turned into a muddy mess. The street was paved in 1925, making it popular both with merchants and roller skaters.

Looking west on Emma Avenue, from near the railroad tracks, early 1900s. D. D. Deaver Collection (S-78-18)

When Springdale was incorporated in 1878, the land where the Shiloh Museum now stands was the center of town. It was surrounded by homes, businesses, churches, and farms. In the early 1880s Mayor Jo Holcomb encouraged merchants to move to his property a few blocks southeast by offering land at low or no cost. Why? Because that’s where the St. Louis & San Francisco (Frisco) Railroad built a depot in 1881 as it steamed its way through Northwest Arkansas. A commercial district formed on the new street named for Holcomb’s stepdaughter, Emma Dupree Deaver.

Some of the earliest buildings were made of wood, making them quick to build but also quick to burn down. When fire wiped out a block of wood buildings near the depot, more permanent brick structures were built in their place. In 1897 the core of the business district was from Main Street east to the railroad tracks. Emma was home to produce companies, banks, livery stables, barbershops, apple evaporators, and hotels, along with stores which sold food, clothing, hardware, and household supplies.

Spring Creek ran north through Emma, roughly along Spring Street. Flooding was a continual problem. Ditches and drains helped channel some of the water, but not all. A bridge of sorts was built over the creek to contain it, with structures built atop. But whenever there was a heavy rain, merchants reluctantly opened their doors to let the water flow through their buildings. Emma’s dirt roadbed turned into a muddy mess. The street was paved in 1925, making it popular both with merchants and roller skaters.

1950s. Springdale Chamber of Commerce Collection (S-77-9-104)

Back in its heyday Emma was a busy, thriving street. By the late 1800s Springdale’s main industry was agriculture, thanks to the railroad which gave farmers a chance to ship their produce beyond Northwest Arkansas. Thousands of railroad cars of apples, strawberries, grapes, and other produce were shipped from the depot on Emma. Each spring trucks filled the street as buyers came to examine, select, and purchase strawberries.

Beginning in the 1920s produce-businesses moved to the east side of the tracks. They were joined by poultry suppliers and growers in the 1930s and 1940s, among them Jeff Brown, C.L. George, and John Tyson. Further down the street Harvey Jones’ trucking company hauled such freight as lumber and fruit throughout the region. These men, who all got their start on Emma, turned their small companies into corporate giants, bringing wealth and prosperity to the area.

1950s. Springdale Chamber of Commerce Collection (S-77-9-104)

Back in its heyday Emma was a busy, thriving street. By the late 1800s Springdale’s main industry was agriculture, thanks to the railroad which gave farmers a chance to ship their produce beyond Northwest Arkansas. Thousands of railroad cars of apples, strawberries, grapes, and other produce were shipped from the depot on Emma. Each spring trucks filled the street as buyers came to examine, select, and purchase strawberries.

Beginning in the 1920s produce-businesses moved to the east side of the tracks. They were joined by poultry suppliers and growers in the 1930s and 1940s, among them Jeff Brown, C.L. George, and John Tyson. Further down the street Harvey Jones’ trucking company hauled such freight as lumber and fruit throughout the region. These men, who all got their start on Emma, turned their small companies into corporate giants, bringing wealth and prosperity to the area.

Community parade, early 1900s. Bobbie Byars Lynch Collection (S-77-53-13)

Emma was the “town square” of Springdale, the place were high school students met for sodas, where hunters showed off their trophy bucks, and where crowds gathered to watch traveling medicine shows. Politicians like Governors Orval Faubus and Bill Clinton often visited the street to glad-hand voters and wave from parade cars. Springdale is famous for its parades. Early on, Fourth of July festivities honored Civil War veterans and welcomed back World War I soldiers and nurses. During the mid-1920s the Ozark Grape Festival parades celebrated the area’s grape industry.

The first official Rodeo of the Ozarks parade was held in 1946 and featured riding clubs, marching bands, and floats and cars decorated by local businesses. As the rodeo grew, so did community involvement. During Western Week merchants decorated their store windows with a rodeo theme. Folks caught not wearing western clothing on Emma were sometimes subject to a good-natured fine or a dunking in a large tub of water. The rodeo also sponsored an annual Christmas parade.

Community parade, early 1900s. Bobbie Byars Lynch Collection (S-77-53-13)

Emma was the “town square” of Springdale, the place were high school students met for sodas, where hunters showed off their trophy bucks, and where crowds gathered to watch traveling medicine shows. Politicians like Governors Orval Faubus and Bill Clinton often visited the street to glad-hand voters and wave from parade cars. Springdale is famous for its parades. Early on, Fourth of July festivities honored Civil War veterans and welcomed back World War I soldiers and nurses. During the mid-1920s the Ozark Grape Festival parades celebrated the area’s grape industry.

The first official Rodeo of the Ozarks parade was held in 1946 and featured riding clubs, marching bands, and floats and cars decorated by local businesses. As the rodeo grew, so did community involvement. During Western Week merchants decorated their store windows with a rodeo theme. Folks caught not wearing western clothing on Emma were sometimes subject to a good-natured fine or a dunking in a large tub of water. The rodeo also sponsored an annual Christmas parade.

1967. Charles Bickford, photographer. Springdale News Collection (S-84-49-68)

Over the years Emma’s buildings were updated to reflect a fresh, modern look. Old-fashioned tin ceilings were covered and stucco and metal siding hid old brick walls. Around 1950 Pioneer Lumber unified its odd mix of buildings into one storefront with plate-glass windows and a streamlined brick exterior. Later renovations have all but hidden the original 1895-era two-story building.

Floods changed the look of Emma too. On May 29, 1950, heavy rains caused Spring Creek to rise quickly. Water surged through downtown, washing debris towards the Meadow Street bridge. The debris jammed, causing the water to back up on Emma. Items began floating away, some through smashed plate-glass windows—chairs and a showcase at Penrod’s Café, boards at Pioneer Lumber, and the organ console at the Apollo Theater. The next day Wilson’s held what may have been Emma’s first sidewalk sale, selling flood-damaged clothing to buyers eager for a discount.

Although Springdale leaders wanted a better drainage system, they didn’t have the funds. That began to change in the 1960s when the city underwent urban renewal, a federal program meant to revitalize the nation’s downtowns. The multimillion-dollar project addressed several Emma-related issues including increased parking for shoppers and employees, the channelization of Spring Creek with concrete culverts to eliminate flooding, and the demolition or modernization of several historic buildings.

New structures went up in some of the holes left behind, including San Jose Manor, a business mall built by businessmen Sandy Boone and Joe Steele, and Shiloh Square, a community pavilion built over a Spring Creek drainage culvert. Events such as fried-chicken dinners, arts and crafts shows, and high school pep rallies were held there. Years later the space was fenced off because of damage done by skateboarders and graffiti artists.

Other attempts to revitalize Springdale’s downtown included redevelopment studies, landscaping, parking meter removal, and changes to on-street parking spaces.

1967. Charles Bickford, photographer. Springdale News Collection (S-84-49-68)

Over the years Emma’s buildings were updated to reflect a fresh, modern look. Old-fashioned tin ceilings were covered and stucco and metal siding hid old brick walls. Around 1950 Pioneer Lumber unified its odd mix of buildings into one storefront with plate-glass windows and a streamlined brick exterior. Later renovations have all but hidden the original 1895-era two-story building.

 Floods changed the look of Emma too. On May 29, 1950, heavy rains caused Spring Creek to rise quickly. Water surged through downtown, washing debris towards the Meadow Street bridge. The debris jammed, causing the water to back up on Emma. Items began floating away, some through smashed plate-glass windows—chairs and a showcase at Penrod’s Café, boards at Pioneer Lumber, and the organ console at the Apollo Theater. The next day Wilson’s held what may have been Emma’s first sidewalk sale, selling flood-damaged clothing to buyers eager for a discount.

 Although Springdale leaders wanted a better drainage system, they didn’t have the funds. That began to change in the 1960s when the city underwent urban renewal, a federal program meant to revitalize the nation’s downtowns. The multimillion-dollar project addressed several Emma-related issues including increased parking for shoppers and employees, the channelization of Spring Creek with concrete culverts to eliminate flooding, and the demolition or modernization of several historic buildings.

 New structures went up in some of the holes left behind, including San Jose Manor, a business mall built by businessmen Sandy Boone and Joe Steele, and Shiloh Square, a community pavilion built over a Spring Creek drainage culvert. Events such as fried-chicken dinners, arts and crafts shows, and high school pep rallies were held there. Years later the space was fenced off because of damage done by skateboarders and graffiti artists.

 Other attempts to revitalize Springdale’s downtown included redevelopment studies, landscaping, parking meter removal, and changes to on-street parking spaces.

Looking east, February 1, 1973. Charles Bickford, photographer. Springdale News Collection (S-84-13-94A)

Emma’s landscape and energy was changing. In 1965 the Frisco ended passenger service in Northwest Arkansas, reducing activity at the depot. During urban renewal buildings were torn down and replaced with parking lots. Some thought the changes helpful, others didn’t. While Emma still had merchants, shoppers were drifting away. Highway 71’s high volume of traffic beckoned as a place for downtown store owners to relocate. As the years passed, buildings on Emma emptied and longtime mainstays closed their doors. The Springdale News, Tyson Foods, and Famous Hardware buildings became a farm-supply store, a grocery, and an antique store, respectively.

When Bill Sonneman opened the Apollo Theater in 1949 it was a showplace with velvet seats, a pipe organ, and a handsome marble statue of the Greek god Apollo. In the early 1970s the theater’s new owners hoped to turn a profit by showing X-rated movies. After opposition by citizens and the Springdale City Council, authorities took action in 1975. Police raided the theater and seized the film, Touch Me. The Apollo closed for several years before reopening as a music venue. By 2002 the building was once again shuttered and later condemned.

Looking east, February 1, 1973. Charles Bickford, photographer. Springdale News Collection (S-84-13-94A)

Emma’s landscape and energy was changing. In 1965 the Frisco ended passenger service in Northwest Arkansas, reducing activity at the depot. During urban renewal buildings were torn down and replaced with parking lots. Some thought the changes helpful, others didn’t. While Emma still had merchants, shoppers were drifting away. Highway 71’s high volume of traffic beckoned as a place for downtown store owners to relocate. As the years passed, buildings on Emma emptied and longtime mainstays closed their doors. The Springdale News, Tyson Foods, and Famous Hardware buildings became a farm-supply store, a grocery, and an antique store, respectively.

When Bill Sonneman opened the Apollo Theater in 1949 it was a showplace with velvet seats, a pipe organ, and a handsome marble statue of the Greek god Apollo. In the early 1970s the theater’s new owners hoped to turn a profit by showing X-rated movies. After opposition by citizens and the Springdale City Council, authorities took action in 1975. Police raided the theater and seized the film, Touch Me. The Apollo closed for several years before reopening as a music venue. By 2002 the building was once again shuttered and later condemned.

Outdoor street dinner sponsored by Downtown Springdale Alliance, May 21, 2016. Courtesy Kim Christie, photographer.

Today Springdale is involved in a different kind of urban renewal, one which is drawing people and businesses back downtown. Perhaps the event that triggered this latest round of activity was the coming of the Razorback Greenway, an extensive system of trails throughout Northwest Arkansas. The Greenway cuts through downtown Emma next to a remodeled Shiloh Square and newly built Walter Turnbow Park, which exposes the long-buried waters of Spring Creek. What was once a problem is now an asset.

A land rush of sorts is occurring on Emma. Merchants are refurbishing buildings and opening new businesses. The interest in craft spirits has led to brew pubs, bars, and an apple cidery. The old Apollo Theater has been renovated and is now an event space. And Tyson Foods returned to its original home in what is now the Springdale Poultry Industry Historic District. An increasingly diverse population is putting its own stamp on the street with Latino-owned businesses and Marshallese-community events.

Emma’s recent improvements are due to the efforts and investments of many. City- and citizen-based initiatives are developing building codes, promoting Emma on social media, and hosting events like outdoor street dinners and the Hogeye Marathon. Large players like Tyson Foods and the family of Walmart founder Sam Walton have purchased buildings for development. They, along with the Care Foundation and the Springdale Chamber of Commerce, have donated money towards the construction of the Greenway and Turnbow Park. Tyson’s has also given $1 million to the Downtown Springdale Alliance, a nonprofit group working to rejuvenate downtown.

While old-timers will find a different street from days gone by, they’re sure to appreciate seeing the old buildings brought back to life and people once again enjoying Emma Avenue.

Outdoor street dinner sponsored by Downtown Springdale Alliance, May 21, 2016. Courtesy Kim Christie, photographer.

Today Springdale is involved in a different kind of urban renewal, one which is drawing people and businesses back downtown. Perhaps the event that triggered this latest round of activity was the coming of the Razorback Greenway, an extensive system of trails throughout Northwest Arkansas. The Greenway cuts through downtown Emma next to a remodeled Shiloh Square and newly built Walter Turnbow Park, which exposes the long-buried waters of Spring Creek. What was once a problem is now an asset.

A land rush of sorts is occurring on Emma. Merchants are refurbishing buildings and opening new businesses. The interest in craft spirits has led to brew pubs, bars, and an apple cidery. The old Apollo Theater is undergoing renovation for future use as an event space. And Tyson Foods will return to its original home in what is now the Springdale Poultry Industry Historic District. An increasingly diverse population is putting its own stamp on the street with Latino-owned businesses and Marshallese-community events.

Emma’s recent improvements are due to the efforts and investments of many. City- and citizen-based initiatives are developing building codes, promoting Emma on social media, and hosting events like outdoor street dinners and the Hogeye Marathon. Large players like Tyson Foods and the family of Walmart founder Sam Walton have purchased buildings for development. They, along with the Care Foundation and the Springdale Chamber of Commerce, have donated money towards the construction of the Greenway and Turnbow Park. Tyson’s has also given $1 million to the Downtown Springdale Alliance, a nonprofit group working to rejuvenate downtown.

While old-timers will find a different street from days gone by, they’re sure to appreciate seeing the old buildings brought back to life and people once again enjoying Emma Avenue.

Native Americans—During the 1700s Osage Indians traveled south from their homes in what is now western Missouri to the Arkansas Ozarks in part to hunt game. Bear, elk, deer, bison, and small game animals were used for meat and leather, some of which, along with bear oil, was traded to other Native American tribes and Europeans.

Settlers—When white settlers moved into the area in the early 1800s, they relied on local wildlife for food and leather and fur pelts for trade. Dr. Alvah Jackson is said to have had a bear-fat rendering plant in the 1820s or 1830s in Carroll (now Boone) County, near the mouth of Bear Creek. The rendered fat was used to make oil lamp fuel, lubricants, and even hair gel. Farmers worked hard to kill wolves, panthers, foxes, and other predators to protect their livestock. In 1893 Bill Young promised that, if elected Benton County circuit clerk, he would “buy a good set of hounds and let the boys hunt with them.” He won, brought in hounds from Tennessee, and drew up the bylaws for the Northwest Arkansas Fox Hunters Association, the oldest such group west of the Mississippi River.

Overhunted—By the mid-1800s the buffalo herds of Benton and Washington counties were gone due to hunting and loss of habitat as the prairies were transformed into farmland. Overhunting continued and by the late 1800s the region’s game population was in serious decline. During the Great Depression of the 1930s game animals were scarce, making it hard for folks to supplement their food supply. In 1938 about 200 deer were harvested legally statewide.

Conservation—The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission was created in 1915 to establish regulations and issue licenses to hunters and fishers. In later years the Commission worked to improve and rebuild habitat and wildlife species. An elk herd was reestablished in Boxley Valley near the Buffalo River beginning in 1981. State fish hatcheries produce walleye, crappie, trout, largemouth bass, and other fish for stocking in area lakes and waterways. The coming of Beaver Lake in the mid-1960s gave rise to fishing competitions such as the All-American Bass Tournament, first held in 1967. Organized by Ray Scott of Alabama, the tourney attracted 106 of the nation’s top anglers, who competed for the grand prize of $2,000 and a weeklong trip for two to Acapulco, Mexico. While the largest fish caught were kept for trophy mounts, the rest of the fish were donated to area charities.

Protection—Today, ongoing challenges include wildlife moving into urban areas, chronic wasting disease in deer and elk herds, and an expanding feral hog population. Organizations like the Northwest Arkansas Land Trust are taking action to help conserve wildlife habitat in a rapidly developing region. Ponds built along Interstate 49 near Lowell are meant to filter possibly polluted runoff water in the recharge area for the endangered blind Ozark cavefish. The fish evolved in near-total darkness, where there was no need for working eyes. Injured wildlife are cared for by certified rehabilitation facilities, which work to educate the public about the important role wildlife plays. The operators of Vi-Jo Wildlife Haven in Siloam Springs relied on donations and treatment by volunteer veterinarians, but often paid for the haven’s operations themselves, picking up fresh road kill with which to feed their patients. When they retired in 1988, their mission was picked up by Lynn Sciumbato, who started Morning Star Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Gravette. Today she treats 400 to 500 animals and birds each year.

ANIMAL TALES
“Grandpap Vaughan lived southwest of the little village of Clifty. He said he was plowing corn one day and heard a pig squealing down toward the spring. He decided to go down and see what the trouble was. …He got on the old mare, and he and his old hound went to see what was going on. As they were going down the path…toward the spring, a panther jumped out of a tree. It had the pig up in the tree eating it alive! The panther landed on the old mare right behind him! …right then and there the old mare shedded Grandpap and the panther! The old hound ran away, leaving Grandpap and the panther in the trail. Grandpap said he was afraid to run, so he confronted the vicious animal. He said it would growl with its ears laid back like it was going to jump him. When it growled, he would growl back… Finally it began to back away from him and growl. He would growl and back away too. At last the panther ran and he ran too!”

Fred Todd, Clifty, Arkansas
And the Two Hillbilly Kids Growin’ Old, 1989

Early Residents—Early settlers to Northwest Arkansas brought with them what they needed to survive on the frontier, including livestock. Hogs were especially important because, in the days before refrigeration, the meat could be preserved with salt and smoke. Although most livestock was raised for home use, some animals were taken to market. In 1853 a crew of drovers took 550 head of cattle from Washington County to northern California to supply fresh meat to growing communities. As the area became more urban, local meat was sold in area butcher shops to families who lived and worked in town rather than on a farm.

Poultry Industry—During the 1920s Jeff Brown of Springdale began experimenting with young chickens (broilers), examining breeding, diet, and how best to hatch them in an incubator. His work led to the birth of the area’s poultry industry and such companies as Tyson Foods in Springdale, Hudson Foods in Rogers, and Peterson Industries in Decatur. For a time the area was home to egg production companies like Fox De Luxe, demonstrating how important chickens are to the area economy. They’re also part of countless fairs and fundraisers, such as the spaghetti-and-chicken dinners at the Tontitown Grape Festival and the annual Decatur Barbecue.

Other Commercial Livestock—Pel-Freez opened a rabbit-meat processing plant in Rogers in 1951, giving small-scale farmers a new source of income. Pel-Freez continues today, selling frozen rabbit meat to health-conscious consumers and manufacturing animal-based biomedical materials. At one time Benton County was the largest milk producer in the state. In the 1980s its roughly 200 dairies provided milk to such places as the Kraft Foods cheese plant in Bentonville and Hiland Dairy in Fayetteville. But by 2008 there were fewer than twenty dairies in Benton County due to high production costs and changing farm conditions. Today, as the farm-to-table food movement grows, specialty farming has increased. In Elkins the White River Creamery turns out 200 pounds of goat cheese each week while in Harrison, Berkshire Ridge Farm raises heritage-breed hogs for high-end area restaurants.

Wildlife—The Ozark Trout Farm was established at Johnson in 1932. Anglers could catch their fill of rainbows in a pond fed by the cold, clean waters of Johnson Springs. In 1970 the production was about 20,000 pounds of fish annually. Frog legs were a popular menu item back in the day. In the 1930s and 1940s Vol Brashears of Berryville raised and shipped live “giant jumbo” bullfrogs for pond restocking. Area boys earned spending money by catching the crawdads needed for frog food. In recent years a number of exotic species have been raised in the Ozarks including alpacas (for fleece) in Carroll County and foxes (for pelts) and emus (for meat, leather, and oil) in Madison County.

Environmental Damage and Animal Welfare—Concerns have been raised about large-scale hog farming near the Buffalo River in Mount Judea. Some folks worry about water pollution from liquid waste-containment ponds at C&H Hog Farm’s operation. Others feel that, as long as the owners abide by the regulations, they should be able to do what they want on their property. Folks are also concerned about animals at industrial farms, arguing for such things as humane handling and housing. According to Tyson Foods, the company is working to increase the percentage of sows housed in open pens from 34% to 47% by the end of 2017. On a smaller scale, the folks at Mason Creek Farm in Fayetteville are breeding hogs that not only have better-flavored meat, but are less prone to being startled or stressed.

ANIMAL TALES
“[Maggie Trammel of Everton] …kept a flock of Silver Laced Wyandotte hens in a half-acre fenced area connected to her hen house. …[she] gathered about three dozen eggs each day most of the year. Laying hens were replaced yearly. Not only were the egg needs of the family supplied, but [she] was able to sell perhaps 18 or 20 dozen eggs each week, and egg sales generated additional income to support the family. Eggs sold for ten cents a dozen most of the time, but prices dipped as low as three cents per dozen at the lowest point of the Depression [in the 1930s].”

Connell J. Brown
Hard Times in God’s Country, 2010

Farming—The strength of oxen, mules, and horses was used for all sorts of farm activities such as pulling stumps, plowing land, turning sorghum mills, and hauling wagons and equipment. Henry Thompson of Madison County remembered a time back in 1869 when he got sleepy as he rode in endless circles while his horses’ hooves tramped wheat berries from the chaff and straw. Eventually gas-powered equipment like tractors took over many farm chores. The back-to-the-land movement of the 1960s and 1970s renewed interest in old-time farming with draft animals. That interest continues today with some of the area’s young farmers. Greedy Goats of NWA is a new business which uses goats to clear invasive vegetation such as honeysuckle and poison ivy from private residences and neighborhood parks, such as Wilson Park in Fayetteville.

Logging—When the hardwood timber industry was in its heyday back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, horses and mules were used to “snake” (drag) heavy logs out of the forest, haul them on timber wagons, and bring portable steam engines and sawmills to the work site. In 1861 timber baron Peter Van Winkle relied on the 34 mules at his sawmill near War Eagle, using teams of six to haul lumber. Modern-day lumbering operations, with their large, heavy vehicles, can harm the forest. In the 1990s Tom Coe of Gravette used ponies to pull logs weighing 900 pounds or so out of the woods without damaging trees or the forest floor. He enjoyed the work and the property owners whose trees he harvested appreciated his care for their land.

Construction—During the 1800s and early 1900s, male residents of a certain age were required by law to do several days of road work each year or pay a fee to get out of it. Teams of sturdy horses or mules were used to pull road construction equipment like scrapers or graders. These teams could be hired by the road overseer, but a man who brought his own team could lessen his work time. Even in the 1930s, when gas-powered equipment was available, draft animals were used to construct such places as Devil’s Den, Lake Wedington, Highway 71, and the Veterans Hospital in Fayetteville.

Hunting—Hounds have been used to tree possums and raccoons, track scents, chase foxes, flush out quail, retrieve ducks, capture rabbits, fight bears, and protect livestock and their owners. Robert Winn of Winslow told of George Reed and his prized foxhound, “Sam.” One night when he was out foxhunting, Reed realized that Sam was sleeping by the fire rather than chasing foxes with the other dogs. As one fox was being driven closer, Reed is said to have picked up the dozing dog and thrown him almost on top of the fleeing fox. After a quick chase, Sam came back to sleep by the fire.

Service Animals—Following World War I, seeing-eye dogs were trained to help guide German veterans who had lost their sight due to mustard gas. The idea expanded to the U.S. in the 1930s and grew. After Dr. George V. Harris lost his vision at age 30, he trained as an osteopath and opened an office on the Fayetteville square. He lived nearby, choosing his house because it had sidewalks and curbs, necessary features for seeing-eye dogs to do their work. Specially certified dogs and cats are also used in such places as nursing homes, to soothe agitated residents and give them an opportunity to give and receive affection. Horses for Healing, a non-profit therapeutic riding center near Bentonville, helps riders with physical, mental, and emotional disabilities to improve such things as physical balance and flexibility and build self-confidence and social skills. A new program at the Benton County Jail pairs female offenders with shelter dogs, often pit bull mixes. The dogs receive much-needed obedience training while the women learn a technical skill, improve their morale, and gain leadership experience.

To Serve and Protect—Specially bred and trained dogs are frequently used in police work to find missing people, sniff out drugs and dead bodies, and subdue suspects by biting them repeatedly. With the increased use of police body cameras and cell phone videos made by bystanders, such “canine apprehension” is coming under scrutiny. In 1997 the dogs in Fayetteville Police Department’s K-9 unit trained seven hours weekly. Their work was rewarded with lots of praise and a special ball. “Gilligan” became Northwest Arkansas’ first arson dog in 1997, trained to sniff out the presence of hydrocarbons and accelerants used in intentionally set fires. While the golden Labrador’s home base was the Rogers Fire Department, he served fire companies in Benton and Washington Counties.

ANIMAL TALES
“Monte, the well known dog of City Marshall Duggans, was killed by the fire wagon Saturday afternoon. Monte was one of the most sagacious of his kind and has been a familiar figure on the streets of Fayetteville for nearly fourteen years. For many years he was assistant jailer here, neglecting no part of his duty except drawing his salary. When Mr. Duggans had charge of the county jail Monte was his constant companion and sprang to his feet to rivet his eyes upon any prisoner that moved from his bunk at night. The sound of a file or saw infuriated him and he seemed to understand all about a jail. He was accorded honorable burial in a plot of ground…”

Springdale News, February 14, 1902

Stage Coach—From 1858 to 1861 the Butterfield Overland Mail transported mail and passengers from St. Louis to San Francisco, a 2,812-mile, twenty-plus-day journey costing $200 (over $5,6000 today). In Northwest Arkansas horses were switched out along the Old Wire Road at relay stations like Elkhorn Tavern in Pea Ridge and Fitzgerald’s Station in Springdale, where the latter’s stone barn still stands today. Waterman L. Ormsbey, who reported on the Mail’s first trip, described mountainsides “covered with massive broken rock” and “precipitous ravines of unknown depth.”

Hacks, Wagons, and Buggies—For shorter journeys, small hack wagons driven by independent operators were used to take paying passengers from the railroad depot to their hotel. In the early 1900s the “Summit Hack” took passengers to the Summit Hotel in Winslow, when the town was a summer resort. In Zinc, the open-sided wagon was known as a mud wagon, perhaps because of its exposure to the elements. Coy Logan of Boone County told the story of several sleepy children who were left in the hay that lined the bed of their parents’ farm wagon during a long church service. Some of the local youth decided to switch the children around, causing confusion for parents when they got home. Buggies were used by many folks when they traveled to church, to town for supplies, when visiting with neighbors, or during leisurely rides when a young man was courting his gal. Today horse-drawn buggies take folks through downtown Eureka Springs or around the Fayetteville square to see the lights at Christmastime.

Joy Ride—In the late 1800s hotels and livery stables had riding horses available for visitors at the health resort of Eureka Springs. Groups of sightseers took “tally-ho” (carriage) rides to popular picnic spots like Sanitarium Lake (now Lake Lucerne). Drawn by a team of four horses, the coach could comfortably seat about thirty-five people. A herd of 29 donkeys was available at the Summitt Hotel in Winslow for guests to ride, if they could—the donkeys had a will of their own. Before a horse can be ridden, it must be “broken” or trained so it is safe to handle and able to follow commands. Noted cowboy and “horse breaker” Otis J. Parker of Fayetteville worked with horses his entire life, training saddle horses and gaiters. Riding continues to be a favorite pastime today. Several area trails are horse-friendly, including one at Lake Sequoyah in Fayetteville.

House Calls—Dr. Will Mock of Prairie Grove was given a registered saddle horse, “Roxanna,” by his parents after he graduated from medical school. He started his career riding horseback, carrying medicine in his saddlebags. From there he graduated to a horse-drawn buggy and then to a double buggy with two horses. Later horses were named “Woodland Wilkes,” “Bill Nye,” and “General Forrest.” After the introduction of the automobile, Dr. Mock “kept his saddle horse as his standby.” Circuit riders—clergymen who traveled from church to church to preach the Gospel—frequently traveled by horseback on their multi-week journeys.

Wagons Ho—In 1951 the Northwest Arkansas Cavalcade was formed to promote the Rodeo of the Ozarks throughout Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri. Local riding club members traveled hundreds of miles, stopping at towns along the way to talk up the rodeo and sell tickets. Martha Collins remembered that, during one early Cavalcade ride to Fort Smith, a heavy rain forced the riders to swim their horses through flooded Johnson Creek. Since 1977 the Harrison Roundup Club has sponsored the John Henry Shaddox Memorial Wagon Train. Participants enjoy the slow pace and the companionship of the other riders as they spend five days traveling 108 miles on rubber-wheeled wagons from Harrison to the Rodeo grounds in Springdale.

ANIMAL TALES
[Describing the ride on the Butterfield Overland Mail coach south of Fayetteville] “No one who has never passed over this road can form any idea of its bold and rugged aspect. …The horses are seldom permitted to walk, even when traversing the steepest and most tortuous hills, and when driven at their topmost speed, which is generally the case, the stage reels from side to side like a storm-tossed bark [boat], and the din of the heavily ironed wheels in constant contact with the flinty rocks is truly appalling.”
Hiram S. Rumfield, 1858

Day at the Races—Horse races were a popular event at county and agricultural fairs in the late 1800s and early 1900s. One early race was held through the streets of the Fayetteville square, as part of Washington County’s first fair in 1856. At a fair in Rogers in the early 1900s, the “county trot” featured horses ridden by their owners, all locals. Local newspaperman Erwin Funk was impressed with J.T. Weathers, a rider who was “quite a curiosity among horsemen for he neither smokes, drinks, chews nor swears.” Three cone-shaped stone-and-cement markers used to mark the track’s boundaries still stand near downtown Rogers. By the late 1930s, a group of Bentonville businessmen built an oval racetrack on land that is now Melvin Ford Park. It had twenty stables, a corral, and a 1,200-seat grandstand complete with a red-clay tile roof. The scene of horse races and shows, it also gave locals a place to train and ride. The Ozark Downs racetrack was built near Sonora in 1965 by a group of quarter-horse breeders and trainers. At the time it was the only track in Arkansas sanctioned by the American Quarter Horse Association. It featured an oval track, bleachers, and a 100-stall, fireproof stable. The track operated off and on into the 1970s.

Rodeo Time—Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show came to Fayetteville in 1898 and featured cowboys riding and roping animals. In 1945 Thurman “Shorty” Parsons and Dempsey Letsch, along with others, began the Rodeo of the Ozarks in Springdale. Animals’ natural ability to run, buck, and canter were featured in such feats of skill as calf roping, saddle-bronc riding, and performing acrobatics while atop moving horses. Barrel racing relies on the skill of the rider and the athletic ability of the horse to run a cloverleaf pattern around barrels as fast as possible.

Horse Breeders—Around the turn of the 20th century the Prairie Grove area was known for its fine horses, the sires of which often came from Tennessee and Kentucky, much like the settlers themselves. Ed Rogers bought and sold horses from the Cherokee Nation, just across Arkansas’ border with Oklahoma. If the Native Americans didn’t have cash on hand, he took what he called “Pull Back Notes,” a type of IOU. John E. Rogers bred and trained stallions as pacers and trotters for horse racing. Pacers move the legs on one side of their body at the same time (left front and left rear) while trotters move diagonally paired legs (left front and right rear). Mack Morton began an annual colt show at his farm in the Walnut Grove community. Prizes were awarded in a number of categories, including best colts from his stud and best lady rider (riding sidesaddle, with both legs to one side of the horse). In the early 1900s the C.A. Ownbey Breeding Co. in Springdale advertised the services of “Clifford H. Jr.,” who paced a mile in 2 minutes, 18 seconds. The horse was described as “the finest saddle horse ever in the state” and “high bred…with plenty of bone and substance.”

Rare Breeds—In the 1980s Circle 7 Riding Stables in Jasper was home to sixteen Lipizzaner horses. These rare, gray horses from Austria are known for their “airs above the ground,” specialty leaps and turns originally derived from combat movements. The Ozark Lipizzaners were trained as riding horses and to pull wagons. For a time in the 1970s the Peruvian Paso horse was bred and trained at Rancho de la Ozarks in Harrison. Descendants of the horses of Spanish conquistadores, these saddle horses are known for their smooth, cat-like gait. They were once used in bull fighting.

Uncommon Athletes—Dogs are natural athletes and their skills are used when playing Frisbee or during agility events such as crawling through tunnels and jumping over barriers. The Pea Ridge Mule Jump got its start in 1988 when a group of raccoon hunters began bragging about how well their mules could jump fences, a necessary skill while out riding in the woods. During the contest the participants have three minutes to verbally coax their mules over a wood barrier, set at varying heights, without knocking it down. The winner in the professional category is awarded a $1,000 prize. Mules also compete in barrel-racing and pole-bending events, where a mule is ridden weaving in and out through a series of poles set in a straight line.

ANIMAL TALES
[At the Rogers Fair, horses were ridden by their owners during the horse races.] “When in 1905 it became possible for owners to secure professional drivers, the public lost interest in the trotting races, as they were more interested in the drivers than in the horses or their time. However in 1906, the last year [of the fair], there was much local interest in Senator Boy, 14 years old, owned by Miss Adlyn Morris…and the crowd cheered when the old trotter won his race.”
Erwin Funk
Benton County Pioneer, September 1958

Circuses and Carnivals—In 1859 three separate circuses came to Fayetteville, including Mabie’s Menagerie & Circus. The newspaper ad promised a musical chariot would be pulled by “Two Colossal Elephants!!!!!” Its collection of wild animals included, “ten magnificent lions,” a royal Bengal tiger, a Brazilian black tiger, leopards, panthers, a cougar, ocelots, striped and spotted hyenas, kangaroos, black bears, camels, a Burmese cow, alpacas, llamas, wolves, badgers, porcupines, and a “whole wilderness of birds and monkeys!” The circus came to Pettigrew several times. According to Wayne Martin, in the 1920s the circus trucks got stuck one time. “They unloaded the elephants, hooked them to the front of the trucks, [and] pulled the [trucks] through the rough spots.” Forrestina Campbell, known as White River Red, operated many carnival games in the area, including the popular “Rat Game.” Three rats were placed in a large ring which had a box with holes in the center. Folks placed bets on which rat would enter each hole. According to Phillip Steele, “the white rat paid one for one, the gray two for one, and the black rat (called ‘Old Coaly’) paid five for one.”

Animal Parks—In 1960 Freda Wilmoth bought three bison for her husband Ross, who was interested in breeding them with beef cattle. From there they began raising deer and elk and then more exotic animals like peacocks, monkeys, lions, and leopards. Interest grew and visitors began to arrive, leading to the opening of the Wild Wilderness Drive-Thru Safari in Gentry in the mid-1970s. Today, critics and federal agencies cite issues with animal care, housing, and visitor safety. Snake World opened in Berryville in 1992, serving visitors and schoolchildren. At first it largely featured venomous snakes but now includes non-venomous snakes, reptiles, tropical fish, and even a few guinea pigs.

Parades—In the late 1890s an elephant paraded through downtown Fayetteville to advertise the Barnum and Bailey Circus. More often, horses are a mainstay of parades. In 1901 horses pulling flower-covered buggies greeted the arrival of St. Louis & North Arkansas Railroad’s first train in Berryville. At the 1926 Apple Blossom Festival in Rogers, Bentonville’s float, pulled by a team of eight white horses, won first place. Riding clubs are often part of the Rodeo of the Ozarks parades in Springdale along with a miniature Purina Chow wagon pulled by ponies. Even oxen got in on the act, pulling a pioneer wagon in at least one rodeo parade.

Show Time—Farm animals have always been a highlight of county fairs. Livestock and horse races were featured on the Fayetteville square during the first Washington County Fair in 1856. Today’s members of area 4-H and Future Farmers of America clubs spend all year learning to care for and groom such animals as rabbits, chickens, goats, dairy cattle, turkeys, and sheep, which are proudly displayed at the fair. Some animals are sold during the Junior Livestock Auction. The first dog show in Washington County was held at the county fair in Fayetteville, September 1937. Prizes included eighty cans of dog food and an Irish Setter puppy. The Northwest Arkansas Kennel Club formed in 1961, in part to promote dog raising and breeding. It later added obedience trials to the show program.

Blood Sport—In the mid-1940s Cave Springs sponsored a “coon on a log” contest. Raccoons were chained to logs driven into the bottom of Lake Keith. As thousands watched, trained coon-hunting dogs were released and encouraged to swim to the raccoons, bite and catch them, and drag them to shore within sixty seconds. Both dogs and raccoons were mauled during their fights. At the time, supporters defended the practice as sport, hoping that the event would “put the town on the map.” The Humane Society member overseeing the event “did not think any fight was rough enough to stop.”

Sanctuary—Some owners realize too late that their exotic “pets” are dangerous or hard to care for. Lucky Birds Unlimited Parrot Rescue in Siloam Springs shelters exotic tropical birds whose owners can’t maintain their special diets or provide the necessary attention these long-lived animals need. Since 1992 Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge has cared for “abandoned, abused, and neglected” big cats like lions and tigers, including “S. A.,” a 700-pound Bengal tiger who stood guard outside of a methamphetamine lab in San Antonio, Texas. He was kept hungry to encourage him to be savage. The sanctuary was located in Northwest Arkansas, in part because of the area’s meat processors. In 1998 Tyson Foods supplied 1,000 pounds of raw meat daily.

ANIMAL TALES
“Finally the lone elephant [at a circus in Winslow in the 1910s] was brought into the ring… I could not believe that I was hearing the trainer ask, ‘Are there any small boys in the crowd who would like to ride the elephant?’ …From every direction small boys poured in numbers that surely astonished the elephant’s handler. Seeing the competition hurrying in from everywhere and realizing that the broad back of the animal could carry only a limited number, my bare feet kicked up a cloud of dust as I sprinted into the arena. I leaped into the arms of the surprised keeper. I was aware of nothing except that I was in a dream world and being lifted onto the back of a jungle beast. Eleven of us were hoisted up for the ride of one turn around the ring.”
Robert G. Winn
The Cow That Went to Church, 1985

Pets—Dogs and cats are the most popular animals kept as pets, but there are fans of birds, fish, rabbits, and rodents, too. When Wayne Martin of Pettigrew was three years old in 1938, he was given a dog. “Tip” and Wayne “grew up together. …From the time I was ten years old there was nowhere I couldn’t go without a .22 rifle in one hand, a fishing pole in the other, and Tip alongside me.” Eventually Wayne had to use that rifle to put down an ailing Tip. Because Cornelia Wein of Winslow had a soft heart for animals, her neighbors took advantage of her, dropping off their unwanted cats. She fed them all with the help of “Maudie,” her cow. According to Robert Winn, when the cats saw Mrs. Wein with the milking pail, the cats were “purring and licking their chops in anticipation of the warm, foaming milk that soon was to be supper.” Sometimes folks keep unusual pets. When she was a child in 1920, Pauline Jackson Thacker of Aurora kept “Petty,” a chicken which had lost its feet to frostbite, but still managed to follow her around. In the 1980s pet llamas were bred at the Hickory Hill Llama Ranch near Kingston. For a time in the 1990s Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs were popular and local cities had to decide whether they were pets or livestock.

Superstition—A widespread belief in the Ozarks and throughout the South in the 1800s and early 1900s was that cats would chew on a corpse’s ears and nose. According to Wayne Martin, at a funeral wake in Madison County, a relative of the deceased used a broom to shoo a cat out of the room. Instead, “the cat got up under the sheet with the corpse and the corpse got a worse beating than the cat did.”

Dangerous Dogs—Dogs and other animals with rabies were feared because, if the rabies was transmitted via saliva to humans, it would lead to a painful death. In 1894 William Etris of Bentonville was bitten by a rabid puppy. Before his death he became “perfectly wild, it being necessary on one occasion to tie him in bed.” William’s mother Martha died the following year, “pining over the sad fate of her dear boy.” Feral dogs can form packs which may maul or kill livestock like sheep and chickens. Some folks are attacked by dogs while out jogging or bicycling. Today, one bicycling route in Washington County is so notorious for its threatening dogs that it’s known locally as “Dog Loop.” In an effort to deal with these problems, the Quorum Court recently passed an ordinance outlining how the Sheriff’s Office can declare animals “dangerous.” While it’s a step forward, without responsible owners who keep their pets in enclosures and vaccinated against rabies, people and animals are still in danger.

Shelters—The Fayetteville Humane Society was formed in 1946 to establish an adoption program and humane euthanasia (kill) methods. Prior to that, abandoned or stray dogs were placed in a large, crowded pen regardless of size or medical condition. Anyone who wanted a dog just took one, “no questions asked.” In the 1980s and 1990s shelters run by the cities of Springdale and Rogers were accused of overcrowding, poor sanitation, limited food supplies, and lack of proper solutions for euthanasia. In January 1980 the Springdale shelter dealt with an overcrowding issue by putting down 68 dogs and eight cats in a single day. As part of a new program, in 2017 over 200 dogs and cats were sent from the Washington County animal shelter to no-kill shelters in other states. While this helps save some animals, it leaves fewer animals for local adoption. During the county’s recent Pet Palooza event, 584 people came but only thirty animals were available for adoption.

ANIMAL TALES
“…another summer came and with it my daily chore of delivering fresh milk that Mama sold to various “summer people” [in the resort town of Winslow]. Always [my dog] Teddy accompanied me… [In 1913] a kindly lady…called Teddy to her and started stroking his long silky hair. After a long conversation she said she would like to buy Teddy from me. Sell Teddy!…The lady persisted. She would give me ten dollars for him and take him with her to her home in a southern town… I already knew something of the value of money and ten dollars was a huge sum to a small boy in Winslow at that time… The cursed ten dollar bill was placed in my outstretched hand and without looking back I ran as fast as my skinny legs would carry me across town… I threw the ten dollar bill onto [my mother’s] lap and without a word of explanation rushed out the back door and into the woods where I…sobbed until I could cry no more. [I learned a lesson that day] that no amount of money can compare in value to the steadfast loyalty of a true friend.”
Robert G. Winn
Washington County Observer, September 20, 1973

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