LITTLE ROCK — I have been thinking of the year ahead and potential subjects for 50 or so columns on the history of Arkansas. Recently I reviewed a list of historic events in Arkansas history-and I was struck by the number of interesting events that have occurred in Januaries of yesteryear.
The first day of any year will have some historical significance simply because legislation often takes effect on that date. The first day of January 1916 marked the beginning of statewide prohibition in Arkansas. Today we tend to look back on prohibition as an archaic subject, a topic that is normally portrayed in the popular culture with humorous disregard. But, for the legions of people who had worked for generations to outlaw liquor sales, prohibition was the culmination of a crusade waged by a diverse coalition of religious, social and women’s organizations.
January 1st often is historic because newly elected public officials take office on that date. Joyce Ferguson, the first woman elected to serve as mayor of a first class city in Arkansas, took office as mayor of West Memphis on Jan. 1, 1975.
Many corporations and businesses get underway with the beginning of a new year. The State National Bank of Texarkana began business on Jan. 2, 1896, during a time of economic prosperity in the twin cities straddling the borders of Arkansas and Texas. Clarendon in Monroe County incorporated its first telephone company on Jan. 4, 1899. This reminds me how quickly new technologies moved across America. By 1900 most Arkansas communities of any size had telephone service, although it might not connect to a larger system.
A look at Januaries of the past provides many examples of how our ancestors had to deal with weather extremes. On Jan. 6, 1879, Van Buren mayor F. M. Neal walked from Van Buren to Fort Smith crossing the Arkansas River on solid ice. A few years later, in 1884, ice obstructed the Arkansas River at Fort Smith so completely that it was referred to in the press as an “ice blockade”-and during the same freeze the steamer Fort Smith was crushed by the ice and sank at the wharf. In January 1940, the river was frozen solid at Little Rock for over a week.
Many milestones in the history of poultry production in Arkansas have occurred in January as well. On Jan. 2, 1925, Hugh Webb of PeaRidge placed 800 chicks in a small broiler house, becoming one of the pioneers in commercial poultry growing. The first commercial chick hatchery in Northwest Arkansas was opened by Jeff D. Brown in Springdale on Jan. 17, 1930.
Many milestones in Arkansas education occurred in January, including the 1855 opening of the Princeton Male and Female Academies in modern Dallas County. Classes began at the Arkansas Industrial University, which later became the University of Arkansas, on Jan. 22, 1872, with seven students in attendance.
The first theatrical troupe came to Arkansas in January 1839, when the Little Rock Theatre opened with performances of “Charles the Second” and “Young Widow.” A local newspaper reported that the Theatre had a “respectable audience.” However, the same newspaper editorialized, “We are somewhat surprised that so few of our country friends visit the theatre. The nights are now moonlit and pleasant; the performances close at an early hour, and a ride of six or eight miles on a brisk pony would not be unpleasant, particularly if there were a lot of lively girls in the company.”
Almost a century later, on Jan. 1, 1937, a famous Arkansas-born operatic soprano, Mary Lewis, made her last public appearance whenshe sang the Star Spangled Banner at the inauguration of the governor of New York.
I have just completed my eighth year as a columnist-which has been a rewarding time. Since August 2002, I have written 340 columns, but much remains. Amazing Arkansans await discovery; fascinating little towns beg for my attention; and the bigger story of the impact one small southern state had on the national experience remains to be explored.
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Tom W. Dillard is head of special collections at the University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville. Email [email protected]. An earlier version of this column appeared Jan. 9, 2005.
Editorial, Pages 58 on 12/27/2009