A special 91-page promotional booklet came stuffed inside the Sunday, July 26, Democrat Gazette. I found an interesting story on Page 67. However, the story left out one important piece of "History, small-town charm found along Arkansas 59," my hometown of Sulphur Springs. Maybe it's time to cause a rebellion like the people of McDonald County, Mo., did in the 1960s to get some attention and recognition for our town.
As I remember the event, McDonald County's leaders voted to become an independent state and seceded because the Missouri Department of Tourism left their county off its Missouri recreational and tourism map. I remember back then, when we had to show our McDonald County visas to border guards armed with civil war muskets at the state line on Highway 59 before they would allow us to drive on into Noel to attend high school.
Sulphur Springs sits four miles north of Gravette along Highway 59 and south of the Missouri boarder two miles. It's also a small town, and it has "small-town charm." It also has a rich history reaching back to the 1840s.
The Kansas City Southern Railroad from the late 1890s into the early 1900s carried upwards to 1,500 people a day and turned back north in Sulphur Springs. During that time, within Sulphur's one-square-mile borders, there were seven major hotels. The largest was the five-story Kilhburg Hotel. It still stands above Highway 59. From its front porch you can get a "bird's eye view" across the valley's 10-acre city park and lake.
The Kilhburg was also the home of John Brown University, Wycliffe Bible Translators winter residence and the Shiloh Farms Baking Co. Walter Eaton established on Sulphur's southeast side The Ozark Colony in 1921. Also, Native Americans such as Algonquin Confederacy Chief Cannasatego chipped arrowheads along Butler Creek's shores before Sulphur was thought of as a "small-town" with "charm."
The town's historical worth came when word traveled that Sulphur Springs was the place where visitors could find healing waters. There weren't remedies around the 1900s for many common ailments. Bathing in the cool waters of Butler creek during a summer's heat, drinking clean, cool and refreshingly good-for-you Lithia Spring water added to the healing mineral water treatments provided visitors within the town's three bathhouses. This was the best medicine money could buy in those days.
That's why people came to our town. If searched for, one can live again the same "charm" felt by thousands of tourist during Sulphur's long history under its old forest trees and natural spaces of healing waters within the town's city park today.
Our town is very important to us who live here. Some residents are like me. We were born here. Some of us came back to retire in Sulphur Springs because it has that special "small-town charm."
So, why wasn't Sulphur Springs represented by Melissa L. Jones in her Sunday promotional article?
Larry Burge
Sulphur Springs
A great, big thank you
The Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Fayetteville gives veterans in Northwest Arkansas great medical care. A special thank you to Team 7, the diabetic clinic, the eye clinic and the audio clinic for my special, over-the-top care. The computer program offers a simple way to keep track of health history.
Veterans are very fortunate to have this facility in Northwest Arkansas.
Frank Smith Jr.
Fayetteville
Editorial on 08/05/2015