Last month, the Remembering Rogers column was about the hotels built by William Hope "Coin" Harvey in the early 1900s at his Monte Ne resort. The response was greater than any column that I have written, and it was apparent that many folks, both natives and newcomers to Rogers, are fascinated by Coin Harvey and his exploits. So, I am going to further explore the life of this amazing and mysterious man.
Many folks know about the resort town of Monte Ne, its decline during World War I and its final demise with the Great Depression. However, what happened to Harvey after all of his ventures failed?
Presidential Bid, 1932
At this time in Harvey's life, his fabulous resort town had failed, with the final death blow being dealt by the Great Depression of 1929. Having become disillusioned and disgusted and feeling that the end of civilization was near, he had attempted to build a great pyramid in 1928 that was to be a time capsule to preserve the history of civilization for some future generation. This attempt also failed when he ran out of money. He did succeed in building a huge stone and concrete amphitheater -- called the Pyramids by local folks -- that seated 1,000 people and was to be the foyer or entrance to the proposed pyramid.
The presidential election of 1932 was coming up, and Coin Harvey turned his attention to a political crusade. He had been working on the formation of a new political party for several years, one designed to save the country and the world from the rich men, who he thought were trying hard to destroy it for their own gain.
The famous historian from Bentonville, J. Dickson Black, described Coin Harvey's presidential campaign: "Arkansas has had several unusual political meetings and campaigns. But one of the most unusual was the presidential convention of the Liberty Party held at Monte Ne in the summer of 1931. This was the only national party ever formed in Arkansas, and the only presidential convention ever held in this state. Also, Monte Ne is perhaps the smallest town in the world to host a national presidential convention."
Harvey planned the convention at Monte Ne and expected 10,000 delegates from all of the 48 states. At the time, the entire population of Rogers was only 3,500. In anticipation of the huge influx of visitors, the railroads offered special excursion rates, and the winding country road from Rogers was put in good condition. The telephone company put in extra facilities for the press, and concessions were set up to provide food and drink for the visitors. All of the space in the hotels in Monte Ne was reserved, and additional tents and cots were set up for the delegates. Harvey put out a plea to all of the citizens of Rogers to take in boarders for the event. In anticipation of bad weather, Harvey had the entire amphitheater covered with a huge lighted circus tent. To make room inside for the vast anticipated crowd, the water surrounding the stage was floored over and lined with rows of chairs. Loudspeakers were set up so the expected overflow crowd outside could hear the proceedings.
When the big day came for the convention, only 786 delegates showed up, including a sprinkling of Reformers, Socialists, Populists and disgruntled Democrats and Republicans. To qualify as a delegate, an applicant had to sign a card stating that he had read Harvey's publication, "The Book," and felt that he was fully informed as to the effect of a financial system based on usury. All "signers" were admitted as delegates with the oldest being 93, and the youngest, Mary Ellen Hughes, being only 7 years old.
The nomination and voting was said to have been done under the wildest confusion with jeers, catcalls, cries of steam roller tactics, and similar remarks. There was so much wrangling over the presidential candidate that the 80-year-old Harvey was the only candidate that the delegates would vote for, so he had to take it by acclamation.
On election day, Nov. 2, 1932, Coin Harvey said: "I don't expect to win, but I do expect to advance my party to the position that in case the race between Gov. Roosevelt and President Hoover is close, my party will have the controlling votes of the Electoral College. I'll run third."
When the votes were all counted, Franklin D. Roosevelt won the presidential election of 1932. Harvey came in sixth out of the six candidates who ran. He had only 53,425 votes nationwide with only 1,049 votes in the state of Arkansas -- and only two votes in Rogers. It was assumed that these two votes came from Coin and his wife. (Data from "Coin Harvey and His Monte Ne" by J. Dickson Black; "Coin Harvey, Prophet of Monte Ne" by Lois Snelling; and various stories from The Rogers Democrat and The Morning News.)
Death and Burial
After his son, Halliday Harvey, died in a tragic train accident in Oklahoma in 1903, Coin designed a concrete mausoleum built to overlook the lake at Monte Ne. The tomb had space for only two caskets. A bronze plaque was inscribed with Robert Halliday Harvey, 1879-1903. A space was reserved for one more, Coin's own. It has always been a mystery why he built the tomb for just his oldest son and himself, with no place for his wife and other children.
After his unsuccessful bid for president of the United States, just four years later in 1936, his colorful career ended when he died of intestinal influenza at the age of 84. "Otis McKinney, manager (in 1936) of the Callison Funeral Home on W. Walnut Street in Rogers (recently demolished) was the funeral director for Harvey's burial. It was bitterly cold when Harvey died, making it difficult to prepare his grave. While the embalmed body waited entombment, McKinney made a death mask (actual mold of the deceased person's head) of the great man, believing that Harvey's features should be preserved. Harvey's death mask is a remarkable work. Made of plaster of Paris and painted bronze, it captures every wrinkle, every vein, and every hair of the man in his final slumber. ... Harvey's death mask was the only one he (McKinney) is known to have created." (Dr. Gaye Bland from the Rogers Historical Museum's website, 2009.)
Harvey's death mask was donated by Carl McKinney -- brother of Otis McKinney -- and can be seen today at the Rogers Historical Museum.
On the day that Harvey was laid to rest, a neighbor described the event this way: "We had a hell of a time at the buryin', it was bitter cold an' we damn near froze. The boys had to put a tent over the tomb, with two stoves in it, to keep the concrete from freezin'." Colonel Harvey's body was laid to rest without religious ceremony in the rough concrete vault by the roadside. (Coin Harvey, a paper written by Vance Randolph about 1946 and reprinted in the May 1978 Ozark Mountaineer.)
Another writer described the event: "The neighbors worked in relays to carry out the dead man's plans for his burial. ... Tom (Coin Harvey's other son) brought in half a gallon of whiskey as encouragement for the near-frozen workmen. W.B. Holyfield, a prominent attorney of Rogers, gave a brief eulogy and offered a prayer. The simple, cheap casket was slid into the vault. The workmen quickly sealed the tomb and thus ended the story of one of the strangest, most remarkable men in American History." (Excerpts from "Coin Harvey, Prophet of Monte Ne" by Lois Snelling.)
Land acquisition for the creation of Beaver Lake in the early 1960s required the relocation of all cemeteries in the flooded area. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had the responsibility of moving Coin Harvey's tomb to higher ground. Harvey's friends, Berry and Josephine Graham, donated a grave site about 300 yards north of their store in Monte Ne. The cemetery had only one spot for the tomb of William Hope Harvey and his son.
The Corps of Engineers contracted Harold Mathis, who owned a Springdale house-moving company, to relocate the tomb. First a road had to be laid to transport the tomb to the new site. The move proved difficult as the mausoleum measured 11 feet by 11 feet by 6 feet, with another 2½ feet buried in the ground. The first effort to move the 40-ton cube of concrete failed. A second moving company owning heavier equipment was summoned from Fort Smith. Nine days of effort were required to raise the tomb and move it to its final resting place. Today, the tomb designed and built in 1903 holds the remains of a brilliant, interesting, unusual and eccentric man who had a great impact on Northwest Arkansas and the nation.
