If you like Arkansas towns near the Oklahoma border such as Mena and De Queen, you have Arthur Stilwell to thank.
"Stilwell was the visionary who saw the need for a railroad to link the agricultural center of Kansas City to a port on the Gulf of Mexico," Tom Duggan writes for the Central Arkansas Library System's Encyclopedia of Arkansas. "In 1887, he built the Kansas City Suburban Belt Railway. It was a success, and Stilwell subsequently built two railroads south of Kansas City to serve mining areas for coal, lead and zinc. In 1892, Stilwell purchased the Texarkana & Fort Smith Railroad, the main asset of which was a bridge across the Red River.
"Stilwell reorganized his rail properties under the name Kansas City, Pittsburg & Gulf Railroad in 1892.
