OPINION | Tom Dillard: Last column remembers firsts
Editor's Note: To our great sorrow, this is Tom Dillard's last weekly column. We wish him all the best in this attempt at retirement.
Editor's Note: To our great sorrow, this is Tom Dillard's last weekly column. We wish him all the best in this attempt at retirement.
For readers who do not share my enthusiasm for cemeteries, please forgive this second-in-a-row foray into some of the burial grounds of Arkansas.
Cemeteries are great places to walk and contemplate. Each has a history.
This is my 1,000th column published since August 2002. I had planned on retiring when I reached 1,000 columns, but I have decided to delay my departure until t…
In last week's column I addressed the advent of the automobile in Arkansas. This week we turn our attention to the Smart family of Pine Bluff -- which can only…
Not long ago, as I traveled one rainy morning to Little Rock on Interstate 30, the traffic slowed to a crawl before coming to a complete stop. As I sat there s…
Today I saw a photograph of U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth. She was smiling broadly as she campaigned from a wheelchair. Among many other things, she is a double am…
My friend Ray Baxter, a veteran lawyer in Benton, tells great stories about the late Ewell McCright, another member of the Benton bar. I came to know Ray when …
If I had the power to summon the dead, who would I invite to a Halloween dinner? Since Halloween is all about fantasy, please indulge my imagination as I selec…
Last week I reported on an ongoing and informal discussion among Facebook friends responding to my query about their favorite Arkansas writers. Having discusse…
Recently I posted a query on Facebook asking readers to list their favorite Arkansas authors, one each in fiction and nonfiction. I received scores of replies,…
Recently I posted a query on Facebook asking readers to list their favorite Arkansas authors, one each in fiction and nonfiction. I received scores of replies,…
My longtime friend John Graves, just retired as a professor of history at Henderson State University, recently made me aware of his cousin and Korean War hero,…
When it comes to making irresponsible and outrageous statements, Donald Trump cannot hold a candle to the late Joseph Weston of Sharp County. During the 1970s,…
One of my earliest childhood memories involves getting a haircut -- a real haircut, by someone other than a family member.
For many generations, residents of Arkansas -- or what we today call Arkansas -- have exploited bees in search of honey.
One of my earliest memories involves standing in a long line to receive a polio vaccination. I was in elementary school at the time, and happy that this vaccin…
The recent heat wave reminded me to be grateful for many things, not the least being the availability of ice. For our ancestors, ice made possible everything f…
We would like to think of our Arkansas ancestors living lives of sylvan independence -- growing their own food and taking the game of the forests and the fowls…
Drug addiction has been a major problem in Arkansas and America since our beginning. Our ancestors drank huge amounts of alcohol. Nicotine was a drug of choice…
Many of the most interesting politicians in early Arkansas are not well known today. Three of those men are Thomas W. Newton, Elias Boudinot and Robert H. Croc…
If there is any consistency in Arkansas history, it is our propensity to shoot ourselves in the feet. During the more than 200 years since our founding as a te…
When driving from Malvern to Hot Springs on U.S. 270, I often take a short detour through one of the most interesting and unusual places in the state: Magnet C…
Arkansas' numerous rivers and streams are among the great assets of the state today, but for much of our history those same waterways were as much hindrance as…
Recently, while driving across the Arkansas River bridge connecting Russellville with Dardanelle, it occurred to me that had I been making that trip 100 years …
Railroads play a huge role in the story of Arkansas. In addition to opening up the state, providing a means for participation in the national economy, and spee…
I have just come inside after spending three hours hand-watering my vegetable garden and flowery landscape. I garden on the very edge of the Gulf Coastal Plain…
Given the frightening growth in the murder rate in Arkansas and the nation, it would be easy to yearn for a time in history when we all lived in harmony and sa…
I wish we knew more about Jimmy Ward. A popular entertainer in Little Rock at the turn of the 20th century, Ward was well-known and obviously well-liked, judgi…
In conducting research on Arkansas history in old newspapers, I have often seen the names Hollenberg and Hollenberg Music Co. of Little Rock.
A few weeks ago I wrote about 19th century diplomats from Arkansas. It was not a pretty picture, especially the appointment of Solon Borland as America's first…
No man in 19th-century Arkansas was better known than William Quesenbury (pronounced Cush-n-bury).
The role of the Ottenheimers in building the economy of Arkansas and its capital city is a remarkable story.
Taylor Henson had a dream of producing oil on his land near Malvern, an area not known to have petroleum reserves. In the final years of his life, Henson made …
May is Native Plant Month in Arkansas, and that is all the excuse I need to celebrate the bois d'arc tree.
Van Buren County in north central Arkansas is the location of Damascus, a tiny village astraddle the main highway between Conway and Harrison. Located along th…
The war in Ukraine is bloody testimony to the need for conducting international relations by peaceful means. Arkansas has produced a number of diplomats, some …
The recent loss of homes in Colorado to a wildfire reminded me of a 1913 fire which practically gutted Hot Springs -- the worst in Arkansas history. The city l…
My heart sank recently upon reading that the newspaper in Warren, The Eagle Democrat, will cease publication if a buyer is not found soon.
We have few jailbreaks in Arkansas, but that was not the case during most of our history. While inmates still manage a break out occasionally, the chances of s…
The founding of the Arkansas Federation of Women's Clubs in May 1897 was an important date in the state's history. With a new century approaching, women throug…
More than a century ago, Clifton R. Breckinridge, an Arkansan serving as American minister to Russia, clearly recognized that Russia posed a threat to American…
I am not a candidate for time travel. Still, I think of it, especially when reading about a topic of special interest, or a subject dealing with unusual aspect…
Given the football-crazed nature of Arkansas, one might wonder why the state does not have a professional football team. In 1967, a group of investors launched…
I began collecting Arkansas books and imprints in 1969 while an undergraduate history major at what is today the University of Central Arkansas. While I do not…
I have always been fascinated by how well our ancestors dealt with physical adversity. Early Arkansans had to cope with everything from birth defects to accide…
The Arkansas history community lost to death some important leaders, writers and volunteers last year. Our collective heritage is safeguarded by a remarkably s…
When I was a child, the concept of a century -- 100 years -- seemed so long that it was only theoretical. I was in junior high school during the centennial of …
Lynching victims deserve a place in Arkansas history.
German-speaking immigrants have been coming to Arkansas since the territorial period; not only did most of them make a home here, they often thrived. Today, ho…