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Benton County, Arkansas

Goodspeed's History of Benton County, pp. 110-121

Towns and Villages

Garfield

This is a station on the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad, in Section 32, Township 21 north, Range 28 west, containing about 200 inhabitants. The first store existing at this place was opened in 1881 by A. Blansett, and the next year another was opened by A. Peel. Following this a drug store was opened by Thomas R. Marshall. In July, 1883, the village was surveyed into lots and named Garfield. Following is a directory of its present business: General stores, A. Peel, G. P. Rogers & Son, J. A. Wilks; hardware, L. Ellison & Co.; groceries, J. W. Cundiff; confectionery, H. Wilks; post-office; jewelry, etc., A. J. Wilks; hotel, J. N. Wilks; drugs and jewelry, M. J. Walters; Also two blacksmith shops, a barber shop, the Arkansas Lime Works, the fruit evaporator of D. D. Ames and the lumber yard of A. L. Ricketts. The Arkansas Lime Works Company manufacture 200 barrels of lime per day, make their own barrels and employ about seventy-five men. The fruit evaporator has capacity for from 100 to 150 bushels of apples per day, and when running the proprietor employs about fifteen hands. Garfield has a frame school-house and Masonic hall combined the school-room being in the lower story and the hall in the upper, built recently, costing $800. Fruits, timber, railroad ties and fence posts are shipped in great quantities from this place. There are no church buildings. Baptists and Christians worship alternately in the school-room.

Lowell

Lowell is a station on the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad, located six miles south of Rogers. It was laid out in 1881 by J. R. McClure. J. W. Main built the first house in the place, and opened the first business -- a grocery. Next, M. B. Hathaway erected the building now occupied by J. W. Williams, and opened a general store therein. The business at this writing consists of two general stores, kept respectively by J. W. Williams and F. H. Rizer; a drug and grocery store, by Green Bros.; a grocery, by R. H. Odell; confections, by J. Plummer, and a blacksmith shop, by Daniel Wann. Also J. W. Williams and F. H. Rizer each have a fruit evaporator and grain warehouse. Grains, fruits, poultry, timber and railroad ties are extensively shipped from this place. The village contains a brick school-house and Masonic hall combined, and built conjointly by the Masons and public school board, the school-room being in the first story and the hall in the second. This building was erected in 1885.

Lowell Lodge No. 424, A.F. & A.M., was chartered in 1886, and it has now thirty-two members. The principal officers are J. F. Archer, W.M.; J. N. Tuttle, S.W., and J. W. Packer, J.W.

The Missionary Baptists, Methodists, South, and Christians worship in the school-room.

Maysville

The village of Maysville, one of the oldest in the county, is situated on the State and Indian Territory line, twenty-one miles west and one and a-half miles north of Bentonville. An Englishman by the name of Tigret opened the first store in Maysville, in 1839. His most profitable trade was selling whisky to the Indians. He continued in business about ten years, and then returned to his native country, where he died. The second merchant in the place was a Jew, who did business about three years. Early in the forties Maysville contained six or seven stores, all of which did a thriving business, getting much of their trade from the Indians. The place continued to have this number of stores most of the time until the Civil War broke out. Then business was nearly wholly suspended or destroyed, and it has never regained its former magnitude. The Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, built through the Indian Nation, has cut off much of the trade formerly given to Maysville. It is claimed by old settlers that in 1846 Maysville was larger than Bentonville. The village lies entirely on the east side of the line, and all the business houses face toward the "Nation." the "line" is the main street, with the business on one side of it only.

Northwestern Lodge No. 36, A.F. & A.M., was organized at Maysville about the year 1850, prospered for many years, and suspended about ten years ago.

Directory of Maysville. -- Dry goods, Freeman & Dumas, Henry Coats, Mrs. E. J. Tinnin (these also kept groceries); groceries and hardware, Thomas Keith; groceries, Samuel Ward, M. Harmon; harness and saddler, Isaac Harrouff; hotel, Line House, by Alex. McDonald; grist-mill, Spencer & Taylor; post-office, Mrs. Mary Linch; physicians, C. F. Baker, E. N. Freeman, J. L. Larue, A. B. Bills. The town has a Union Church and a public school-house. Maysville is surrounded with a good country, and should it get a railroad, as contemplated, it will make an important trading point.

Nebo

This is a small village, containing two or threee business houses, located on the line between Sections 12 and 13, in Township 20 north, Range 33 west. A post of the G.A.R., No. 62, was organized at this place August 29, 1888. with Robert Green as commander, and M. J. Anderson, adjutant.

Springtown

This beautiful village is located on Flint Creek, eighteen miles southwest from Bentonville. It derives its name from its famous spring, which flows from the foot of a bank in the valley not more than fifteen feet high. The village lies just west of the spring, at the foot of the southern bluff of Flint Creek Valley. The hills beyond the valley, covered with their native forests, present cheerful scenery. Charles Kincheloe built the first house where Springtown is located, about the year 1841, and Isaac Dial built the next one close by the spring, and it is still standing. Soon thereafter a Mr. Yarberry built the next house, it being where Frank Wasson now lives. No business, however, was established at Springtown until 1868, when Manning Richardson opened the first store in the place, and built the first house in the town proper. Marion Seaburn was the next merchant, and Thomason & Northcut the next, neither of whom remain. The town was surveyed and laid out in lots in 1871. It lies in the southeast  corner of Section 6, Township 18, Range 32, and is laid out on a bearing of south 59-1/2 degrees west.

The following is its present business directory: General merchandise, W. D. Wasson, McGaugh Bros.; hardware, drugs and groceries, W. Collins & Co.; drugs, Sewell & Enterkine; hotel, J. L. Allen; steam grist and saw-mill, Mitchell & Loy; blacksmiths, Collins & Holland, Collins & Brown; boot and shoemakers, R. D. Morland, A. T. Moodey; post and telephone office, William J. Collins; physicians, N. Sewell, James Hall, T. H. Roughton; churches, Baptist, Methodist Episcopal, Methodist Episcopal, South. The Methodist Episcopal society has not as yet erected a church building. The village also contains a school-house and lodge hall combined, the school-room being in the first story and the hall in the second.

Societies. -- Springtown Lodge No. 222, A.F. & A.M., was chartered about the year 1868, and has now about thirty-five members. The principal officers are W. E. Garrett, W.M.; J. T. Chastine, S.W.; R. J. McGaugh, J.W.

Springtown Chapter No. 70, R. A. Masons, was chartered about the year 1873, and has now thirty members. This was the first chapter organized in Benton County. The present officers are J. F. Mitchell, High Priest; J. T. Chastine, King; Isaac January, Scribe. Both of these societies are in good financial condition, and both proper in the work laid down on the Masonic trestle-board.

Siloam City

This city is situated on Sager's Creek, in Hico Township, twenty-eight miles southwest from Bentonville, and has a population of about 1,500. It is within two miles of the western and six miles of the southern line of the county. Hico, which may be properly called a residence suburb of Siloam City, is a very old place for this country. Col. D. Gunter settled where he now resides, in Hico, in 1844, before the place had even become a village. About that time, or perhaps a little later, a post-office named Hico was established at a point about two miles from the present Hico. This office was soon thereafter moved to the village that now bears its name, and Hico became a trading point, especially for the Indians, who patronized it to a considerable extent. It continued to be the leading place in that corner of the county until Siloam City was established, which drew away nearly  all of its business except that of its flouring mills, and left it only a residence suburb.

That which led to the origin of Siloam City is its natural springs of pure, health-giving waters. In 1879 it was discovered that these waters contained medicinal qualities, and preparations were at once begun for the establishment of a summer resort. On the 24th of June, 1880, the first anniversary of the place was celebrated by a large and interesting meeting of the citizens of that vicinity. In March, 1880, J. V. Hargroves laid out the original plat of Siloam City, embracing parts of the northeast quarter and of the northwest of Section 6, in Township 17 north, Range 33 west. The following November East Siloam was laid out by Logan Teague. This addition contains the "college grounds and park," and a large number of lots. Couches' addition was the next one laid out, and in April, 1881, the additions of J. H. Beauchamp, T. R. Carles and William C. Tate were laid out. Johnson's addition was surveyed and laid out in November following. In January, 1882, "C. D. Gunter's Addition No.1 to the town of Hico" and "S. G. Rogers' Addition to Hico and East Siloam" were laid out. At the same time, or soon thereafter, Gunter's second addition to Hico was laid out. By the foregoing it will be seen that the real estate owners in that vicinity intended to be ready at all times to accommodate persons desiring to purchase lots.

As soon as the first plat of Siloam City was surveyed buildings began to be erected and the town began a rapid growth. John D. Hargrove opened the first business, a general store, on Main Street. The place rapidly gained a reputation as a summer resort, and the fact, coupled with the prospects of the early completion of a railroad through it, induced many people to immigrate thereto. In 1880, the first year of its existence as a town, it was incorporated as such, and the influx of immigrants was so rapid that in 1881 it had acquired a population of over 3,000. It was then incorporated as a city of the second class. During the rapid increase of population it was impossible to build houses fast enough to supply the demand, consequently for a time many of the new-comers had to camp out in their wagons or in tents. To supply the demand for houses "the sound of the hammer" was heard both day and night, and the whole town as it now stands, with the exception of a few buildings, was built in the first two or three years of its existence. After the "boom" ceased many who had gone there for the purpose of going into business discovered that the place was overdone, that the prospect for a railroad was not encouraging, and consequently moved away. Those also who went there in the summer of 1881, to get relief from the excessive heat and drouth of that year, returned to their respective homes, and the large population (being chiefly transient), on which the city obtained its charter, has dwindled away until it is now only about one-half of what it then was. Fortunately, however, Siloam City is situated in the midst of a good agricultural country, which will sustain it as a good, substantial trading place, even though it remains deprived of railroad facilities. The citizens still have hopes for a railroad, and when these hopes are realized, if ever, Siloam City will make a large a flourishing town, with a large and permanent population. The exceedingly pure water of its many springs, and the magnificent natural scenery surrounding it, and its healthy location, make it a most desirable place to live.

This place is commonly called "Siloam Springs," but the name given it on its first recorded plat is "Siloam City."

Siloam City is in fair financial condition, having a debt of only about $700. The city officers are D. R. Hammer, mayor; William H. Cravens, recorder, and Charles E. Copeland, marshal. The city is divided into three wards, and has two aldermen in each.

Sales Transactions in 1887. -- Seven general merchants, $76,000; three grocers, $22,500; two hardware, $6,500; three druggists, $7,100; two furniture, $8,500; one saddlery and harness, $8,000; two lumber dealers, $6,500; two newspapers and job printing, $2,900; two milliners and dressmakers, $1,400; one bed spring and mattress factory, $1,600; two watch-makers and jewelers, $1,600; three wheel-wrights and blacksmiths, $4,200; grain products, $18,000; live stock, $15,500; hides and furs, $2,100; 18,000 pounds wool, $3,600; 31,000 pounds dried fruit $2,170; 53,00 dozen eggs, $5,300; 1,000 dozen quails $2,000; 17,000 dozen pigeons, $6,800; deer, turkey and ducks, $930; hotels, $2,900; butcher, $4,000; livery and transfer, $6,500; miscellaneous $2,500 -- total, $220,100.

Present Directory of Siloam City. -- Bank of Siloam, R. S. Morris, cashier; Z. T. Conley, assistant cashier. -- General merchandise, Ewing & Gilbreath, Jacob Nathan, Crane Bros., R. S. Gibson, W. W. Brown, C. W. Hinds & Co., J. H. Chitty, R. G. Ravenscraft; groceries, Parker & Mason, R. D. Jordan, J. V. Tracy, Morris & Graves, C. B. Randall, Mrs. A. Bottoms; drugs, R. B. Pegues & Co., D. W. Atkinson & Co., W. F. Brooks & Co.; hardware, R. E. Henry, W. A. Griffin, Wyatt & Bartell; furniture, M. O. Hicks; harness and saddles, J. P. Carl; watch-makers and jewelers, N. L. Lindsay, H. J. Hancock; photograph gallery, B. M. Rakestraw; boot and shoemakers, A. H. Budd, P. R. Stanfield, J. F. Nethery, J. Eslinger; wheel-wrights, E. B. Rosson, Paul Williams; cabinet-maker, L. L. Goacher; carpenters, H. Jack, C. B. Randall, H. Mark, W. M. Jones, W. H. Hancock, O. C. Davis; blacksmith, McNair Bros., Bruner & Daniels, H. M. Martin; Hico Roller Mills, Gunter & Late; evaporating factory, W. O. Morris; wool carding mills, J. H. Chitty; furniture factory, Chamberlain & Woodmansee; bed spring and mattress factory, L. M. Prowse; Distillery No. 129, C. E. Noyes; steam saw and planing mills, Hinds, Wisner & Ragsdale, Suttle & Bruner; physicians, J. T. Clegg, J. F. Runyan, G. W. Jackson; dentist, J. A. Doss; attorneys, A. T. Rose, E. D. Feno, J. H. Trader; real estate, D. Shafer, Z. Abernathy, Rose & Davis; hotels, Ewwing House, J. M. Ewing, proprietor; Fountain House, A. J. Davis, proprietor; butchers, Tolbert & Spencer; livery, breedlove & Cresswell, M. N. Donaldson, I. S. Davis; churches Methodist Episcopal, Methodist Episcopal, South, Cumberland Presbyterian, Congregational, Missionary Baptist, Society of Friends, Christian; high-school -- faculty last school year, principal, H. J. Blake; assistants, Misses Annie Egy and Gertie Backus, E. S. Gibbs.

Societies. -- Key Lodge No. 7, A.F. & A.M., at Hico, was chartered long before the Civil War. At the beginning of the war its charter was taken to Texas, and kept by a lady who returned it after the war closed. The present principal officers are Felix Miller, W.M.; Dr. J. F. Clegg, S.W.; Frank Carl, J.W. It has a small membership.

Advance Lodge No. 435, A.F. & A.M., was chartered in 1887. Present officers, E. T. Smith, W. M.; G. W. Mead, S.W.; Rev. E. S. Gibbs, J. W. It has about thirty-five members, and is prospering. Among its charter members were W. H. Hancock, D. R. Hammer, G. W. Mead, A. J. Norris, J. H. Walker, D. B. Swallow, Levi Davis, J. J. Preece and R. P. Pegues.

Calumet Lodge No. 5, American Protective League, was chartered in the spring of 1886, with ten members. It now has thirty-seven members in good standing. Its officers are F. M. Reager, ruler; J. Van Butler, financial secretary; T. T. Chamberlain, recording secretary; S. A. Broyles, treasurer. It is progressing satisfactorily.

Agricultural Wheel, No. 984, was chartered in the fall of 1885, and has now about thirty members.

Streeter Union Labor Club was organized August 3, 1888, with thirty members. John H. Chitty; president; C. B. Randall, vice-president; A. J. Egy, secretary; J. B. Newbury, treasurer.

Siloam Springs Lodge No. 91, I.O.O.F., was chartered in 1882, with C. B. Randall, A. J. Egy, John H. Chitty, T. J. Patton, J. B. Newbury, John A. Denny and others as charter members. Present officers, A. G. Wilkinson, N.G.; C. B. Randall, V.G.; A. J. Egy, Sec.; W. F. Brooks, Treas. It has from thirty to forty members, and is in a prosperous condition.

Curtis Post No. 9, G.A.R., named after Gen. Curtis, of Pea Ridge fame, was chartered in 1884, and has had since its organization 109 members. Lewis Simmons is Post Commander, and E. D. Feno, Post Adjutant.

The Siloam Press. -- The first paper published in Siloam City was the Sun, established in 1880, by Thomas Gallagher. In 1881 it was changed to the Dispatch, continued about a year, and then suspended. The Globe was established in 1881, by D. O. Bell, who published it about one year only. The Arkansas Herald, an eight-column folio, was established in 1882, by S. Abernathy, who published it two years, and then transferred it to Messrs. Grammer & Dameron, who published it one year, and then J. B. Dameron became sole manager of the paper, and continues to publish it. It has a good circulation, and is Democratic in politics. The Locomotive, a six-column quarto, was established in December, 1886, at Springdale, Ark., by H. Milton Butler and J. Van Butler, and was moved by the latter to Siloam Springs in August, 1887, where it continues to be published; J. Van Butler is sole proprietor. The paper is independent in politics, and has also a good circulation. The Siloam papers are well printed and edited, and receive liberal support from local advertisers.

Sulphur Springs

This delightful summer resort is beautifully situated in the vale of Butler Creek, on Section 23, Township 21 north, Range 33 west, and on the line of the survey of the Kansas City, Fort Smith & Southern Railroad, now graded to Split-Log, in Missouri. It was surveyed and laid out in December, 1885, by S. B. Robertson, for the proprietors, Hibler & Cox. Lyons' addition thereto was laid out in May, 1887, and the whole village was re-surveyed in July of that year, by Mr. Robertson, for Charles Hibler and John Black. The group of springs at this place "includes one white sulphur, one potash sulphur, one magnesia, one chalybeate, one nitre, and one intermittent freestone spring, and is distant by highway northwest from Bentonville, eighteen miles; from Split-Log, Mo., sixteen miles; from the Missouri State line, one and one-half miles, and from the line of the Indian Territory, eight and one-half miles." The village, surrounding the main group of springs, lies on a gently inclining plane, with a gravelly soil, and the natural scenery in every direction is "romantic and wild," like that usually seen from the valleys of a mountainous country. The village is in the heart of a region of cavernous limestone caves, there being fifteen caves within the radius of five miles. An elevated site, just south of the village and springs and over-looking the same, has been selected for the erection of a commodious hotel. The promenade grounds reserved around the springs contain several acres, beautifully ornamented and shaded with natural forest trees, some of which are gigantic in size. Of the five vales, which form a junction at this place, three of them open toward the southward, and the place is protected from the chilling winds of winter by a semi-circular mountain ridge rising high above it.

The flow of the mineral springs is sufficient to supply 10,000 people. The supply of water for domestic use, the source of which are springs near at hand, is collectively 700,000 gallons per day. The largest of the springs producing this supply is about one and a half miles southeast of the village, and over 100 feet above it. A good hotel, with adjacent cottages for the accommodation of guests, is now in operation, under the able management of Mr. Charles Hibler and his lady. An excellent bath-house has just been completed. A first-class livery stable stands near the pleasure grounds, the proprietors of which are always ready to furnish rigs for pleasure drives.

The village also contains a post-office, stores, a school-house, and a number of residences, and deserves especial mention as being the neatest and most cleanly kept village or town in Benton County. The approaches to the village are by hack line from Bentonville; by same from Southwest City, Mo., ten miles; and from Split-Log, Mo., sixteen miles, and it is confidently expected that this will soon be improved by railroad communication north and south.

There is no doubt about the waters at Sulphur springs containing medicinal qualities, as every person that has used them can readily testify. The white sulphur spring is the most noted, and contains the greatest amount of curative qualities. With or without a railroad, this place is bound to remain a favorite resort for invalids and pleasure seekers.

The Benton County Bulletin, published at Sulphur Springs, was established at Bentonville in July, 1888, by its present editor and proprietor, John R. Huffman, and was moved to Sulphur Springs early in September following. It is a four-column quarto, is neatly printed, and labors in the interest of Republican principles.

Vanwinkle Mills

This very lively place is situated on Section 22, Township 19 north, Range 28 west, and is worthy of especial mention on account of its being the headquarters of the native lumber industry of Benton and other counties. Peter Vanwinkle erected the first saw-mill at this place in 1858, and ran it until some time during the war, when it was burned, it is said, by Confederate bushwhackers to prevent its being used by the Federal armies. It was rebuilt in 1866 and run until 1882, when it passed into the hands of J. A. C. Blackburn, son-in-law of its original proprietor. Mr. Blackburn has made some improvements, and continues the business on an extensive scale. The mills are inclosed in a building 70x90 feet in size, two stories high, and all covered with an iron roof. The power consists of a 150-horse power engine, with a 22x30 inch cylinder, and a balance wheel twenty feet in diameter and weighing 20,000 pounds. The steam capacity, equal to 200-horse-power, consists of three boilers twenty-four feet in length and forty-two inches in diameter, with four twelve inch flues in each. The smoke stack is five feet in diameter and sixty feet high. The machinery consists of one circular saw, two planers, three cut-off saws, two rip saws, one resawing machine for making bevel siding, one shingle machine, one scroll saw, two moulding machines one tenanting machine, one mortising machine, one automatic emory wheel for grinding planer bits, one lathe for turning iron and one for turning wood.

Mr. Blackburn has also another mill at Rock House, in Madison County; capacity, 20,000 feet per day, with all machinery for preparing the lumber ready for the builder's use. He also has in his employ two portable mills, one in Madison County and one in Benton County, four miles east of the home mill, cutting lumber for him by the thousand feet. The capital invested in this enterprise, including mills machinery, teams, wagons, lands, etc., is about $60,000. The immense amount of lumber manufactured by Mr. Blackburn is all sold in home markets -- in Benton, Madison and Washington Counties. He employs fifty hands, about twenty in Madison and thirty in Benton County, and he owns 17,000 acres of land, principally in these counties, 16,500 of it being timbered and the balance being farm land.

War Eagle Mills

This little village, consisting of the War Eagle Roller Mills, a large general store, blacksmith shop, and other industries together with a small number of residences, is located in the beautiful and romantic valley of War Eagle Creek, in the southeast part of Benton County. Sylvanus Blackburn built the first mills at this place, consisting of a saw-mill and grist-mill, in 1848. These mills were used for a number of years, and until a second grist-mill, four stories high, was erected. This mill was burned during the war by order of a Confederate general, as claimed by Mr. Blackburn. The present mills were built about 1872. They are now operated by James K. P. Stringfield, who does an extensive business. This is one of the best water powers in Arkansas.

There are a few post hamlets, containing a post-office and store, etc., in the county not herein named. There is a telephone line extending from Rogers via Bentonville and Springtown to Siloam Springs.

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