NPS Form 10-900-b 0MB Wo. 7 024-00/8 (Jan. 1987) United States Department of the Interior 'A'i*~~ RECEIVED 2280 National Park Service •> '..- National Register of Historic Places M&Y - 6 B96 Multiple Property Documentation Form NA1.REGISTER OF HISTORIC PUiICES NATIONAL PARK SERVICE This form is for use in documenting multiple property groups relating to one or several historic contexts. See instructions in Guidelines for Completing National Register Forms (National Register Bulletin 16). Complete each item by marking "x" in the appropriate box or by entering the requested information. For additional space use continuation sheets (Form 10-900-a). Type all entries. A. Name of Multiple Property Listing ________________ Railroad Era Resources Of Southwest Arkansas, 1870-1945 B. Associated Historic Contexts Railroad Era Resources Of Southwest Arkansas (Lafayette, Little River, Miller and Sevier Counties). 1870-1945_______________________ C. Geographical Data Legal Boundaries of Lafayette, Little River, Miller and Sevier Counties, Arkansas I See continuation sheet D. Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended, I hereby certify that this documentation form meets the National Register documentation standards and sets forth requirements for the listing of related properties consistent with the National Register criteria. This submission meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60 and the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Planning and Evaluation. Signature of certifying official Date Arkansas Historic Preservation Program State or Federal agency and bureau I, hereby, certify that this multiple property documentation form has been approved by the National Register as a basis for eva^ting related properties jor listing in the National Register. the National Register Date NPS Form 10-900* 0MB Appro** No. J024-OOT8 (MS) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number E Page 1 I. Introduction The first railroad in the United States, built in 1825, ran from Quincy, Massachusetts to the Massachusetts Bay. With cars drawn by horses and a three-mile-long track, the train transported granite from the Quincy quarries to the barges headed for Boston. Only three years later, on July 4, 1828, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad began operating the first passenger train in the United States. During the next twenty years, the legislatures of nearly all the states granted charters to railroad companies, though many of these enterprises were purely speculative and the roads were never built. 1 By the early 1850s, there was a considerable amount of discussion on the construction of a transcontinental railroad beginning at the port city of Charleston, South Carolina, and extending by the way of the most direct and convenient route to a terminus at San Francisco, California. When the word made its way across the Mississippi River, it was joyously received by the people of southern Arkansas.2 Sparsely settled before the Civil War, the four counties in extreme southwestern Arkansas- Sevier, Little River, Miller, and Lafayette-were profoundly affected by the development and extension of the railroads. The redistribution and redirection of existing transportation routes and the founding and development of new communities economically dependent on the rail lines would radically alter the cultural landscape of southwest Arkansas. The railroad brought new settlers and industries to the region and introduced new architectural styles and influences to the old and new communities. This historic theme study examines the effects of the railroad on urban and small community development in Sevier, Little River, Miller, and Lafayette counties between 1870 and 1945. II. Early Railroad Development in Arkansas While in 1858 there was not a mile of steam railroad anywhere west of the Mississippi River,3 the national excitement over railroads spread to Arkansas as early as the mid-1830s. Numerous companies were formed, routes discussed, and land grants obtained. The first survey for the Dallas T. Herndon, Annals of Arkansas. Vol. I, (Little Rock, Arkansas: The Historical Record Association, 1947), 385. 2Clifton E. Hull, Shortline Railroads of Arkansas. (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1969), 3. 3Stephen F. Wood, "The Development of Arkansas Railroads," Arkansas Historical Quarterly. VII, No. 2, 119. NPS Form 10-900* QMS ApprovH No. 10244018 (B-M) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number E Page 2 construction of a railroad in Arkansas was planned by Roswell Beebe, Grandison D. Royston, and Edward Cross, who were agents for the owners of what became the Cairo and Fulton Railroad Company. Captain Henry D. Shreve was in charge of the survey, which covered land from the northeastern corner to the southwestern corner of Arkansas. The United States War Department cited this area as the best route, geologically, for the transcontinental railroad that would terminate at the Pacific Ocean.4 The second Arkansas General Assembly granted charters to two companies for construction of two railroads on January 9, 1839: one from Little Rock to Napoleon; the other from Little Rock to Helena. Many railroad companies were incorporated and charters were granted by the state of Arkansas in 1952. The Arkansas Central Railroad Company incorporated on January 2, 1852, with Roswell Beebe as the chairman. The committee called for construction of a railroad from Memphis, Tennessee, to the Texas line. On January 14 and 15, 1852, legislation to establish railroads running from Memphis via Little Rock to Fulton, and from Helena via Little Rock to Fort Smith, were introduced by Senator Solon H. Borland and Representative Robert W. Johnson of Arkansas to the United States Congress. The former followed the route of the Barney survey, conducted in 1850 by Captain Joshua Barney of the United States Topographical Corps of Engineers. The line would serve as the general route running from St. Louis to Fulton and then on to the Pacific by way of Santa Fe, New Mexico.5 The Little Rock and Memphis Railroad Company was incorporated by an act of the Arkansas General Assembly and was approved January 10, 1853, by Governor Elias Nelson Conway. This was the first railroad chartered that went into actual public service.6 While citizens of Arkansas were interested in the advantages of railroad transportation, progress was slow. Insufficient funds,7 a series of national financial panics, illnesses among workers, fires, and floods thwarted Arkansas railroad construction for several years. The only construction completed before the Civil War was of the Memphis and Little Rock Railroad, and the Mississippi, Ouachita, and Red River Railroad. On January 9, 1862, train service was inaugurated between DeVails Bluff, on the western bank of the White River, and Huntersville 4Ibid., 104. 5David Y. Thomas, Arkansas and Its People. 424. 6Dallas T. Herndon, Centennial History of Arkansas. Vol. I, (Little Rock, Arkansas: The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1922), 520. 7Wood, 110. NP8 Form 10-900-* 0MB Appronl No. 1024401B ( 48) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number E pag0 3 (present day North Little Rock), on the northern bank of the Arkansas River.8 Not everyone was interested in the development of the railroad. In fact, there was opposition to the railroad across the United States. In the fall of 1828, a few months after work commenced on the Baltimore and Ohio, some young men of Lancaster, Ohio, organized a debating society and applied to the school board of Lancaster for the use of the school house in which to hold their meetings. Learning that the society intended to discuss the practicability of the railroad, the board replied, "we are willing to allow you the use of the school house to debate all proper question in but such things as railroad we regard as rank infidelity. If God had ever intended his children to fly over the face of the country at the frightful speed of fifteen miles an hour, he would have foretold it clearly through his holy prophets. It is a device of Satan to lure immortal souls to hell."9 One generation later, public sentiment had undergone a radical change. The railroad was no longer looked upon as "rank infidelity," but as one of the most powerful agents in the development of the country. The controversy in Arkansas over the railroads did not center over their lack of divine providence, but rather the corruption and fraud that was associated with many of the companies. The earliest railroad controversy occurred in the spring of 1853. A charter was granted to build a railroad from the community of Napoleon, on the Mississippi River, to Little Rock. Since both the Cairo and Fulton and the Napoleon and Little Rock railroads were chartered during the last legislative session, the Napoleon faction felt that it had equal rights with its opponents, the Cairo and Fulton. However, the Napoleon and Little Rock Railroad Company opposed both Governor Conway and the Cairo and Fulton Railroad Company, accusing them of using the Cairo grant for their own interests and conspiring to prevent the building of the Napoleon road. 10 On September 18, 1866, reports were made that Congress passed a bill signed by President Andrew Johnson that renewed a former grant of lands. This bill gave an additional amount of land to railroads such as the Cairo and Fulton. 11 Meanwhile, the Arkansas General Assembly was passing legislation to encourage the development of railroads in Arkansas. A levee bond 8Ibid., 124. 9Herndon, Centennial History of Arkansas. 520. 10Wood, 124. nlbid., 126. NP8 Form 10-900* QMS Appro** Wo. J024-00f« (M6) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number E Page 4 was established in 1868 which made funds available to companies to build levees along navigable streams at overflowing points.