Lawrence Co, AR

Description

A history of the community and people of Lawrence County, Arkansas.

Sujets

• Histoire
• Local history
• History of Arkansas
• Lawrence County
• History
• Comté de Lawrence
• Arkansas

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 07 septembre 2001
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781681621791
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 8 Mo

Extrait

Turner Publishing Company

T ABLE OF C ONTENTS
Dedication
Preface
Lawrence County Historical Society
In Grateful Appreciation
History of Lawrence
Historical Highlights
A Brief History of the Walnut Ridge Army Airfield
World War I Memories
In Memory of Sebastian A. (Chubby) Spades
Communities
Business and Industry
Schools
Churches
Cemeteries, Clubs and Organizations
Family Histories
Index
Dedication

Mrs. Robert (Evelyn) Flippo, a woman whose vision will enrich our quality of life for years to come .
Vision, leadership, dedication and determination are just a few of the qualities that describe Evelyn Flippo of Powhatan. Mrs. Flippo, museum curator/program assistant at the Powhatan Courthouse State Park, has been vitally instrumental in seeing the projects at the State Park develop and grow into a historical state park.
The Powhatan Courthouse Restoration Committee was formed as a part of the Lawrence County Development Council. Evelyn served on this committee from the beginning and saw the interest of former Governor Winthrop Rockefeller and a visiting team from Williamsburg, Virginia, provide the momentum to seek funding. Mrs. Flippo helped work for federal grant funding and provided leadership for local fund-raising as matching money. In the meantime, Mrs. Flippo, along with Tommie Tolson of Walnut Ridge, and Glynda Stewart of Powhatan, provided leadership to assemble volunteers to assist them in sorting, filing and preserving the many valuable historical documents in the courthouse. Work on preserving the records was slow and arduous, and volunteers worked in extreme temperatures. The building was deeded to the Arkansas State Parks and Tourism Department by the county and restoration was completed in 1973.
A member of the Lawrence County Historical Society, Mrs. Flippo has been actively involved as a board member and held every office of the society. She is currently serving as Vice-President and has helped with numerous programs and articles for the Lawrence County Historical Quarterly.
She communicated the importance of the Powhatan projects with the Arkansas State Parks and served as liaison for the society in developing the present research room at the Powhatan Courthouse. She worked closely with Dr. John Ferguson and Russell Baker of the Arkansas History Commission in providing proper filing and storage of the historic records. She spent three months helping the Mormon Church in the microfilming of the records.
After serving for fifteen years as a volunteer, Mrs. Flippo was employed in 1984 at the Powhatan Courthouse State Park. Her extensive research provided the information for the panels and exhibits inside the courthouse. Mrs. Flippo has assisted numerous researchers who visit the courthouse each year and has helped people from all across the United States. Dorothy Southern, a researcher from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, expressed her appreciation for Mrs. Flippo in a recent letter to the society. “Without a doubt Evelyn Flippo ranks right by the side of the late, great Dr. Marion Craig in nurturing and sharing the history of your unique area…she has a loving appreciation of it and has assisted in its being shared broadly. I, for one, have an enormous appreciation of all her efforts. Evelyn and that courthouse belong together; they both possess great and lasting integrity, beauty and character.”
Mrs. Flippo has provided many hours of research and historical consultation to the staff of the state parks in their acquisition of the various historical buildings that make up the state park. Jay Schneider, former park interpreter at the courthouse, has called Mrs. Flippo “a great resource and the rock that Powhatan Courthouse State Park stands on.”
Richard W. Davies, Executive Director, Department of Parks & Tourism states; “Evelyn Flippo is Powhatan Courthouse. My earliest recollection of the work on restoring the building and preserving the collection there are inseparable from Mrs. Flippo. She stayed the course, and stayed on us, to assure that a wonderful Arkansas resource has been taken care of properly. We can all thank her for that.”
Greg Butts, Director, Arkansas State Parks adds: “At state parks, we like to say we’re in the ‘forever business’ preserving Arkansas’ outstanding natural, historical, and cultural resources for generations to come. And anyone that’s been involved in a preservation project knows that it may require long term commitment of time, vision, leadership, and energy. For over fifteen years as a department employee at Powhatan Courthouse State Park, and spanning three decades with the Lawrence County Historical Society, Evelyn Flippo has made a lot happen at the park. Thanks to her untiring contributions, a very important part of Arkansas’ history will be preserved and shared with generations, ‘forever.’ We thank her for her dedication.”
We gratefully appreciate Evelyn Flippo for her vision, leadership, determination, and dedication to the projects at Powhatan and to the historical society.
Lawrence County Historical Society
Preface

Lloyd Wayne Clark Jr
Well, it has been a long time getting here, hasn’t it? The Lawrence County and Family History Book turned into a much bigger project than we ever imagined. This was made worse by a problem which arose with our original publisher after they had received about 90% of the draft copy and all of the photos. To put it simply, we had to get a new publisher and not lose any of the money, or photos, or copies of items you had entrusted to us in the process. We hope we have done that and do sincerely thank you for your trust and patience. We apologize for the delay but believe we have a quality product you will be truly proud to treasure and show off to your families and friends.
The following pages are devoted to the histories of certain families and individuals who have resided in Lawrence County.
Those included are by choice of that individual or some member of their family. The Society did not place any conditions on who could or could not be included here except that one had to have resided in Lawrence County. Some folks paid a bit extra to have a lengthy article included and some paid a fee to have extra photos included. But, everyone had that option available. No one was denied the privilege of having their family represented.
We are pleased to state that in the index included here are to be found the names and stories of some of the finest families who have ever lived in our county or state. Having good people like these live within our borders has enriched our county.
We are sorry that there are a number of families within our county whose history is not included, who by reason of past and present prominence in county affairs, should have been included. It was their choice that this is the case. We believe we made every opportunity available and advertised and promoted the book effort as much as possible.
We would be very sorry indeed, if there should be found one person who desired to have their family history included who did not know of this opportunity. We ran several advertisements in the papers in Arkansas, sent a flyer to every household in the county, used KRLW radio extensively, and talked to scores of people personally about this effort. We particularly thank The Times Dispatch, “The Ozark Journal” , and KRLW radio for their help in promoting the book. In addition to this, the members of the Lawrence County Historical Society and the staff at the Powhatan Courthouse Museum deserve special thanks.
With this in mind, we desire to state once more that the publication of this book was not initiated or promoted as a money making proposition. We did it solely to preserve the rapidly disappearing story of the early days of the “Mother of Counties,” Lawrence County, Arkansas.
The “Book Committee” expresses deep and very personal gratitude to everyone who submitted stories, photos, ideas and other items for the book. Your efforts made the book a success. Do read ALL the stories contained herein. There are some funny ones, some poignant ones, some sad ones and some very important historical excerpts.
Lloyd W. Clark, Jr., President
Lawrence County Historical Society
Lloyd Wayne Clark, Jr. LTC. (Retired) U.S. Army 1969–1991 .
Lloyd is a teacher at Walnut Ridge Middle School. He preaches at Alicia Church of Christ. He is married to Barbara Jones Clark and has three children: Jessica Lynn, Jennifer Leah and Kenneth Wayne .
Lawrence County Historical Society
The Lawrence County Historical Society has been a vital organization for the preservation, appreciation, and advancement of the rich history of Lawrence County. The society was first organized in 1964 under the leadership of J.T. Midkiff, Ida Belle Flippo, Marie Penn, Eugene Sloan, and Mr. Croom of Jonesboro. Mr. Midkiff served as the first president and the group continued until 1968.
In 1970 the society was reactivated at the urging of Mrs. Evelyn Flippo, Lawrence County Development Council member, Arkansas State Historian Dr. John Ferguson, and Archivist Russell Baker of the Arkansas History Commission. The restoration of the Powhatan Courthouse was a major Lawrence County project in 1970 and the society took a leading role in seeing this project come to fruition.
The society was instrumental in helping the Arkansas State Parks and Tourism obtain ownership of the building and has been the driving force in seeing the development of the Powhatan Historical District.
The first constitution of the society was revised and accepted at a 1977 meeting with Jerry Gibbens serving as temporary chairman. Mr. Gibbens was nominated to serve as president. Presidents have been Jerry Gibbens (1977–1978); Viola Meadows(1978–1981);Tom Moore (1981–1984); Evelyn Flippo (1984–1987); Willene Kirkland (1987–1990); Pat Haley (1990–1992); Darlene Moore (1992–1995); and Lloyd Clark (1995-present).
Individuals who have served in officers an