Lynn A. Davis, lecturer, crime author, former politician
Ken Duke, professional golfer
Gus Malzahn, 1990, American football coach and offensive coordinator for Auburn University
John P. McConnell, 1927, General and Chief of Staff, United States Air Force
Sid McMath, two-term governor of Arkansas
James Hollis "Jim" Morris 1976, Republican member of the Louisiana State House of Representatives
Aaron Owens, 1999, former AND1 Mixtape Tour basketball player
Reggie Ritter, 1982, former professional baseball player
Billy Bob Thornton, (attended), Academy Award-winning American screenwriter, actor as well as occasional director, playwright and singer.
C. Vann Woodward, 1959, Sterling Professor of History at Yale University; Pulitzer Prize-winning historian
Ouachita Baptist University
Notable alumni
Shelley Breen, Heather Payne, Denise Jones, and Terry Jones (singer) of Christian pop music group Point of Grace
Winston Bryant - Attorney General of Arkansas, 1990 to 1999
Doak S. Campbell - president of Florida State University
Leon Green - noted legal scholar, dean of Northwestern University School of Law
Cliff Harris - former All-Pro Dallas Cowboys safety
William Holloway - Governor of Oklahoma, 1929 to 1931
Mike Huckabee - Governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007, 2008 Republican President candidate
Travis Jackson - Baseball Hall of Fame shortstop for New York Giants in 1920s and 1930s
Susan McDougal - involved in Whitewater scandal, author of The Woman Who Wouldn't Talk
Linda Gamble, pioneer in women's basketball
William Miller - professional football player in the Canadian Football League and the USFL
William Edward "Big Ed" Neal - professional football player (1945–51) in the National Football League with the Green Bay Packers.
Bob C. Riley - Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas and interim Governor of Arkansas, decorated veteran of World War II
Russ Taff - former Gaither Vocal Band and Imperial Quartet member and renowned soloist in the Southern gospel music industry
Aaron Ward - infielder for New York Yankees (1917–26), Chicago White Sox (1927) and Cleveland Indians (1928)
Notable People
Trent Bryant - cornerback for the NFL's Washington Redskins, Kansas City Chiefs, and the CFL's Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Cliff Harris - safety for the Dallas Cowboys.
Arthur Hodges (deceased) - first person in the county executed by electric chair.
W. Francis McBeth - first Composer Laureate of Arkansas.
Beth Moore - Biblical scholar; founder of Living Proof Ministries.
Terry Nelson - tight end for the Los Angeles Rams.
Bob C. Riley (deceased) -- former lieutenant governor of Arkansas.
Jerry Thomasson (deceased) -- former Democratic member of the Arkansas House of Representatives and two-time Republican candidate for Arkansas attorney general.
Kevin Williams - defensive tackle for the NFL team the Minnesota Vikings.
Arkansas City
Notable People
Darren Daulton, former Major League Baseball catcher
John H. Johnson, founder of an international media and cosmetics empire that includes Ebony and Jet.
Ash Flat
Notable People
Preacher Roe, born in Ash Flat, major league baseball player
Atkins
Notable People
Ellis Kinder, born in Atkins, major league baseball player
Wilson Matthews, born in Atkins, former University of Arkansas assistant football coach
Bald Knob
Bald Knob is leading strawberry producer in the state, known for its yearly Strawberry Fest held during Mother's Day weekend. It was once known as the leading strawberry producer in the world.
Batesville
Notable People
Elisha Baxter, thirteenth governor of Arkansas
Jack Critcher, President Pro Tempore of the Arkansas Senate
Daniel Haigwood, pitching prospect for the Boston Red Sox
Sara Low, flight attendant on American Flight 11 which crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001
Mark Martin, NASCAR driver, born and raised in Batesville
William R. Miller, first native-born governor of Arkansas, born in Batesville 1823
Rick Monday, born in Batesville, major league baseball player[5]
Charlie Strong, head coach with the University of Louisville football team
Mutha's Day Out, 1990s rock band, signed to Chrysalis records, had 3 videos on MTV rotation and 2 world tours
Ryan Mallett, Starting Quarteback at University of Arkansas, born in Batesville
Bauxite
Notable People
Susan Dunn: Grammy Award winning operatic soprano.
Beaver
Several miles to the south from the town of Beaver is Dinosaur World, a theme park covering 65 acres, which has 100 life-size sculptures of dinosaurs and cavemen. It also features a 40-foot (12 m) tall statue of King Kong known as the "World's Largest King Kong". The park however has been closed since 2005 and is now a favorite spot for urban explorers.
Bella Vista
Notable People
Jim Sheets, first Republican elected to the Arkansas House of Representatives from Benton County, served 1967-1968
John A. Tvedtnes-Biblical scholar
Walmart Home Office
Bentonville
Bentonville is also home to the Wal-Mart Home Offices, headquarters of Wal-Mart Stores, the largest retailer in the world.
Notable People
James Henderson Berry, Arkansas Politician
Dan Folger, American singer
Willis Ricketts, the 1962 Arkansas Republican gubernatorial nominee, was born in Bentonville and operated a pharmacy in Fayetteville for twenty years. He later lived in Benton, Arkansas, the seat of Saline County.
Karri Turner, actress on the adventure/drama television show JAG, grew up in Bentonville.
Jim Walton, the world's 4th richest man, lives in Bentonville
Biggers
Notable People
Dennis Knight-WWF wrestler who was born here.
Black Oak
Notable people
Black Oak is the hometown of the founding members of the 1970s Southern rock band, Black Oak Arkansas.
John Grisham attended first grade at Black Oak Elementary School for one semester, and his novel A Painted House is set in Black Oak and the surrounding area
Blytheville
Notable People
R&B singer Dee Clark, known for his 1961 hit "Raindrops," was a native of Blytheville.
George Hamilton (actor), grandson of Blytheville physician C.C. Stevens. Blytheville was George's boyhood home. His mother is buried in Blytheville.
World War II Medal of Honor recipient Edgar H. Lloyd
Mad editor Al Feldstein, who was stationed in Blytheville during World War II, later wrote a science fiction story set in Blytheville, "Chewed Out," Weird Science 12 (March 1952). Kimberly Derrick, Olympian
Booneville
Notable People
Dizzy Dean and Daffy Dean - Major League Baseball players and brothers, born in the small community of Lucas, outside of Booneville.
Kimberly Foster - American Television and Movie Actor, best known for her role as Michelle Stevens in the later seasons of the prime-time drama Dallas.
Elizabeth Ward Gracen - Former Miss America and an actress on Highlander: The Series.
Tom Greenway - Character actor in numerous TV series of the 1950s and 60s such as Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Dragnet and Perry Mason.
John P. McConnell - Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force from February 1, 1965 to July 31, 1969.
Floyd Speer - Pitcher for the Chicago White Sox. Played in the Majors from April 25, 1943 to May 3, 1944. He is buried in the Carolan Community Cemetery.
Aaron Lee Ward - Former infielder for the New York Yankees.
Paul X. Williams - U. S. Federal Judge for the Western District of Arkansas, appointed by President Lyndon Johnson.
Brinkley
Notable People
Brinkley was the birthplace of jazz and early rock & roll great Louis Jordan.
Jerry Eckwood, former Arkansas Razorbacks football player and member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, hails from Brinkley.
Herbert "Flight Time" Lang, member of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team.
Jon Brittenum, former Arkansas Razorbacks football player and member of the San Diego Chargers
Bryant
Bryant also was the only town in Arkansas to be chosen for Money Magazine's Top 100 Best Places to Live 2009, ranking number 86.
Cabot
Miss USA 1982, Terri Utley, was from the city of Cabot.
Ghost Town
Calico Rock
The town celebrates a unique feature. It is the only town in the United States where a living community has surrounded and preserved a ghost town.
Camden
Notable People
Robert L. Hite - Co-Pilot of Crew 16 on the Doolittle Raid, April 18, 1942; survived three years as a Japanese POW
Shawn Andrews - Professional football player
Stacy "Needle D" Andrews - Professional football player & 2001 amateur heavy-weight boxing champion of Batesville, USA
Walter E. Hussman, Jr. - Publisher
Walter E. Hussman, Sr. - Publisher
Benjamin Travis Laney - Mayor of Camden (1935–1939) and Governor of Arkansas (1945–1949)
Ne-Yo - R&B singer, songwriter, producer
David Pryor - U.S. Senator (1979–1997) and Governor of Arkansas (1975–1979)
Louis "Jay" Rothwell (1929–2010) - United States Army colonel, in military from 1947–1978; quarterback of the first football team (1946) of Fairview High School near Camden; spent later years in Cheyenne, Wyoming, where he had been advisor to the Wyoming Army National Guard; interred in Camden beside wife, the former Virginia Sue Prince (1929–1995)[6]
Tommy Tuberville - College Football coach
Corey Williams - Professional football player
Eric Braden - Professional Rodeo Cowboy/Clown
Joe "The Pino" Schaffner - Semi-professional cage fighter. Held the Alabama "Rage in the Cage" Middleweight belt from Sept. 2007- June 2008.
Carlisle
Notable People
Maurice Britt - Medal of Honor recipient from World War II. First Republican lieutenant governor of Arkansas since Reconstruction; born in Carlisle and reared in Lonoke.
Mitch Petrus - NFL offensive lineman for the New York Giants
Cave City
Cave City is known for its award winning "world's sweetest" watermelons and holds an annual watermelon festival in August.
Cave City was the home of the controversial newspaper editor Joseph H. Weston, whose Sharp Citizen forced a major change in Arkansas libel law
Charleston
Notable People
Dale Bumpers — Governor of Arkansas and U.S. Senator from Arkansas
Clarksville
Notable People
Clarksville was the birthplace of famous Old West outlaw Bill Doolin.
Comedian Ralphie May stated in his album "Girth of a Nation" that he lived in Clarksville for while and worked at the local McDonald's.
Ada Mills, the only delegate to support John B. Connally, Jr. for the Republican presidential nomination in 1980
Clinton
Notable People
Bobby Burnett-- AFL Rooke of the Year for 1966
John Hargis -- 1996 Olympic Gold Medalist swimmer is a 1992 Clinton high school graduate
Cotton Plant
In Popular Culture "Other Idiots from Arkansas," a track from Lewis Black's The White Album, includes an alleged news story of two men who got in a truck accident near Cotton Plant when a bullet used in place of an automotive fuse fired off.
Crossett
Notable People
James D. Johnson, Democratic gubernatorial nominee in 1966; former Chief Justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court
Dardanelle
Dardanelle is mentioned in the famous 1921 blues song "Arkansas Blues" (written by Anton Lada and Spencer Williams. In the 1968 novel True Grit, by Charles Portis, the lead character Mattie Ross talks about being from a farm in Yell County, near Dardanelle. (The novel was made into a film of the same name, True Grit, starring John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn and Kim Darby as Mattie.)
Notable People
Jim R. Caldwell (born 1936), first Republican to serve in the Arkansas State Senate since Reconstruction, 1969-1978
Pro golfer John Daly lived in Dardanelle as a child; he currently owns a home near Dardanelle and owns the Lion's Den Golf Course.
The childhood home of the former director of FEMA, James Lee Witt.
De Queen
Notable People
Collin Raye-Country singer. Wes Watkins-Oklahoma politician who left as a boy.
Greg "Fatty" White
Delaplaine
On June 20, 2007 two crop circles were discovered in a wheat field.
Notable People
Stacy (Blaine) Austin (1980's), High School & College All-American, Decathlete, Pole Vaulter, Basketball Player, Blaine was a sports stand out in High School and College earning All Conference and All American titles both in Basketball and Track. In 1978, Blaine broke the World Record in the Pole Vault for 14 year olds. Through out his career he has broken many National and State records, and he still holds a few of them today. In 1986, while training for the Olympic trials in the Decathlon, Blaine was involved in a car accident in which he sustained a sports career ending injury.
Jimmie Lou Fisher (1950's), Jimmie Lou Fisher's father Tollie Cooper was Superintendent of Schools at Delaplaine. Fisher was elected Treasurer of Greene County, Arkansas in 1970, and went on to serve four two year terms, until in 1979, when newly elected Governor Bill Clinton, appointed her Auditor of State for which she served one year. Fisher was elected Arkansas State Treasurer in 1980 and took office in 1981 serving until 2003, a total of 22 years as State Treasurer, making her the longest serving State Treasurer in the history of Arkansas, and placing her among its longest serving statewide officials. In 2002 Fisher was the Democratic Nominee for Governor against the incumbent Mike Huckabee. Fisher raised over $1 Million dollars and campaigned hard across the state. Polling showed the race slowly narrowing, but Fisher was unable to cut into Huckabee's lead enough to win. Huckabee was also helped by the positive political wave for Republicans that swept through the nation that year. In the end Fisher performed very well, far better than the Democrats' 1998 candidate. Fisher managed to hold the personally popular Mike Huckabee to a margin of victory of 53 percent to 47 percent, giving him a real race, which was just what the Democratic Party had hoped for. Aside from that, she was very active in Democratic politics at the same time. She served as Vice Chairman of the Arkansas Democratic State Committee from 1976-1978. Then went on to serve as a member of the Democratic National Committee during the same time period, 1976-1978. In 1978, she helped run then Arkansas Attorney General Bill Clinton's ultimately successful run for governor, serving as his 1st Congressional District Coordinator
Bryon (Keith) Palmer (1957-1996), Singer Songwriter, Keith also had great success as a songwriter. The list of songs and artists who recorded them is quite extensive, but his most successful was "For My Broken Heart" by Reba McEntire. Keith wrote "One Hell of a Heartache" which was recorded by another of my favorite artists, Gene Watson. Keith was featured in the "Showcase" for the song "I Didn't (Every Chance I Had)" by Keith and Bobby P. Barker, which was recorded by Johnny Rodriguez. He also wrote for Tom Collins Music.
Dover
The Dover Massacre
On December 22, 1987, Ronald Gene Simmons, of Dover, killed all fourteen members of his family during a Christmas reunion in Dover. Two days later, he continued his killing spree in the county seat of Russellville, having targeted previous employers and co-workers, killing two and wounding two more. Simmons was arrested without resistance, was sentenced to death on December 10, 1989, and executed on June 25, 1990, the quickest sentence-to-execution time in the United States since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976
Dumas
Notable residents
Ken Coon, the 1974 Republican gubernatorial nominee, lived in Dumas in the 1960s and joined the Jaycees there. He was state Jaycee president in 1972.
1968 Olympics gold medalist in the 100 m winner Jim Hines was born here.
Elaine
Notable People
John Hughey, country musician
Levon Helm - American rock musician
El Dorado
Oil discoveries - Known as Arkansas's boomtown because of oil discoveries in the 1920s and in 1937. Several oil refineries are based or started in El Dorado.[8] Murphy Oil, a S&P 500 company, has its corporate headquarters in El Dorado.
Notable People
Donna Axum, 1964 Miss America
Bruce Bennett, former Arkansas Attorney General
Lou Brock, member of the Baseball Hall of Fame
Reese Cates, PBR bull rider and 2008 PBR Rookie of the Year; currently lives in Carthage, Texas.
Albert H. Crews- astronaut and United States Air Force officer
Charlie Daniels, Arkansas politician
Candice Earley, actress
Michael G. Fitzgerald, film historian and author
David Frizzell, country music singer
Lefty Frizzell, country music singer
Dave Gibson, country music singer
Hogan Gidley, former Executive Director of the South Carolina Republican Party. Gidley previously served as Press Secretary to the David Beasley for Senate campaign and Karen Floyd for Superintendent of Education. Gidley served on the campaign committee of former U.S. Senator Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina.
Walter John Giller, III, Deputy Surgeon General of the Air Force
Benito Glosson, former dancer for M.C. Hammer and current solo R&B performer
Gerry Haner, singer, song writer and guitarist for Kcor (band)
Glen Ray Hines, professional football player
Lamar Hunt, sports promoter and member of Pro Football Hall of Fame
E. Fay Jones, architect & student of Frank Lloyd Wright
Charles Portis, author
William Speed Condon II, Sewanee Idol Champion
William Ragsdale, actor Albert Rust, former U.S. Representative
Adam Setliff, two time Olympic discus thrower
George W. Shannon, journalist
Reece Tatum, of the Harlem Globetrotters
Theresa A. Thomas - Waller, writer
Dave Whitlock, light heavyweight professional prize fighter who fought Floyd Patterson in September 1955
Leon "Pee Wee" Whittaker, African American trombonist lived in El Dorado in the early 1950s.
Josh Wilson (musician), contemporary Christian musician
Christ of the Ozarks
Eureka Springs
The entire city is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Eureka Springs Historic District. Eureka Springs has been selected as one of America's Distinctive Destinations by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Eureka Springs was originally called "The Magic City" and later the "Stairstep Town" because of its mountainous terrain and the winding, up-and-down paths of its streets and walkways.
It is a tourist destination for its unique character as a Victorian resort, which first attracted visitors to use its springs. The city has steep winding streets filled with Victorian-style cottages and manors. The historic commercial downtown of the city has an extensive streetscape of well-preserved Victorian buildings. The buildings are primarily constructed of local stone, built along streets that curve around the hills, and rise and fall with the topography in a five-mile long loop. Some buildings have street-level entrances on more than one floor and other such oddities: the Basin Park Hotel has its front entrances on the floor below first, and a ground-level emergency exit in the back of the building on the fifth floor. The streets wind around the town, with few intersecting at right angles. There are no traffic lights.
In 1964, Gerald L.K. Smith began building a religious theme park named Sacred Projects that was proposed to include a life size recreation of Jerusalem. The project never fully developed but two of the components are major city-defining projects today—the seven-story Christ of the Ozarks statue designed by Emmet Sullivan and the nearby The Great Passion Play performed during the summer. It is regularly performed from May through October by a cast of 170 actors and dozens of live animals.[5] The script of The Great Passion Play has been altered from the original, which set Jesus's beating at Herod's court and included a monologue blaming his death on the Jews.[6] It has been seen by an estimated 7.7 million people, which makes it the largest-attended outdoor drama in the United States, according to the Institute of Outdoor Theatre of the University of East Carolina at Greenville, North Carolina.[5] Christian-themed attractions have been added in association with the drama production. These include a New Holy Land Tour, featuring a full-scale re-creation of the Tabernacle in the Wilderness; a section of the Berlin Wall; and a Bible Museum featuring more than 6,000 Bibles. (Items include an original 1611 King James Bible, a leaf from a Gutenberg Bible, and the only Bible signed by all of the original founders of the Gideons.
Isolation and affordable property made Eureka Springs an attractive back-to-the-land destination for hippies, counterculture radicals, and lesbian separatists in the late 1960s and 1970s. While first facing resistance from many locals, as businesses were established and increased tourism, so did mutual respect. The accepting environment fostered a network of gay and lesbian business owners, and the town became known as a resort town for LGBT tourism. During the AIDS crisis, community members formed the Ozark AIDS Resources and Service to distribute mutual aid and care. Eureka Springs suffered stronger impacts than other parts of the state, and the community lost many leaders and establishments.
Architect E. Fay Jones designed Thorncrown Chapel in 1980, and it was selected for the "Twenty-five Year Award" by the American Institute of Architects in 2006. The award recognizes structures that have had significant influence on the profession. The chapel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000 because of the special nature and quality of its architecture.
On May 10, 2014, Eureka Springs became the first city in Arkansas to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. On May 12, 2015, Eureka Springs passed a Non-Discrimination Ordinance (Ord. 2223), with voters choosing 579 for to 261 against. [7] It became the first city in Arkansas to have such a law to cover LGBT residents and tourists. But a state law intended to invalidate the anti-discrimination ordinance went into effect July 22, 2015. [8] This Intrastate Commerce Improvement Act, sponsored by state senator Bart Hester, “prohibits cities from passing civil rights ordinances that extend protections beyond those already afforded by state law." In response, the town's mayor stated that they would be "prepared to defend their ordinance in court."
Points of interest
Blue Spring Heritage Center
Crescent Hotel
Eureka Springs & North Arkansas Railway
Onyx Cave, 7 miles (11 km) northeast of town
Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge, 8 miles (13 km) south of town
Blue Moon Cave, 2.8 miles (5 km) south of town
Notable People
Arts and culture
Candace Camp was a schoolteacher in Eureka Springs before becoming a romance novelist
Silent film actress and ballroom dancer Irene Castle spent her last years in Eureka Springs
Folk art painter Frances Currey spent her final years in a nursing home in Eureka Springs
Children's authors Crescent Dragonwagon and Ned Shank lived in Eureka Springs for many years and co-founded the Writer's Colony at Dairy Hollow
Artists Louis Freund and his wife, Elsie Bates-Freund, offered the Summer Art School of the Ozarks in Eureka Springs from 1940 to 1951, and lived in the city for part of the year for the rest of their lives
Painter Glenn Gant lived much of his life in Eureka Springs
Early portrait photographer Emme Gerhard lived in Eureka Springs for a time
Classical guitarist Charles Christian Hammer lived much of his life in Eureka Springs
Jazz saxophonist Ben Kynard was born in Eureka Springs
Albert and Elise Quigley designed, built, and lived in Quigley's Castle just south of Eureka Springs
Poet and author Rachel Beasley Ray lived in Eureka Springs for much of her life
1930s and 1940s film actress Marla Shelton was born in Eureka Springs
Poet and Chinese literature expert Jonathan Stalling was raised in Eureka Springs
Poet Frank Stanford lived briefly in Eureka Springs[21]
Business and politics
Charlatan Norman G. Baker ran a hospital that led to his conviction for mail fraud
Former Arkansas governor and U.S Senator and later Ambassador to Mexico Powell Clayton was a prominent citizen and businessman in the 1880s and 1890s[22]
Arkansas and U.S. Rep. Claude A. Fuller lived most of his life in, and was twice mayor of, Eureka Springs
Temperance activist Carrie Nation operated a boarding house during her later years
Women's rights activist Lizzie Dorman Fyler founded the Arkansas Woman Suffrage Association in 1881 while living in Eureka Springs
Military
U.S. Army Capt. Marcellus H. Chiles, Medal of Honor recipient, was born in Eureka Springs
Education
Frontier Nursing Service founder Mary Carson Breckinridge taught at Crescent College and Conservatory while living in Eureka Springs
Religion
Baptist minister William Evander Penn made his home in Eureka Springs in "Penn Castle"
Clergyman and populist political organizer Gerald L. K. Smith retired to Eureka Springs, where he commissioned the Christ of the Ozarks
Sports
Major League Baseball player Pat Burrell was born in Eureka Springs
who died or were captured in Eureka Springs
Cattle baron John Chisum spent his last months in Eureka Springs
Outlaw Bill Doolin of the Wild Bunch gang was captured in a Eureka Springs bathhouse in 1896
U.S. Representative James William Trimble died in Eureka Springs in 1972
Prominent businessman, soldier, and politician Cadwallader C. Washburn died in Eureka Springs in 1882
Evening Shade
The town was fictionalized in a television situation comedy starring Burt Reynolds and entitled Evening Shade in the U.S.
Notable People
Jim Benton - Pro football star of 1940's
Larry Lacewell - Former college football coach and director of scouting for Dallas Cowboys
Red Parker - College football coach
Ray E. Porter - World War II general who won the Purple Heart and the Legion of Merit
John Thach - World War II admiral and war hero
Kevin Williams - NFL Pro-Bowl defensive tackle for the Minnesota Vikings
Raylee Johnson - NFL Player, defensive back for the San Diego Chargers
Paul "Bear" Bryant - American college football coach, attended Fordyce High School
James Hal Cone – Theologian
Forest City
Notable People
Al Green, singer and minister
John W. Henry, principal owner of the Boston Red Sox
Don Kessinger, born in Forrest City, major league baseball player[5]
Charlie Rich see Colt, Arkansas
Cal Slayton, comic book artist
Dennis Winston, NFL player
Sonny Liston, born in Forrest City on the Morledge Plantation Heavyweight Champion of the World
Lawrence Rea, Lieutenant Colonel United States Air Force World War II
Jimmy Rogers, NFL player
Gassville
Notable People
John "Johnie" Winfield Hallmark - Born in Gassville on December 2, 1919 to William "Bill" Ellis Hallmark and Mary Betty Lois nee Thompson. Johnie Hallmark was serving as a US Navy Seaman 1st Class [1] aboard the USS Nevada (BB-36), a World War I era battleship, which was anchored adjacent to Ford Island and ahead of the USS Arizona (BB-39) on Battleship Row during the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941. Sea1c Hallmark died onboard the Nevada during the Japanese attack [2] that fateful morning and his remains were never recovered [3]. The USS Nevada holds the distinction of being the only battleship to get under way during the attack but due to heavy damage her skipper ran her aground at Hospital Point to prevent blocking the harbor entrance. She was later raised, repaired and put back into the line where she fought on both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans for the duration of World War II.
Greenwood
Notable People
Bob Burns - a popular American radio and film comedian during the 1930s and 1940s.
Doc Sadler - University of Nebraska Men's basketball coach
William Meade Fishback - Arkansas Governor and Senator-elect
Gurdon
The town is known for the presence of the Gurdon Light, a series of unexplained phenomena which occur in a wooded area by railroad tracks, appears to viewers as a light or lights hovering in mid-air. Local folk legend explains the light appearances as a deceased railwayman's lantern. Scientific work on the origin of the lights has proven inconclusive. The light has been featured on local media and on the TV show Unsolved Mysteries.
In February, 1912, two Gurdon lawmen, Deputy Sam Arnott and Gurdon Marshal I.Y. Nash, began arguing over Nash having demanded that Arnott resign from his position as deputy. The two policemen began fighting, and shortly thereafter a shootout ensued, resulting in Nash being shot and killed, and Arnott being arrested for his murder. The incident was unusual in that both persons involved were police officers working for the same agency.
The town further served as the founding place of the International Concatenated Order of the Hoo Hoo. This lumbermen's fraternity was founded by a set of lumber industry workers stranded in Gurdon by rainstorms in the late 19th century, who devised the social organization as a joke, complete with colorful officer designations such as the Grand Snark. The joke actually took hold as a social organization, with branches worldwide. The Hoo Hoo Museum in Gurdon commemorates the organization. A small statue of a black cat with its tail curled upward in the shape of the number 9, the Hoo Hoo symbol, is located in town.
Notable Residents
In 1923, blues musical artist Jimmy Witherspoon was born in Gurdon. He went on to appear on over 200 albums, establishing himself as a jazz-influenced bluesman.
Gurdon is the hometown of Daniel Davis. He is best known for playing the role of Niles the butler, in the CBS sitcom The Nanny. Davis' natural accent is Southern American, however his English accent as Niles was so accurate that many viewers became convinced that Davis was actually English. The character Niles was mostly the comic relief, frequently using deadpan one-liners.
Musical performer, performance artist, actor, filmmaker, and photographer Tav Falco was raised in Gurdon.
Gurdon was for many years the home of noted mail art practitioner Buz Blurr (formerly Hoo Hoo Theaters).
Legendary Punk Rock/Blues singer and current artist Gary S. Floyd was born in Gurdon
Hope
Bill Clinton
The town is best known as the hometown of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton (see Bill Clinton Birthplace). At the 1992 Democratic National Convention in New York City, Clinton ended his acceptance speech by saying, "I still believe in a place called Hope." The city tagged this statement as their unofficial motto. The city converted its railroad depot to a museum on Clinton's life.
Mike Huckabee
Hope is also the hometown of the former Governor Mike Huckabee, a candidate for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. In his autobiographical From Hope to Higher Ground (2007), Huckabee recalls the Hope of the 1960s as "a wonderful community. A child could leave his house in the morning on a bicycle and not return until after dark, and it caused no one alarm. It was the kind of place where I could misbehave eight blocks from home, but by the time I pedaled back to 309 East Second Street, six people would have called my parents to report my behavior. I am not sure that it took a village to raise a child, but I am quite sure that an entire village did its part to help raise me!"[3] As a teenager, Huckabee cleaned windows, swept floors, and stocked shelves for J.C. Penney. He also worked at a radio station in Hope, a job which he maintains led to his decision to become active in evangelical organizations and politics.[4]
Other Others from Hope include former White House Chief of Staff Mack McLarty;
attorney Vincent Walker Foster, Jr. (1945–1993);
U.S. Representative Mike Ross;
former Louisville, Kentucky, Mayor David L. Armstrong;
Gary Dee;
former Arkansas Secretary of State Kelly Bryant (1908–1975),
PGA golfer Ken Duke,
actress/vocalist Ketty Lester
and actress Melinda Dillon.
Country Music Hall of Fame singer Patsy Montana attended school in Hope.
A leading figure in the restoration of nearby Historic Washington State Park in Washington, Arkansas, was James H. Pilkinton (1914–1994) of Hope, who served as president of the Pioneer Washington Restoration Foundation, Inc., from 1959–1960 and again from 1973-1990. In 1966, Pilkinton was the unsuccessful Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor, having narrowly been defeated by the Republican Maurice L. Britt, the running-mate of Winthrop Rockefeller, who won the first of his two two-year terms as governor that year. Pilkinton is interred in Rose Hill Cemetery.
A former Republican U.S. Representative from Michigan, Robert James Huber, is buried in Hope, but he did not live there. It was the hometown of his wife, the former Mary Pauline "Polly" Tolleson, a graduate of Hope High School.
Also, Hope is home to a few African-American figures such as Henry C. Yerger, who established a school for blacks in 1895.
Paul Klipsch founded Klipsch and Associates in Hope in 1946. Klipsch invented the world famous Klipschorn speaker, a folded horn loaded speaker that revolutionized the industry. The Klipschorn and a number of other speaker lines are still manufactured in Hope by Klipsch Audio Technologies
Hoxie
The third Arkansas school to integrate On June 25, 1955, largely the result of the recent Brown v. Board of Education ruling, Hoxie's superintendent, Kunkel Edward Vance, spearheaded plans to integrate the schools, and he received the unanimous support of Hoxie's school board. On July 11, 1955, Hoxie schools recommenced and allowed African-American students to attend. Vance insisted that all facilities would be integrated, such as restrooms and cafeterias. White supremacist activists from outside the area converged on Hoxie, attempting to reverse the school board's decision, but failed. Approximately half of the white students boycotted the schools beginning on August 4, 1955. The Hoxie School Board filed suit against the segregationist leaders from Hoxie and elsewhere in the state charging them with trespassing on school property, threatening picket lines, organizing boycotts, and intimidating school officials. In November, 1955, Federal District Judge Thomas C. Trimble ruled that pro-segregationists had "planned and conspired" to prevent integration in Hoxie, and he announced his ruling in December, 1955, issuing a permanent injunction and restraining order against the segregationists. Their appeal in the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals was opposed by Attorney General Herbert Brownell and the U.S. Department of Justice, the first intervention by the attorney general in support of any school district attempting to comply with the Brown v. Board of Education decision. On October 25, 1956, the court ruled in favor of Hoxie Schools.
Lake Village
Lake Village is named for its location on Lake Chicot, an oxbow lake formed from the Mississippi River. Lake Chicot is the largest oxbow lake in North America and the largest natural lake in Arkansas.
According to legend, the remains of Hernando De Soto are buried in Lake Chicot.
Charles Lindbergh made his first nighttime flight over Lake Chicot and Lake Village in April 1923
Notable People
Leon "Pee Wee" Whittaker, American trombonist
Lake City
Lake City had the only lift bridge in the world that has never been raised. During the construction of St. Francis River Bridge there was an earthquake that made the river unsuitable for boats to pass through. A new bridge was constructed in 2002 and the lift bridge was moved to a location just south of the new bridge where it remains as a landmark.
London
Notable People
Brooks Hays - A deceased member of the United States House of Representatives and briefly president of the Southern Baptist Convention
Lonoke
Notable People
Maurice Britt - Football player, businessman, and decorated soldier. He was born in Carlisle, Arkansas, but grew up in Lonoke.
Ed Hamm (1906–1982) - American track and field athlete, who won the gold medal in long jump at the 1928 Summer Olympics.
Joseph Taylor Robinson - U.S. Senate Majority leader and Al Smith's running mate on the Democratic Ticket in the 1928 U.S. presidential election.
Malvern
"Brick Capital of the World", due to the three Acme Brick plants in the area.[2] Every year on the last weekend of June, Malvern hosts the Brickfest, an event that fills the city with music, food and activities that include a brick toss, brick car derby, and a best dressed brick contest.
Malvern also hosts the Hot Spring County Fair and Rodeo each fall.
Home of Grapette International, a manufacturer of Grapette soda.
Notable People
musician and stage performer Beth Clayton
Frank Bonner, born in Little Rock and raised in Malvern, an actor and director best known for playing Herb Tarlek on the classic 1970s and 1980s sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati;
Bob Burrow, a retired American basketball player;
Beth Clayton, an award-winning operatic mezzo-soprano;
Isaac Davis (American football), a former National Football League (NFL) player and member of Super Bowl XXIX runners-up team San Diego Chargers;
Susan Dunn, a Grammy Award winning operatic soprano;
Madre Hill, a 1995 SEC rushing champion, former NFL player, and member of Super Bowl XXXVII runners-up team Oakland Raiders;
Fred Jones, a National Basketball Association (NBA) player, 2004 NBA Slam Dunk Contest winner, and current Guard-Forward for the New York Knicks;
Tony Ollison, a former defensive tackle for the Arkansas Razorbacks, former strength and conditioning coach for the Dallas Cowboys, and currently a member of the Dallas Desperados of the Arena Football League;
Billy Bob Thornton, a motion picture actor, writer, and director; and
Keith Traylor, an NFL player and member of Super Bowl Champions Denver Broncos (in 1997 and 1998) and the New England Patriots (in 2004) and
Thomas Jefferson Gentry, Attorney General of Arkansas (1953–1957).
Marianna
Notable People
Maurice Clemmons - Killer of four officers in the Lakewood police officer shooting
Charlie Flowers - member of College Football Hall of Fame
Carlos Hall - football player who played defensive end for the Kansas City Chiefs
Oliver Lake - alto saxophone player and composer who received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1993
Robert McFerrin Sr. (March 19, 1921 – November 24, 2006) opera singer who was the first African American male to sing at the Metropolitan Opera and father of the Grammy Award-winning conductor-vocalist Bobby McFerrin
Oscar Polk - Broadway actor who played a slave in Gone With the Wind
Rodney E. Slater - United States Secretary of Transportation from February 14, 1997 to January 20, 2001
Curtis Lavelle Vance - convicted murderer of KATV anchorwoman Anne Pressly
Jean Yarbrough (1901–1975) - film and television director and producer
1st Lt. Tyler Edward Parten - true American hero, killed in Afghanistan Sept. 10, 2009
On January 21, 2009, the director of the Arkansas Earthquake Center at the University of Arkansas announced the discovery of a major fault line near Marianna which could generate a 7.0 earthquake in the future. The fault is close to, but appears to be separate from, the nearby New Madrid Seismic Zone
Marshall
Notable People
Elton Britt - Western music yodeler.
Jim L. Smithson - Republican state legislator from 1974-1984. A pharmacist, he worked to obtain generic drugs as a substitute for prescription medications when feasible
Marvell was featured on ABC News's World News With Charles Gibson October 6, 2009 telecast as a center of infestation by newer pesticide-resistant strains of pigweed, threatening the region and raising the possibility of hand harvesting crops.
Notable People
Levon Helm, musician (The Hawks; The Band)
Maumelle
The 4,226-foot-long (1,288 m) Big Dam Bridge, the second-longest pedestrian bridge in the United States, is located three miles east of Maumelle along Highway 100 (Maumelle Boulevard). The 14-foot-wide (4.3 m) bridge was designed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers and rises 65 feet (20 m) above the Arkansas River and Murray Lock and Dam. It is the longest pedestrian bridge in North America originally designed and built for that purpose
McGehee
During World War II, the outskirts of McGehee was the site of an American concentration camp used to house Japanese and Japanese-American civilians who had previously lived on the U.S. West Coast
Melbourne
Notable People
Glen D. Johnson - Deceased Oklahoman member of the United States House of Representatives.
Mark Martin - Sprint Cup driver in NASCAR.
Mena
A number of allegations have been written about and several local, state, and federal investigations have taken place related to the notion of Mena as a drop point in large scale cocaine trafficking beginning in the latter part of the 1980s. The topic has received a large degree of its coverage due to the alleged knowledge, participation and/or coverup involvement of figures as powerful and infamous as future presidents Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush, as well future Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Saline County prosecutor Dan Harmon, who was convicted of numerous felonies including drug and racketeering charges in 1997. [1] These allegations have been disputed by several different investigations, including one by the Banking Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives
Notable people
Norris "Tuffy" Goff - Comedian and radio actor, who played Abner Peabody in the famed Lum and Abner radio and television programs (born in Cove, Arkansas, raised in Mena).
Chester Lauck - Second half of the Lum and Abner comedy pair. Lauck played Columbus "Lum" Edwards.
Jim Mabry- former Arkansas Razorbacks football All-American (raised in Memphis, Tennessee), has spent most of his adult life in Mena.
Olin E. Teague - Longtime Texas's 6th congressional district representative who was born in Oklahoma, but raised here.
T. Texas Tyler - Country singer (The Deck of Cards).
Monticello
Monticello High School Billies won the AAA (now AAAAA) state championship in 1994 and in 2009
Notable People
Rodney Shelton Foss (1919-1941) USN died at Pearl Harbor. Possibly first American killed in WWII
Eric Reed - Major League baseball player
Hershel Gober - former United States Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs
James Milton Carroll - Baptist pastor and historian
William F. Slemons - U.S. Representative from Arkansas (1875-1881)
Mountain Home
It was recently listed in the top 20 cities in the U.S. for sportsmen in the current edition of Outdoor Life magazine, was recently ranked #2 for Field and Stream's Best Fishing Towns in America
Notable People
Richard Antrim - American naval Rear Admiral; World War II veteran and Medal of Honor recipient
Wes Bentley - an American film actor
Tom Dearmore - Air Force Veteran, Editor & Publisher of the Baxter Bulletin, Associate Editor of the Arkansas Gazette, Editor of the San Francisco Examiner
Ed Dugan - Chef and author of Help! I Gotta Cook
Steven Kampen- an American author
Max Freeman - chairman of the National Association of Home Builders
Richard A. Knaak - an American author; wrote the Minotaur Wars and other contributions to Dragonlance
Derin McMains - a Former Minor League Baseball Player Now Coach for the San Francisco Giants organization
Roy Stone - famous blacksmith and wagon maker
Gene McVay- an American author; Military Commander; Veteran Leader; Public Speaker; Political Leader and Fighter Pilot
Doctor Ben Saltzman - Physcian, Charter member of Rotary, Air Force Flight Surgeon, Director of the Arkansas Department of Health
C. D. Wright - an American poet
Jennifer J. Wiseman - Ph.D., Astronomer, discoverer of Comet Wiseman-Skiff, MIT and Harvard University alumna
Jeremy "Sideshow" Von Myers - Author, Comedian
Mike Riggs - Guitarist for Rob Zombie.
Mountain View
Notable People
Mountain View was the birthplace of Dick Powell (1907-1963), a singer, actor, film producer, film director and studio boss (cofounder of Four Star Television).
Timbo, Arkansas, near Mountain View, is the birthplace of folk songwriter and musician Jimmy Driftwood.
Mountain View was the location of 1929 trial in the Connie Franklin murder case, in which the "victim" testified.
Nashville
William T. Dillard, founder of Dillard's, opened his first department store in Nashville
The largest find of dinosaur trackways in the world was discovered by SMU archaeology graduate student Brad Pittman in a quarry north of the town in 1983, the site of a prehistoric beach.[28][29][30] A field of 5-10,000 sauropod footprints were found in a mudstone layer covering a layer of gypsum.[31] Casts 65 feet (20 m) long and 7 feet (2.1 m) wide were made and put on permanent display, first at the courthouse and finally at the Nashville City Park, while many of the original tracks were disbursed to local museums such as the Mid-America Museum in Hot Springs, Arkansas and the Arkansas Museum of Discovery in Little Rock. The full extent of the trackway has never been excavated.
Notable People
Trevor Bardette - actor who appeared in episodes of Adventures of Superman.
Bobby Harwell - actor in works such as Picket Fences, Artificial Intelligence: A.I., and Stealing Harvard
Newport
Newport is known as the town in which Sam Walton owned a Ben Franklin store prior to starting Wal-Mart.
Notable People
Henry Lowry Grant, founder of Grant Geophysical
Helen Walton, wife of Sam Walton Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart
S. Robson Walton, John T. Walton, Jim Walton and Alice Walton, children of the Wal-Mart founder
Sonny Burgess, rockabilly artist and a member of Rockabilly Hall of Fame
Elizabeth Gregg Patterson, short fiction writer Leon Peels, singer-songwriter and member of the doo wop group The Blue Jays
Mary Steenburgen, an Academy Award-winning actress
Steve Stephens, voted Arkansas' top TV personality of the late 50s and early 60s, member of Arkansas Entertainers Hall of Fame
Mike Beebe, Governor of Arkansas
Army Major General Lynn Hartsell, former US Army Chief of the Budget
Kaneaster Hodges, Jr., appointed to succeed John McClellan as United States Senator upon McClellan's death in 1977
Dr. Ed Madden, activist, poet, and professor at the University of South Carolina
Army Major General James Simmons, a former deputy commander of the U.S.-led multinational force in Iraq
Jim Wood, Arkansas State Auditor since 2003 and former state representative
Sports Joseph Anders, former men's basketball head coach at Sacramento State
Charles Balentine, star basketball player for University of Arkansas
Trey Crawford, 3 time World Champion duck caller.
Bernis Duke, started and coached the Oral Roberts University men's tennis team for 33 years, inducted into Intercollegiate Tennis Association Hall of Fame in 2002
George Kell, member of Baseball Hall of Fame
Rob McDonald, IPRA 1977 World Champion bull rider
Theo Young, played one season with NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers and is a college football coach at Baylor University
Osceola
Notable People
Bill Alexander, U.S. Representative from First Congressional District, 1969–1993
David Barrett, New York Jets cornerback
Maurice Carthon, former NFL and USFL player and NFL assistant coach
Ran Carthon, running back with Indianapolis Colts
Dale Evans, wife of Roy Rogers, TV and movie Star
Calvin Frazier, blues guitarist, an associate of Robert Johnson
Buddy Jewell, the first Nashville Star winner
Cortez Kennedy, former NFL defensive lineman
Albert King, blues legend
Gaylon Nickerson, former NBA player
Bill Ramsey, played baseball for the Boston Braves
Billy Lee Riley, Sun Records artist, Rockabilly star
Son Seals, blues guitarist
Fice Musaveni, American Producer/Musician
Jimmy Thomas, blues recording artist, lead singer for Ike Turner
Roy Buchanan (1939-1988) was a guitar innovator whose skill inspired an aptly titled documentary, The Best Unknown Guitarist in the World. For more than thirty years, the guitarist melded blues, country, jazz, and rock music into a unique sound. Roy Buchanan was born September 23, 1939, in Ozark, the third of four children of Bill Buchanan and the former Minnie Bell Reed.
Bill Dees, original songwriter of Roy Orbison's "Oh! Pretty Woman"
Stephanie Childers Dill, born and reared in Ozark, an Arkansas firefighter, is the first person from Arkansas to have appeared on the CBS television series Survivor. [1] Survivor: Thailand
Marshall Chrisman (born 1933) is a former member of the Arkansas House of Representatives from Ozark who ran unsuccessfully in the Republican gubernatorial primary in 1980 and 1982.
Elizabeth Gracen was Miss Arkansas, Miss America 1982, an American actress, and on the cover of Playboy Magazine.[5]
Rebecca Johnson, a millionaire physician was found murdered. Her story was the subject of an A&E documentary (City Confidential) about Ozark.[2][3]
Jon M. Kuykendall received the 2008 Emmy Award for Cultural Documentary for his work as Audio Producer on the University of Arkansas' film "Silas Hunt: A Documentary". The film details the life of a civil rights pioneer who became the first African American enrolled into a major land grant University in the South.
Theodore H. Laban, a highly-decorated U.S. Army Air Forces soldier.
The Leding Family, co-stars of the Fox reality TV show The Simple Life. Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie starred in the film and stayed with the family for over a month. The family has lived in Franklin County near Ozark and Altus.[7]
Clifton Clay Long, Jr. (1919-2008), was a family physician in Ozark from 1946-1975, who helped to establish Turner Memorial Hospital. A native of Warrensburg, Missouri, he received his M.D. degree from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. During World War II, he served in the United States Navy Medical Corps. He was active in the American Medical Association and the American College of Surgeons, founded the Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care, and was a former vice-president of the Arkansas Medical Society. He spent his later years in Fort Smith, where he died of ALS.
John Outlaw, a native of Ozark, is a successful football coach at Lufkin, the seat of Angelina County. His record is 221-72-5.
Joe Purdy - Independent recording artist. Folk/Indie. Currently has ten albums with another coming.
Trivia
In a 1950 Warner Brothers cartoon entitled "Hillbilly Hare", Bugs Bunny vacations in Ozark, Arkansas and encounters two dimwitted hillbillies named Curt and Pumpkinhead Martin. In the first season of the reality TV series The Simple Life, Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie worked at the Sonic Drive-In located in Ozark.[9]
On April 17, 2007, late show host Craig Ferguson mentioned Ozark during his guest appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman. While telling Dave a story about travelling the country, Craig said he had stopped in "Ozark, which is a town in Arkansas," and discovered catfish. It was the first time Craig had eaten catfish. He described it as being "a tasty fish."
On June 14, 2007, late show host Craig Ferguson displayed a letter from Mayor Vernon McDaniels, making Ferguson an honorary citizen of Ozark. After becoming an honorary citizen, Ferguson set out to become an honorary citizen of as many U.S. cities as possible and later became an official U.S. citizen all thanks to Ozark starting the trend. Again, on June 25, 2009, Craig Ferguson mentioned Ozark, AR during his opening monologue. He told his audience that Ozark was the place to stop for good catfish and described it as a "lovely town."
Paris
Butterfly Festival - Next to last weekend in June, honors the multitudes of butterflies (both rare and nonrare) found in the bluff region of Mount Magazine, founded in 1997. This initiative for the festival was spearheaded by June Gilbreath (fundraising and awareness) after the discovery of a rare species of butterfly — the Diana Fritillary butterfly (discovered by Gary Noel Ross, Ph.D. Lepidopterist) — that was previously thought to be extinct, but is found in abundance on the mountain summit. The species has since been designated as the official state butterfly of Arkansas. The festival is celebrated at two sites, atop Mount Magazine and in downtown Paris. Attendance has steadily climbed since 2002 with the 2007 event topping 10,000 people.
Notable People
James Bridges - American screenwriter and director. Director of The Baby Maker (1970), The Paper Chase (1973), The China Syndrome (1979), Urban Cowboy (1980), Perfect (1985), and Bright Lights, Big City (1988)
Zilphia Horton - American community organizer, educator, and folklorist, born 1910. Helped turn We Shall Overcome and other hymns into songs of the Civil Rights movement.
James Lee Witt - Director of FEMA under Clinton
Pea Ridge
The rural town is best known as the location of the pivotal American Civil War engagement the Battle of Pea Ridge, or, as it is locally known, the Battle of Elkhorn Tavern, which took place approximately five miles east of the town. The site of the battle is preserved as the Pea Ridge National Military Park
Piggott was also one of the filming sites for Andy Griffith's acting debut, A Face In The Crowd. The film, which also starred Patricia Neal, featured several Piggott citizens as movie "extras." Scenes were also filmed in the Northeast Arkansas town of Paragould. Several locations in Piggott are featured in the movie, including the Piggott Mohawk football field, the old Clay County jail, and a swimming pool at the Hemingway-Pfeiffer residence. Piggott was chosen when Toby Bruce, a friend of Ernest Hemingway. recommended the site to writer Budd Schulberg. In September 2007, several Piggott citizens gathered at the Piggott community center to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the release of A Face In The Crowd. Actress Patricia Neal returned to Piggott and toured the town during this celebration
Piggott is perhaps best known for its association with American writer and Nobel laureate Ernest Hemingway, whose second wife Pauline Pfeiffer was the daughter of prominent local landowner and businessman Paul Pfeiffer. After meeting and marrying in Paris in the late 1920s, Ernest and Pauline made frequent and lengthy visits to her parent's home in Piggott, where Ernest wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls, portions of A Farewell to Arms, and other works. The Pfeiffer House and Carriage House are now preserved as the Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and Educational Center, run by Arkansas State University.
The town was mentioned in the 1990s television sitcom Evening Shade, set in Arkansas. The high school football team coached by "Wood Newton" (played by Burt Reynolds), which almost always lost, celebrated when it tied Piggott High in a game.
Notable People
Frances Greer, opera singer
Pindall
Pindall is the birthplace of country music icon Willie Nelson before moving to Texas with his family when he was 6 years old
Pocahontas
In How Few Remain, an alternative history novel by Harry Turtledove, the town is mentioned as the only Confederate town taken by the US during the Second Mexican War.
Notable People
Edwin Bethune- A former member of the United States House of Representatives, Bethune graduated from Pocahontas High School but left the community in 1972. He was elected to Congress from the 2nd Congressional District in Arkansas (Randolph County falls under the 1st District)
Wear Schoonover, Pocahontas native, was the first University of Arkansas athlete in any sport named to an all American team. Schoonover starred as a wide receiver for the University of Arkansas Razorbacks in 1927-1929. He was named All American in 1929. Schoonover was named to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1967. All Southwest Conference in basketball, he also excelled at college baseball and track and field and achieved the highest GPA (pre-law) of any Arkansas athlete through the 1980s. His name is reflected by the title of the local high school basketball court (Schoonover Fieldhouse) as well as the high school football field (Schoonover Stadium).
Dr. Larry P. Arnn, a Pocahontas native, president of Hillsdale College, Hillsdale, Mich. He was co-founder of Claremont Institute, Claremont, Calif. and served as its president from its founding in 1985 until his appointment as Hillsdale president in 2000. While studying at Oxford University, Arnn served as Director of Research for Sir Martin Gilbert, the official biographer of Winston Churchill.[5]
Billy Lee Riley, Pocahontas native, Son of Sun Records and Rock and Roll Pioneer.
Poyen
Notable People
Country music singer Justin Moore is a native of Poyen, Arkansas
Prairie Grove
Prairie Grove was the site of the Battle of Prairie Grove during the American Civil War. Confederate forces under General Thomas C. Hindman attempted to prevent the juncture of two Federal forces under Generals James G. Blunt and Francis J. Herron. The result of the battle was a tactical stalemate which assured permanent Union control of northwest Arkansas. The battlefield is now a State Military Park.
During Labor Day weekend in the fall, the park hosts the Clothesline Fair which is a typical southern style hometown celebration. Crafts vendors and artists from all over the nation descend on this southern town to display and sell their talents and wares.
Notable People
Sherold Boyle, adult film actress known under the stage name Lichelle Marie, is from Prairie Grove.
Ada Mills, a Republican political activist was born in Prairie Grove in 1912.
Prescott
Notable People
Floyd Robinson, born in Prescott, major league baseball player.
Spot Daniel (El Spotro) El Spotro's Site, born in Prescott in 1920, famous modern painter
Rector
Notable People
Thomas Dale Alford - U.S. Representative (1959-1961)
Maurice Copeland - actor
Denver "Bull" Randleman — sergeant in the famed Easy Company, 101st Airborne Division.
Mike Randleman [1] - Actor—over 180 appearances on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno"
Bill Carter [2] - Attorney for Rolling Stone, Secret Service JFK, Producer of The Gaithers
St. Joe
Notable People
Larry Brody - American television writer who moved here in 2002 to establish the Cloud Creek Institute for the Arts.
On August 9, 1965, 53 contract workers were killed in a fire in the Titan missile silo outside Searcy. It was one of the largest industrial accidents in US history
Searcy is the home of Harding University, a private college affiliated with the Churches of Christ and the state's largest private university.
Notable Alumni
Tamera Alexander: Bethany House and Thomas Nelson author of historical Christian fiction
Jimmy Allen: evangelist, author, and professor[9]
LaMar Baker: businessman, former Republican U.S. representative from Tennessee
Roxanne Beck: singer and actor formerly known as Ann Ulrey.
George S. Benson: former president of the college, conservative activist
Stephen Mark Brown: opera star
Torrance "Tank" Daniels: an American football lineback for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the NFL. "Tank" is the only Harding alumnus to play in a game in the National Football League or to win a Super Bowl Ring.
Sarah Hudson-Pierce: author of inspirational books, book publisher, journalist, television host
Ed Madden: poet, activist, and professor
Jerry Mitchell, Jr.: investigative reporter with the Jackson, Miss. Clarion-Ledger, Pulitzer Prize finalist for Beat Reporting in 2006, and 2005 winner of the John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism
David J. Porter - Republican nominee for the Railroad Commission of Texas, November 2, 2010
Elwin "Preacher" Roe: former Major League Baseball pitcher
Granville Sewell: mathematician
Rubel Shelly: author, preacher, professor, lecturer, and President of Rochester College
David Slater: Country music singer and Star Search champion
Kenneth Starr: lawyer, professor, former Office of the Independent Counsel, former dean of the Pepperdine University law school, and president of Baylor University. (Starr did not graduate from Harding; he received his degrees from George Washington University, Brown University, and Duke University)
Siloam Springs is home to John Brown University, a private, interdenominational, Christian liberal arts college.
Notable Alumni
John Osteen — Founder of Lakewood Church
Janet Huckabee — Wife of former Governor of Arkansas and 2008 GOP Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee. Janet Huckabee completed her undergraduate degree at John Brown University in 2003.
Carolyn Pollan — This 1959 JBU graduate is the longest serving Republican and the longest serving woman member of the Arkansas House of Representatives. She represented Fort Smith from 1975-1999. She is a member of the JBU trustees.
Jim Winn — Former MLB Pitcher
Star City
Star City, Arkansas was the stage for 1992 police thriller film entitled One False Move, starring actors Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton, and written by Thornton. However, only some filming was reportedly done there.
It is also home of the great Gibo Studios.
Stuttgart
The town proclaims itself the "Rice and Duck Capital of the World". It is headquarters to Riceland Foods, the world's biggest rice miller.
Stuttgart is also home to Mack's Prairie Wings, known around the world as the premier waterfowl sports outfitter, through their store and online presence.
During the third week in November (Thanksgiving Week), Stuttgart holds the International Duck Calling Contest that bring in people of all ages from around the world to show of their talent of using a duck caller.
In popular culture
The 1989 movie Rosalie Goes Shopping, directed by Percy Adlon and starring Marianne Sägebrecht, was set in Stuttgart.
Additionally, the city gained a bit of attention during the sixth cycle of America's Next Top Model in the spring of 2006 when Stuttgart resident Furonda Brasfield was featured among the contestants.
A tornado that struck Stuttgart was featured on the November 9th, 2008 episode of Storm Chasers on the Discovery Channel when the DOW-6 and TornadoVideos.net teams chase a storm into the town.
Trumann
Notable People
Elbert Shelley – all-star special teams player for the Atlanta Falcons of the NFL
Trumannites were famously featured on 20/20 in 1980 for having the highest rate of STD's in the country
Tuckerman
Notable People
Bobby Winkles - legendary college baseball coach at Arizona
Van Buren
Notable People
Bob Burns - Comedian and actor J
John T. Deweese - U.S. Representative from North Carolina
Matt Jones (American football) - National Football League player
Natalie White - Survivor Samoa winner
Viola
Former Texas State Senator and former president of West Texas A&M University Max Sherman was born in Viola in 1935.
Walnut Ridge
Notable People
General James T. Conway - 34th Commandant of the Marine Corps
Washboard Sam - blues musician
Milt Yarberry - gunfighter, first Town Marshal of Albuquerque, New Mexico
The Bradley County Pink Tomato Festival is held yearly in Warren, normally the second week of June. Begun in 1956, the festival is one of Arkansas' longest-running annual community festivals.
The Lumberjacks football team won the Division AAA State Championships in 2001 and 2002. The Lumberjacks baseball team were the Division AAA State Baseball Champions in 2005
Notable People
Garland E. Bayliss, historian
West Helena
Historically, West Helena and its sister city Helena, located on the Mississippi River, have been two of the focal points in the history of the development of the blues
Winslow
Trivia
Old West gunman John Joshua Webb died while living in Winslow (then Summit Home) in 1882, during a smallpox epidemic.
There have been two movies that have used the city of Winslow as a filming location; Frank and Jesse and Smoke in the Wind.
Western historical writer Douglas C. Jones was born in Winslow.
Wynne
Notable People
Bud Brooks, who won college football's Outland Trophy in 1954, garnering the award as a member of the heralded "25 Little Pigs", the moniker given to the 1954 Arkansas Razorbacks football team
DeAngelo Williams, a former Wynne Yellowjacket, running back for the Carolina Panthers.
Russell L. Davis: Inventor
Justin Carroll, who won the 1995 Scripps National Spelling Bee as a student at Wynne Junior High School.
Harlan Harmon "Bo" Holleman, farmer and seed merchant who was the Republican nominee for U.S. House of Representatives in 1976, and served as Chairman of the Republican Party of Arkansas from 1980 until his death in 1982.
J.L. "Bex" Shaver, Democratic Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas from 1943–46, and president of the Arkansas Bar Association
J.L. "Jim" Shaver, Jr., Democratic Speaker of the Arkansas House of Representatives from 1977–78, and president of the Arkansas Bar Association.
Hugh "Bones" Taylor, a former Wynne Yellowjacket, who played wide receiver with the Washington Redskins from 1947–54, and was honored as one of the 70 Greatest Redskins in 2002. Taylor was later the head coach of the Houston Oilers in 1965, and was an assistant with the New York Titans, Pittsburgh Steelers, and the San Diego Chargers.
Yellville
Turkey Trot
One of the longest traditions in Yellville is the annual Turkey Trot festival. Beginning in 1945 with the first turkey dropped from the roof of the Marion County Courthouse, the festival continues today. It is held every second weekend of October with the best-known attraction being live turkeys that are dropped from airplanes over the town square. October 2005 marked the 60th anniversary of this festival. The 1970s television show, WKRP in Cincinnati, parodied the turkey drop on one of their best-known episodes. Yellville and the Turkey Trot Festival were also included in the American supermarket tabloid The National Enquirer in 1989 with photographs of the festival and commentary on animal cruelty. Due to the bad press, the turkey drop ceased for a few years. It has since resumed. The Turkey Trot festival also includes a Miss Turkey Trot Pageant, a Miss Drumstickz Competition (best legs), dinners, musical entertainment, a 5 kilometer run, a parade (which has included former Arkansas governor and former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee), and a nationally recognized turkey calling contest sponsored by the National Wild Turkey Federation. Crafts and tools related to the hunting of wild turkeys are also sold in streetside booths along the town square. Entertainment at Turkey Trot has ranged in recent years from famous acts like John Conlee, singer of "Rose Colored Glasses," and Jeannie Kendall from the Grammy-award winning group The Kendalls, to more local entertainment by area groups such as The Muddles, South 14, Joe Sasser and Friends, and Carnes McCormack.
