AHPP Seeks to identify, evaluate, register, and preserve Arkansas’s cultural resources, reflected in the built environment.
The National Register of Historic Places is the country's official list of historically significant sites worthy of preservation.
Something Important Happened There.... Little Rock Central High School
Someone Important Lived There.... Bill Clinton’s Boyhood Home, Hot Springs, AR
Archeological Significance... Parkin Site, Parkin, AR
Architectural Significance... Rosalie House (Queen Anne Style) Eureka Springs, AR
Take the Last Train to Clarksville Arkansas’s Historic Depots and Railroad History
On July 4, 1828, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad began operating the first passenger train in the United States.
In 1850 and 1851 when Captain Joshua Barney was ordered to Arkansas by the Secretary of War and the Chef Engineer of the War Department and directed to make a survey of the most feasible route for a railroad line from St. Louis to the Big Bend in the Red River.
The first railroad line to be constructed in Arkansas was the Mississippi, Ouachita & Red River Railroad. It received its land charter on April 12, It and the Memphis & Little Rock Railroad had the only railroad track laid before the Civil War.
Charter: written grant by the government specifying certain rights of a person or company It gave the railroad company the permission to use land to build a railroad line.
Seek Investors Select Potential Location of Railroad Line Survey Area for a Suitable Route Hire Labor Prepare the Roadbed Construct Bridges and Tunnels Ballast the Track : use gravel or broken stone between or under the track to create stability. Lay the Track Connect the Track with Already Existing Railroad Lines
The Little Rock & Fort Smith Railroad tunnel, 1930 Railroad construction was a hard and dangerous job.
Civil War,
By 1871, 86 railroad companies had been chartered in Arkansas, but all were controlled by fewer than 20 powerful politicians and their allies. This was the era of the Robber Barons.
Railroad Companies in Arkansas
Iron Mountain (St. Louis & Iron Mountain)
Iron Mountain Railroad Line
Saline County Rail Lines Bryant Tracks, 1940s Saline County’s first rail line was the St. Louis & Iron Mountain Railroad that went through Bryant and Traskwood in the early to mid 1870s.
Glenwood Iron Mountain Depot, Pike County, 1910
Frisco Railroad Depot, Fayetteville, 1897 Kansas City Southern Depot, Decatur, 1920 Missouri & North Arkansas Line
The Missouri & North Arkansas line was the most expensive to build because of the mountainous terrain and poor soil that kept delaying the laying of the track.
Rock Island Rock Island Depot, Lonoke, 1912 Started in the 1840s in Rock Island, Illinois. It gained access to Arkansas in 1902.
Cotton Belt A short line in Arkansas that got its name from cotton transportation. Became part of the larger Southern Pacific in One of its major stops was in Pine Bluff. Started in 1877
St. Louis-San Francisco (The Frisco) Frisco rail employees, Fort Smith Feeder lines of the Frisco rain through northwestern and northeastern Arkansas starting in the 1880s. It provided jobs in the Ozarks.
Missouri-Pacific Union Station, Little Rock,
Union Pacific
Consequences of the Rise of the Railroads in Arkansas
Immigrants arriving by train near Stuttgart.
Rock Island Depot, Weldon, circa 1913
Camden once was a big river town. It had to adapt to the coming of the railroad.
Towns like Lewisburg in Conway County eventually disappeared completely.
Newer towns were also created by the railroad, including places like Beebe and Traskwood.
Leslie, Arkansas Missouri & North Arkansas Depot, 1925
A troop train passing through Stamps, 1906
Railway Jobs
Locomotive Engineer Fireman Working on the Railroad
Brakeman Switchman
Dispatcher Station Master
Train Conductor
Women in Railroading
Mines
Timber
Sawmills
The railroad was active in promoting new crops to Arkansas farms.
Railroads and the Great Depression
Great Stock Market Crash Tuesday, October 29, 1929
Many Americans lost their jobs. Most of the jobless were men. It became very hard for families to support themselves.
After the Rails
Climber Automobile Built at the Climber Motor Co., Little Rock
Places like Traskwood went from thriving railroad focused towns to smaller, less populated areas when the railroad disappeared from the area.
Arkansas & Missouri Railroad
Missouri-Pacific Depot Helena, 1915
Missouri-Pacific Depot Hot Springs, 1917
Missouri-Pacific Depot, Ozark, 1910
Choctaw Route Station, 1899 Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad
Texarkana Union Station, 1928 Why should we preserve train depots?