Nashville, Arkansas
Encyclopedia
Nashville is a city in Howard County
, Arkansas
, United States
. The population was 4,878 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat
of Howard County
.
Nashville is situated at the base of the Ouachita foothills
and was once a major center of the peach
trade in southwest Arkansas. Today the land is mostly given over to cattle and chicken farm
ing. The world's largest dinosaur
trackway was discovered near the town in 1983.
According to the United States Census Bureau
, the city has a total area of 4.6 square miles (11.9 km²), of which, 4.6 square miles (11.9 km²) of it is land and 0.04 square mile (0.1035995244 km²) of it (0.87%) is water.
of 2000, there were 4,878 people, 1,857 households, and 1,179 families residing in the city. The population density
was 1,067.7 people per square mile (412.1/km²). There were 2,136 housing units at an average density of 467.5 per square mile (180.5/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 59.96% White
, 30.21% Black
or African American
, 5.25% Native American
, 1.23% Asian
, 0.02% Pacific Islander
, 4.39% from other races
, and 0.94% from two or more races. 6.99% of the population were Hispanic
or Latino
of any race.
There were 1,857 households out of which 33.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.6% were married couples
living together, 18.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.5% were non-families. 32.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.45 and the average family size was 3.12.
In the city the population was spread out with 27.6% under the age of 18, 9.6% from 18 to 24, 27.0% from 25 to 44, 19.2% from 45 to 64, and 16.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 89.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.4 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $23,480, and the median income for a family was $28,611. Males had a median income of $24,494 versus $17,480 for females. The per capita income
for the city was $13,258. About 18.7% of families and 21.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 29.4% of those under age 18 and 16.3% of those age 65 or over.
of the University of Arkansas
. The school operates out of a facility constructed in 2006 on 35 acres (141,640.1 m²) of land west of town. The college has programs in Business Administration, Nursing
, Truck Driving
, Welding
, Residential Construction, Cosmetology
, and general education coursework. The college also provides non-credit coursework in Adult education
such as GED classes, ESL training, test preparation
, and computer literacy
.
secondary school
for students in grades 10 through 12, and is accredited by both the Arkansas State Board of Education and the North Central Association. The high school is administered by the Nashville Public School District. In the 2006-07 school year, Nashville High School had 43 teachers and a student enrollment of 390, with a student/teacher ratio of 9:1.
In 2010, the Nashville Junior High School Quiz Bowl team won the National Championship in Quiz Bowl. The event was held in New Orleans, Louisiana
In addition to academic coursework, Nashville High School has active chapters in FCCLA
, FFA
, and the National Honor Society
. Nashville High School has participated in the EAST Initiative
since 2001. Nashville High School also has an active alumni association.
The Nashville Scrappers compete in interscholastic sports under the sanction of the Arkansas Activities Association
in sports such as: football
, basketball
, baseball
, cheerleading
, cross country running
, golf
, softball
, track & field, tennis
, and trap shooting
. Nashville High School sports teams compete at the class 4A level. Nashville High School celebrated its 100th year in high school football
in 2009.
and Rotary International
. In the 1960s and again in the 1980s-90s, Nashville supported several Boy Scouts of America
troops as well.
2009 marked the 160th anniversary of the Pleasant Valley Masonic Lodge
in Nashville. There has been an uninterrupted Masonic presence in Nashville since this time. The original lodge was founded with 165 members, and was named before the township changed its name to Nashville.
The Elberta Arts & Humanities Council is located in Nashville, hosted by the Elberta Arts Center
. The Center is a permanent collection of art from local artists and hosts ongoing exhibits of local work and items of regional interest, such as the original 1950s electronic marquee from the Art Deco
, 1,500-seat Elberta Theater (1943–1996).
Nashville is home to a variety of religious groups, representing congregations among the Assemblies of God
, Baptists, Methodists, the Jehovah's Witnesses
, the Roman Catholic Church
, the Churches of Christ, Christian Churches, the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church
, as well as non-denominational
, charismatic
, and Pentecostal
congregations.
, settled in the area with his family in 1849. The area was then known by locals as Mine Creek, but was also called Hell's Valley and Pleasant Valley.
Settlement in the area progressed slowly but steadily, though industry declined during the American Civil War
. Following the war, the village's prospects improved, industry and settlement picked up, and the town was officially incorporated as Nashville on 18 October 1883, with D.A. Hutchinson serving as the first mayor. Womack is attributed with first proposing the name and called the town after Nashville, Tennessee. The following year, Nashville and Hope
were connected via railroad, spurring further growth, and the county seat was relocated from Center Point to Nashville. With the establishment of county government in the town, and due to the increased trade and access brought by the railroad, Nashville continued to grow. The town had a population of 928 in 1900, and boasted "a cotton-compress and gin
" and a "bottling-works"; by 1920 the population had risen to 2,144.
In the years before the Great Depression, Nashville was a prosperous, if small, town. According to Herndon (1922:903), Nashville was "a banking town, with electric lights, waterworks, an ice and cold storage plant, a canning factory, foundries, machine shops, a flour mill, two newspapers, a brick factory, fruit box and crate factory, mercantile concerns... well-kept streets, [and] modern public schools."
The peach industry in the area continued to decline as industrial farming in the Sun Belt
and shifting production patterns made southwest Arkansas less attractive to larger produce companies. However, many small peach orchards still remain and are farmed by local families.
in 1879. In 1881 the railroad was renamed the Arkansas and Louisiana Railway Co., and on 1 October 1884 a nearly 26 miles (41.8 km) extension to Nashville was opened. By the turn of the century the railroad was operated as an extension of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway
, which stretched from St. Louis, Missouri
to Texarkana, Arkansas
. The earliest trains coming in and out of Nashville operated under the Missouri Pacific Railroad
mark
.
At one time the city boasted three railroads:
, founder of Dillard's
, opened his first department store in Nashville. He started his successful franchise in 1938 when, with $8,000 borrowed from his father, he opened a small store in his wife's hometown of Nashville. Aside from a short period during World War II, the Dillard Company continued operating and expanding its Nashville location. In 1948, Dillard, looking for more growth prospects, sold the Nashville store and used the money, along with some outside financing, to buy controlling interest in a store in nearby Texarkana
.
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. A field of 5-10,000 sauropod footprints were found in a mudstone
layer covering a layer of gypsum
. Casts 65 feet (19.8 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.
Howard County, Arkansas
Howard County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of 2010, the population was 13,789. The county seat is Nashville. Howard County is Arkansas's 74th county, formed on April 17, 1873, and named for James Howard, a state senator...
, Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The population was 4,878 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....
of Howard County
Howard County, Arkansas
Howard County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of 2010, the population was 13,789. The county seat is Nashville. Howard County is Arkansas's 74th county, formed on April 17, 1873, and named for James Howard, a state senator...
.
Nashville is situated at the base of the Ouachita foothills
Ouachita Mountains
The Ouachita Mountains are a mountain range in west central Arkansas and southeastern Oklahoma. The range's subterranean roots may extend as far as central Texas, or beyond it to the current location of the Marathon Uplift. Along with the Ozark Mountains, the Ouachita Mountains form the U.S...
and was once a major center of the peach
Peach
The peach tree is a deciduous tree growing to tall and 6 in. in diameter, belonging to the subfamily Prunoideae of the family Rosaceae. It bears an edible juicy fruit called a peach...
trade in southwest Arkansas. Today the land is mostly given over to cattle and chicken farm
Farm
A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...
ing. The world's largest dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
trackway was discovered near the town in 1983.
Geography
Nashville is located at 33°56′31"N 93°50′53"W (33.942079, -93.847958).According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the city has a total area of 4.6 square miles (11.9 km²), of which, 4.6 square miles (11.9 km²) of it is land and 0.04 square mile (0.1035995244 km²) of it (0.87%) is water.
Demographics
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 4,878 people, 1,857 households, and 1,179 families residing in the city. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 1,067.7 people per square mile (412.1/km²). There were 2,136 housing units at an average density of 467.5 per square mile (180.5/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 59.96% White
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, 30.21% Black
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
or African American
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, 5.25% Native American
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, 1.23% Asian
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, 0.02% Pacific Islander
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, 4.39% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 0.94% from two or more races. 6.99% of the population were Hispanic
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
or Latino
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
of any race.
There were 1,857 households out of which 33.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.6% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 18.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.5% were non-families. 32.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.45 and the average family size was 3.12.
In the city the population was spread out with 27.6% under the age of 18, 9.6% from 18 to 24, 27.0% from 25 to 44, 19.2% from 45 to 64, and 16.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 89.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.4 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $23,480, and the median income for a family was $28,611. Males had a median income of $24,494 versus $17,480 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the city was $13,258. About 18.7% of families and 21.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 29.4% of those under age 18 and 16.3% of those age 65 or over.
Colleges and universities
Nashville hosts a campus of the Cossatot Community CollegeCossatot Community College
Cossatot Community College of the University of Arkansas is a public community college serving southwest Arkansas. Its main campus is located in the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains in De Queen, Arkansas.- History :...
of the University of Arkansas
University of Arkansas
The University of Arkansas is a public, co-educational, land-grant, space-grant, research university. It is classified by the Carnegie Foundation as a research university with very high research activity. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and is located in...
. The school operates out of a facility constructed in 2006 on 35 acres (141,640.1 m²) of land west of town. The college has programs in Business Administration, Nursing
Nursing
Nursing is a healthcare profession focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life from conception to death....
, Truck Driving
Truck driver
A truck driver , is a person who earns a living as the driver of a truck, usually a semi truck, box truck, or dump truck.Truck drivers provide an essential service to...
, Welding
Welding
Welding is a fabrication or sculptural process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by causing coalescence. This is often done by melting the workpieces and adding a filler material to form a pool of molten material that cools to become a strong joint, with pressure sometimes...
, Residential Construction, Cosmetology
Cosmetology
Cosmetology is the study and application of beauty treatment. Branches of specialty including hairstyling, skin care, cosmetics, manicures/pedicures, and electrology....
, and general education coursework. The college also provides non-credit coursework in Adult education
Adult education
Adult education is the practice of teaching and educating adults. Adult education takes place in the workplace, through 'extension' school or 'school of continuing education' . Other learning places include folk high schools, community colleges, and lifelong learning centers...
such as GED classes, ESL training, test preparation
Test preparation
Test preparation or exam preparation primarily refers to educational courses, tutoring services, and educational materials/learning tools designed to increase students' performance on standardized tests, particularly entrance examinations used for admissions to institutions of higher education,...
, and computer literacy
Computer literacy
Computer literacy is defined as the knowledge and ability to use computers and related technology efficiently, with a range of skills covering levels from elementary use to programming and advanced problem solving. Computer literacy can also refer to the comfort level someone has with using...
.
High Schools
Nashville High School is a publicPublic education
State schools, also known in the United States and Canada as public schools,In much of the Commonwealth, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, the terms 'public education', 'public school' and 'independent school' are used for private schools, that is, schools...
secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
for students in grades 10 through 12, and is accredited by both the Arkansas State Board of Education and the North Central Association. The high school is administered by the Nashville Public School District. In the 2006-07 school year, Nashville High School had 43 teachers and a student enrollment of 390, with a student/teacher ratio of 9:1.
In 2010, the Nashville Junior High School Quiz Bowl team won the National Championship in Quiz Bowl. The event was held in New Orleans, Louisiana
In addition to academic coursework, Nashville High School has active chapters in FCCLA
Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America
Family, Career and Community Leaders of America , formerly known as Future Homemakers of America , is a nonprofit U.S. career and technical student organization for young men and women in family and consumer science education in public and private schools through grade 12 across the United States...
, FFA
National FFA Organization
The National FFA Organization is an American youth organization known as a Career and Technical Student Organization, based on middle and high school classes that promote and support agricultural education...
, and the National Honor Society
National Honor Society
The National Honor Society is a recognition program for high school students in grades 10-12 in the United States and in several other countries...
. Nashville High School has participated in the EAST Initiative
EAST Initiative
The EAST Initiative is an educational non-profit that oversees and trains for a school program, EAST, that operates primarily in the United States. It is unique for offering students and teachers professional technology and software for use in a loosely-structured, self-driven environment...
since 2001. Nashville High School also has an active alumni association.
The Nashville Scrappers compete in interscholastic sports under the sanction of the Arkansas Activities Association
Arkansas Activities Association
The Arkansas Activities Association is the primary sanctioning body for high school sports in state of Arkansas. AAA is a member association of the National Federation of State High School Associations...
in sports such as: football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
, basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
, cheerleading
Cheerleading
Cheerleading is a physical activity, sometimes a competitive sport, based on organized routines, usually ranging from one to three minutes, which contain the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate...
, cross country running
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
, golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
, softball
Softball
Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
, track & field, tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
, and trap shooting
Trap shooting
Trap shooting is one of the three major forms of competitive clay pigeon shooting . The others are skeet shooting and sporting clays. There are many versions including Olympic trap, Double trap , Down-The-Line, and Nordic trap. American trap is most popular in the United States and Canada...
. Nashville High School sports teams compete at the class 4A level. Nashville High School celebrated its 100th year in high school football
High school football
High school football, in North America, refers to the game of football as it is played in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both of these nations....
in 2009.
Civic and Religious Organizations
Nashville has active chapters of national and international fraternal service organizations, including Lions Clubs InternationalLions Clubs International
Lions Clubs International is a secular service organization with over 44,500 clubs and more than 1,368,683 members in 191 countries around the world founded by Melvin Jones Headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois, United States, the organization aims to meet the needs of communities on a local and...
and Rotary International
Rotary International
Rotary International is an organization of service clubs known as Rotary Clubs located all over the world. The stated purpose of the organization is to bring together business and professional leaders to provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help...
. In the 1960s and again in the 1980s-90s, Nashville supported several Boy Scouts of America
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 4.5 million youth members in its age-related divisions...
troops as well.
2009 marked the 160th anniversary of the Pleasant Valley Masonic Lodge
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
in Nashville. There has been an uninterrupted Masonic presence in Nashville since this time. The original lodge was founded with 165 members, and was named before the township changed its name to Nashville.
The Elberta Arts & Humanities Council is located in Nashville, hosted by the Elberta Arts Center
Elberta Arts Center
One of the smallest communities in the state of Arkansas to have an arts center, Nashville, Arkansas is home to the Elberta Arts Center located on downtown Main Street. The center is the home to the Elberta Arts Council and Humanities, a non-profit arts organization founded by Marie A. Martin in...
. The Center is a permanent collection of art from local artists and hosts ongoing exhibits of local work and items of regional interest, such as the original 1950s electronic marquee from the Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
, 1,500-seat Elberta Theater (1943–1996).
Nashville is home to a variety of religious groups, representing congregations among the Assemblies of God
Assemblies of God
The Assemblies of God , officially the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, is a group of over 140 autonomous but loosely-associated national groupings of churches which together form the world's largest Pentecostal denomination...
, Baptists, Methodists, the Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The religion reports worldwide membership of over 7 million adherents involved in evangelism, convention attendance of over 12 million, and annual...
, the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
, the Churches of Christ, Christian Churches, the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church
Christian Methodist Episcopal Church
The Christian Methodist Episcopal Church is a historically black denomination within the broader context of Methodism. The group was organized in 1870 when several black ministers, with the full support of their white counterparts in the former Methodist Episcopal Church, South, met to form an...
, as well as non-denominational
Non-denominational Christianity
In Christianity, nondenominational institutions or churches are those not formally aligned with an established denomination, or that remain otherwise officially autonomous. This, however, does not preclude an identifiable standard among such congregations...
, charismatic
Charismatic Christianity
Charismatic Christianity is a Christian doctrine that maintains that modern-day believers experience miracles, prophecy, speaking in tongues, and other spiritual gifts as described in of the Bible...
, and Pentecostal
Pentecostalism
Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
congregations.
Settlement and Growth
Mine Creek Baptist Church was built along the banks of Mine Creek by the Rev. Issac Cooper Perkins (1790–1852) in the area where Nashville now stands around 1835. Settlers later established a post stop along the settlement roads in 1840, and a post office incorporated in 1848. Michael Womack (1794–1861), a Tennessee native reputed to have killed the British General Edward Packenham during the War of 1812War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
, settled in the area with his family in 1849. The area was then known by locals as Mine Creek, but was also called Hell's Valley and Pleasant Valley.
Settlement in the area progressed slowly but steadily, though industry declined during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. Following the war, the village's prospects improved, industry and settlement picked up, and the town was officially incorporated as Nashville on 18 October 1883, with D.A. Hutchinson serving as the first mayor. Womack is attributed with first proposing the name and called the town after Nashville, Tennessee. The following year, Nashville and Hope
Hope, Arkansas
Hope is a small city in Hempstead County, Arkansas, United States. According to 2008 United States Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city was 10,378...
were connected via railroad, spurring further growth, and the county seat was relocated from Center Point to Nashville. With the establishment of county government in the town, and due to the increased trade and access brought by the railroad, Nashville continued to grow. The town had a population of 928 in 1900, and boasted "a cotton-compress and gin
Cotton gin
A cotton gin is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, a job formerly performed painstakingly by hand...
" and a "bottling-works"; by 1920 the population had risen to 2,144.
In the years before the Great Depression, Nashville was a prosperous, if small, town. According to Herndon (1922:903), Nashville was "a banking town, with electric lights, waterworks, an ice and cold storage plant, a canning factory, foundries, machine shops, a flour mill, two newspapers, a brick factory, fruit box and crate factory, mercantile concerns... well-kept streets, [and] modern public schools."
Peach Farming
Peach farming sustained Nashville during the Depression. The peach industry came to the Nashville area in the late nineteenth century. Peak years of production lasted from the 1920s until the 1950s. Nashville's peak peach production was 1950, with over 400,000 bushels collected from 425 orchards. "Up to 175 boxcars, each carrying 396 bushel baskets, were shipped from Nashville each day during peak production years." Late freezes and early thaws in 1952 and 1953 led to the devastation of the peach harvests. Two-thirds of the crops were destroyed, and production sank to 150,000 bushels. "The Arkansas growers lost the market, and the impact was devastating. For Howard County growers, the only option was to pull up the trees and convert the land for other purposes, often pasture for cattle, or to raise chickens," which remain the dominant agricultural products in the Nashville area to this day.The peach industry in the area continued to decline as industrial farming in the Sun Belt
Sun Belt
The Sun Belt or Spanish Belt is a region of the United States generally considered to stretch across the South and Southwest . Another rough boundary of the region is the area south of the 36th parallel, north latitude. It is the largest region which the U.S government does not recognize officially...
and shifting production patterns made southwest Arkansas less attractive to larger produce companies. However, many small peach orchards still remain and are farmed by local families.
Railroads
The first railroad to connect Nashville with the surrounding area was originally known as the Washington & Hope Railroad Co., chartered in 1876. The first stage of the railroad was a ten-mile (16 km) stretch connecting Hope and Washington, ArkansasWashington, Arkansas
Washington is a city in Hempstead County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 148 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Hope Micropolitan Statistical Area.The city is also home to Old Washington Historic State Park....
in 1879. In 1881 the railroad was renamed the Arkansas and Louisiana Railway Co., and on 1 October 1884 a nearly 26 miles (41.8 km) extension to Nashville was opened. By the turn of the century the railroad was operated as an extension of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway
St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway
The St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway was a historic railroad that operated in Missouri, and Arkansas during the late 19th and early 20th centuries....
, which stretched from St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
to Texarkana, Arkansas
Texarkana, Arkansas
As of the census of 2000, there were 26,448 people, 10,384 households, and 7,040 families residing in the city. The population density was 830.5 people per square mile . There were 11,721 housing units at an average density of 368.1 per square mile...
. The earliest trains coming in and out of Nashville operated under the Missouri Pacific Railroad
Missouri Pacific Railroad
The Missouri Pacific Railroad , also known as the MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers, including the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway , Texas and Pacific...
mark
Reporting mark
A reporting mark is a two-, three-, or four-letter alphabetic code used to identify owners or lessees of rolling stock and other equipment used on the North American railroad network. The marks are stenciled on each piece of equipment, along with a one-to-six-digit number, which together uniquely...
.
At one time the city boasted three railroads:
- The earliest was the Iron Mountain RailwaySt. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern RailwayThe St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway was a historic railroad that operated in Missouri, and Arkansas during the late 19th and early 20th centuries....
branch from Nashville to Hope. - The second, granted a charter on 22 June 1906, was the Memphis Paris and Gulf (MP&G), later the Memphis Dallas and Gulf. The track ran twenty-five miles from Nashville to Ashdown, ArkansasAshdown, ArkansasAshdown is a city in Little River County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 4,781 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Little River County.-Geography:Ashdown is located at ....
, and then on to Hot Springs, ArkansasHot Springs, ArkansasHot Springs is the 10th most populous city in the U.S. state of Arkansas, the county seat of Garland County, and the principal city of the Hot Springs Metropolitan Statistical Area encompassing all of Garland County...
. The MP&G was broken up in 1922 forming the Graysonia Nashville and Ashdown (GN&A) running 32 miles (51.5 km) from Nashville to Ashdown. The GN&A was merged into the Kansas City Southern Railroad in 1993. - The third railroad in Nashville was the Murfreesboro Nashville Southwestern (MNSW), which ran from Nashville to Murfreesboro, ArkansasMurfreesboro, ArkansasMurfreesboro is a city in Pike County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 1,764 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Pike County....
, in 1909. The MNSW later became the Murfreesboro-Nashville railroad which folded in 1951.
Dillard's Department Store
William T. DillardWilliam T. Dillard
William Thomas Dillard, was the founder of the Dillard's Department Store chain.William T. Dillard was born on 2 September 1914 in Mineral Springs, Howard County, Arkansas. His parents Thomas and Hattie ran a country store. Dillard found employment with Sears & Roebuck Company where he gained...
, founder of Dillard's
Dillard's
Dillard's, Inc. is a department store chain in the United States, with 330 stores in 29 states. Headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas, Dillard's locations are concentrated in Texas and Florida; with a major presence in other states including Arizona, Iowa, Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Missouri,...
, opened his first department store in Nashville. He started his successful franchise in 1938 when, with $8,000 borrowed from his father, he opened a small store in his wife's hometown of Nashville. Aside from a short period during World War II, the Dillard Company continued operating and expanding its Nashville location. In 1948, Dillard, looking for more growth prospects, sold the Nashville store and used the money, along with some outside financing, to buy controlling interest in a store in nearby Texarkana
Texarkana metropolitan area
The Texarkana, TX-Texarkana, AR Metropolitan Statistical Area , as defined by the United States Office of Management and Budget, is a two-county region anchored by the twin cities of Texarkana, Texas and Texarkana, Arkansas, and encompassing the surrounding communities in Bowie County, Texas and...
.
E-Z Mart
Jim Yates, founder of one of the largest privately owned convenience store chains, built his first E-Z Mart store in Nashville, Arkansas.Dinosaur Discoveries
The largest find of dinosaurDinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
trackways in the world was discovered by SMU
Southern Methodist University
Southern Methodist University is a private university in Dallas, Texas, United States. Founded in 1911 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, SMU operates campuses in Dallas, Plano, and Taos, New Mexico. SMU is owned by the South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church...
archaeology
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
graduate student Brad Pittman in a quarry north of the town in 1983, the site of a prehistoric beach. A field of 5-10,000 sauropod footprints were found in a mudstone
Mudstone
Mudstone is a fine grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Grain size is up to 0.0625 mm with individual grains too small to be distinguished without a microscope. With increased pressure over time the platey clay minerals may become aligned, with the...
layer covering a layer of gypsum
Gypsum
Gypsum is a very soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula CaSO4·2H2O. It is found in alabaster, a decorative stone used in Ancient Egypt. It is the second softest mineral on the Mohs Hardness Scale...
. Casts 65 feet (19.8 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
Hot Springs, Arkansas
Hot Springs is the 10th most populous city in the U.S. state of Arkansas, the county seat of Garland County, and the principal city of the Hot Springs Metropolitan Statistical Area encompassing all of Garland County...
and the Arkansas Museum of Discovery
Arkansas Museum of Discovery
The Museum of Discovery: Arkansas' Museum of Science & History, is located in downtown Little Rock, Arkansas. The museum is housed in a historic building in the River Market District on the Arkansas River...
in Little Rock
Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...
. The full extent of the trackway has never been excavated.
Historical Buildings
The National Register of Historical Places lists several entries of significant historical value from Nashville. Among them:- The First Christian Church building, built in the Late Gothic Revival style in the early 20th century, is still an active church.
- The First Presbyterian Church building, built in the Eastlake style in the early 1900s, is currently the Howard County Museum.
- Garrett Whiteside Hall is all that remains of the Nashville High School complex built in the 1930s. It is used for storage and special activities by the local school district.
- Elbert W. Holt House, and Flavius Holt House, Colonial Revival structures, are still used as private residences.
- Howard County Courthouse is one of the few public buildings in Arkansas built in the Moderne or Art DecoArt DecoArt deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
style.
Notable natives
- Trevor BardetteTrevor BardetteTrevor Bardette was an American film actor.He made over 172 movies and seventy-two TV appearances in his career. Bardette appeared in several memorable episodes in Adventures of Superman. In the 1951 show, The Human Bomb, he played the sinister title character...
- actor who appeared in episodes of Adventures of SupermanAdventures of Superman (TV series)Adventures of Superman is an American television series based on comic book characters and concepts created in 1938 by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The show is the first television series to feature Superman and began filming in 1951 in California...
. - Bobby HarwellBobby HarwellBobby Harwell Before serving four years in the Air Force which included a year in a combat hospital group in Korea, Harwell served in the merchant marines. His service there included an adventurous trip to India on a Swedish freighter that caught fire. After his military service he attended and...
- actor in works such as Picket FencesPicket FencesPicket Fences is a 60-minute American television drama about the residents of the fictional town of Rome, Wisconsin, created and produced by David E. Kelley. The show initially ran from September 18, 1992, to June 26, 1996, on the CBS television network in the United States...
, Artificial Intelligence: A.I., and Stealing HarvardStealing HarvardStealing Harvard is a 2002 crime comedy film directed by Bruce McCulloch, about a man who resorts to crime to pay for his niece's Harvard tuition....