Starting at Mock Park
Mock Park – The Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto and his men were the first white Europeans in present day Arkansas in 1541, and may havecome through this area. The plaque tells of Spanish coins being found in the spring but I’ve never been able to find any more information about them. Prior to the arrival of white settlers in the early 1800s, this region was home to the Osage and Cherokee tribes. Several of the very first white men to stay in the area for a time were Thomas Wagnon and brothers James and Isaac Marrs. They stayed in the west Washington County area during 1817 and 1818 in order to map the terrain and to look for potential farmland. They eventually went back home to Tennessee, but Isaac Marrs and Thomas Wagnon returned in 1827 with their families and slaves and settled in the Rhea Community north of Lincoln. Thomas Wagnon also claimed additional land that included this spring.
In 1829, Andrew Buchanan, who had recently become an ordained minister with the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, left Kentucky with his wife Sinai and stepson James Preston Neal, to visit his brothers in Cane Hill. During his visit, he heard about a fertile valley with a bountiful spring several miles to the northeast, which was Thomas Wagnon’s claim right here. He traveled to the spring, liked what he saw, and made an agreement with Wagnon to trade the land for two good sermons. Reverend Buchanan built a house near the spring, and in 1831, organized the Prairie Congregation of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The third church building that was built in 1887/1888 is down the street by the cemetery and is now a wedding chapel.
In August 1838, Buchanan bought a little over 160 acres of land from the federal government that included most of Main Street north to Bush Street, and south to around the Aquatic Park.
Buchanan’s stepson, James Preston Neal, eventually left Prairie Grove and became a lawyer in Fayetteville, was a soldier in the Mexican American War from 1847-1848, and came back to Fayetteville and was elected mayor from 1851-1854. Neal returned to Prairie Grove in 1868 and settled here on part of the old Buchanan property. In 1871, he decided to formally establish Prairie Grove as an actual town and was soon appointed postmaster. A blacksmith and wagon shop opened in 1872, three years later a storehouse was built, and in 1876 a steam-powered flour mill began operation. Lots on the growing Main Street went on sale in March of 1877, and in September of that year, Neal requested a survey and plat for the downtown area. In 1888, physicians E.G. McCormick and W.W. Mahan had grown tired of the rowdy behavior and drunkenness occurring in town and wrote a letter of incorporation and petition on a piece of notebook paper and sent it to the county judge, and the state approved its incorporation on July 25th, 1888.
The name “Prairie Grove” was chosen because the town was set on a prairie surrounded by rolling hills and a grove of trees that grew around the spring. Prairie Grove was previously known by 2 other names—the first post office from 1840-1846 was called Sweet Home and was run by postmaster James Pittman, and in 1857 a second post office was established called Ada, after one of Archibald Borden’s daughters.
In 1890, the U.S. Census recorded 412 residents in Prairie Grove, and its Main Street had 4 general stores, a furniture store, harness & saddle shop, 2 drug stores, a jewelry store, a marble works, a hardware store, a lumber company, a flour mill called the Prairie Grove Mill, the Prairie Grove Canning & Evaporating Company, and a music store.
In 1901, the Ozark & Cherokee Central Railroad came through Prairie Grove, providing a way to ship fruits, vegetables, grain, timber, and livestock out of the Illinois River Valley. The Ozark & Cherokee Central hooked onto the St. Louis-San Francisco or Frisco Railway at Fayetteville and extended southwesterly through Farmington, Prairie Grove, Lincoln, Summers and into Oklahoma, where it passed through Westville, Talequah, Muskogee, and ended in Okmulgee. The Prairie Grove Depot was constructed about 1901 on the north side of the railroad tracks at the corner of South Neal and Commercial streets. The wood-frame depot contained a waiting room, baggage room, Western Union Telegraph office, and Wells Fargo & Company Express office. In addition to shipping freight, the railroad provided passenger service. In November 1917, former President William Taft left Muskogee by train and came through Prairie Grove. The train stopped for about 5 minutes and President Taft came out on the rear platform and spoke to a crowd that included Prairie Grove’s schoolteachers and their students. And in August 1930, what was referred to as the “World’s Biggest Tire,” stopped in Prairie Grove for a few minutes. Built by the Goodyear Tire Company, it was attached to the back of a special passenger train car. It looked like a regular tire except it was 12 feet tall, 4 feet wide, took 15 minutes to inflate and was worth $5,000. In July 1942 during the early months of World War II, the Frisco Railway announced that the branch line through Prairie Grove would close. Almost immediately, the rails were taken up and sold for scrap to help with the war effort, and the depot was demolished.
The canning of fruits and vegetables, mainly tomatoes, beans, and strawberries, was a major industry in Prairie Grove for many years. In the early 20th century, Prairie Grove had at least 2 canning factories—the Arkansas Canning Company and the Prairie Grove Preserves Company Canning Factory. Smaller canning operations existed in communities all around the area. In 1953, the Prairie Grove Preserves Canning Co. became the Kelley Canning Company, which operated on S. Mock until 1978 when it went out of business because of the rising costs of shipping in tomatoes. You can still see the foundation for the old canning factory on the west side of S. Mock across from the Washington County Milling Company Event Center.
Prairie Grove has had 3 large flour mills, only one of which exists today. The first mill, constructed about 1876 by McPhetridge, Baggett, and Rogers was behind the McCoy Produce Building on South Mock Street & was in regular use until about 1905. It was dismantled in 1914, and at that time, it was the oldest commercial structure in Prairie Grove. The wood-frame mill was 4 stories tall and had a gabled roof. The lumber was salvaged and possibly used to construct part of the Washington County Milling Company on South Mock in 1919.
The L. C. McCormick Mill & Elevator Company was built in 1902 next to the railroad tracks near the end of South Pittman Street. In its early days, the McCormick Mill produced 2.4 million pounds of flour and shipped 60,000 bushels of wheat from its elevators each year. In 1913, the mill’s name was changed to the Prairie Grove Milling Company. It closed in 1941 and the building no longer exists.
Finally, the Washington County Milling Company was built in 1919 on South Mock Street and is now the Washington County Milling Company Event Center.
Back to where we’re standing. The spring runs in a kind of east/west direction and was originally a big water hole surrounded by large rocks where people could sit. Next to the spring is the old concrete water trough that used to sit behind the Southern Mercantile and is now used as a flower container by the Master Gardners. The trough was filled with water from the spring at Mock Park by gravity flow, and both horses and people would drink out of it. Also behind the Southern in the parking lot is the old concrete jail that was built sometime between 1925 and 1930 and was only used for a couple of years. It was very primitive and had no electricity or running water.
In 1963 Dr. Will Mock, a long-time local physician and civic leader in Prairie Grove, donated this land to the City for use as a public park. Dr. Mock purchased the property in 1901, removed all the old buildings, hauled in wagonloads of soil to level the land, and planted trees. For many years, the spring was the water source for the town.
In 1829, Andrew Buchanan, who had recently become an ordained minister with the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, left Kentucky with his wife Sinai and stepson James Preston Neal, to visit his brothers in Cane Hill. During his visit, he heard about a fertile valley with a bountiful spring several miles to the northeast, which was Thomas Wagnon’s claim right here. He traveled to the spring, liked what he saw, and made an agreement with Wagnon to trade the land for two good sermons. Reverend Buchanan built a house near the spring, and in 1831, organized the Prairie Congregation of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The third church building that was built in 1887/1888 is down the street by the cemetery and is now a wedding chapel.
In August 1838, Buchanan bought a little over 160 acres of land from the federal government that included most of Main Street north to Bush Street, and south to around the Aquatic Park.
Buchanan’s stepson, James Preston Neal, eventually left Prairie Grove and became a lawyer in Fayetteville, was a soldier in the Mexican American War from 1847-1848, and came back to Fayetteville and was elected mayor from 1851-1854. Neal returned to Prairie Grove in 1868 and settled here on part of the old Buchanan property. In 1871, he decided to formally establish Prairie Grove as an actual town and was soon appointed postmaster. A blacksmith and wagon shop opened in 1872, three years later a storehouse was built, and in 1876 a steam-powered flour mill began operation. Lots on the growing Main Street went on sale in March of 1877, and in September of that year, Neal requested a survey and plat for the downtown area. In 1888, physicians E.G. McCormick and W.W. Mahan had grown tired of the rowdy behavior and drunkenness occurring in town and wrote a letter of incorporation and petition on a piece of notebook paper and sent it to the county judge, and the state approved its incorporation on July 25th, 1888.
The name “Prairie Grove” was chosen because the town was set on a prairie surrounded by rolling hills and a grove of trees that grew around the spring. Prairie Grove was previously known by 2 other names—the first post office from 1840-1846 was called Sweet Home and was run by postmaster James Pittman, and in 1857 a second post office was established called Ada, after one of Archibald Borden’s daughters.
In 1890, the U.S. Census recorded 412 residents in Prairie Grove, and its Main Street had 4 general stores, a furniture store, harness & saddle shop, 2 drug stores, a jewelry store, a marble works, a hardware store, a lumber company, a flour mill called the Prairie Grove Mill, the Prairie Grove Canning & Evaporating Company, and a music store.
In 1901, the Ozark & Cherokee Central Railroad came through Prairie Grove, providing a way to ship fruits, vegetables, grain, timber, and livestock out of the Illinois River Valley. The Ozark & Cherokee Central hooked onto the St. Louis-San Francisco or Frisco Railway at Fayetteville and extended southwesterly through Farmington, Prairie Grove, Lincoln, Summers and into Oklahoma, where it passed through Westville, Talequah, Muskogee, and ended in Okmulgee. The Prairie Grove Depot was constructed about 1901 on the north side of the railroad tracks at the corner of South Neal and Commercial streets. The wood-frame depot contained a waiting room, baggage room, Western Union Telegraph office, and Wells Fargo & Company Express office. In addition to shipping freight, the railroad provided passenger service. In November 1917, former President William Taft left Muskogee by train and came through Prairie Grove. The train stopped for about 5 minutes and President Taft came out on the rear platform and spoke to a crowd that included Prairie Grove’s schoolteachers and their students. And in August 1930, what was referred to as the “World’s Biggest Tire,” stopped in Prairie Grove for a few minutes. Built by the Goodyear Tire Company, it was attached to the back of a special passenger train car. It looked like a regular tire except it was 12 feet tall, 4 feet wide, took 15 minutes to inflate and was worth $5,000. In July 1942 during the early months of World War II, the Frisco Railway announced that the branch line through Prairie Grove would close. Almost immediately, the rails were taken up and sold for scrap to help with the war effort, and the depot was demolished.
The canning of fruits and vegetables, mainly tomatoes, beans, and strawberries, was a major industry in Prairie Grove for many years. In the early 20th century, Prairie Grove had at least 2 canning factories—the Arkansas Canning Company and the Prairie Grove Preserves Company Canning Factory. Smaller canning operations existed in communities all around the area. In 1953, the Prairie Grove Preserves Canning Co. became the Kelley Canning Company, which operated on S. Mock until 1978 when it went out of business because of the rising costs of shipping in tomatoes. You can still see the foundation for the old canning factory on the west side of S. Mock across from the Washington County Milling Company Event Center.
Prairie Grove has had 3 large flour mills, only one of which exists today. The first mill, constructed about 1876 by McPhetridge, Baggett, and Rogers was behind the McCoy Produce Building on South Mock Street & was in regular use until about 1905. It was dismantled in 1914, and at that time, it was the oldest commercial structure in Prairie Grove. The wood-frame mill was 4 stories tall and had a gabled roof. The lumber was salvaged and possibly used to construct part of the Washington County Milling Company on South Mock in 1919.
The L. C. McCormick Mill & Elevator Company was built in 1902 next to the railroad tracks near the end of South Pittman Street. In its early days, the McCormick Mill produced 2.4 million pounds of flour and shipped 60,000 bushels of wheat from its elevators each year. In 1913, the mill’s name was changed to the Prairie Grove Milling Company. It closed in 1941 and the building no longer exists.
Finally, the Washington County Milling Company was built in 1919 on South Mock Street and is now the Washington County Milling Company Event Center.
Back to where we’re standing. The spring runs in a kind of east/west direction and was originally a big water hole surrounded by large rocks where people could sit. Next to the spring is the old concrete water trough that used to sit behind the Southern Mercantile and is now used as a flower container by the Master Gardners. The trough was filled with water from the spring at Mock Park by gravity flow, and both horses and people would drink out of it. Also behind the Southern in the parking lot is the old concrete jail that was built sometime between 1925 and 1930 and was only used for a couple of years. It was very primitive and had no electricity or running water.
In 1963 Dr. Will Mock, a long-time local physician and civic leader in Prairie Grove, donated this land to the City for use as a public park. Dr. Mock purchased the property in 1901, removed all the old buildings, hauled in wagonloads of soil to level the land, and planted trees. For many years, the spring was the water source for the town.
Buildings Along Main Street
The Children’s Library building was built in 1963 and used by the post office until it moved down the road into the new Post Office building in 1991. Life Ministries used it and then it became the Children’s Library in 2007.
Across the street at the Chamber of Commerce, this building dates from the 1930s and was Dr. J.W. Webb’s dentist office. It was deeded to the City and later housed a fabric store and the Sugar Tree donut shop.
Loyd Luginbuel began operating the Luginbuel Funeral Home in Lincoln in 1924 and opened another one in Prairie Grove in 1937 in the old F. H. Carl House, which was located on the north side of Buchanan right about where the brick office building is next to the Arvest drive-thru. Luginbuel’s offered an ambulance service that remained in operation well into the 1970s. Luginbuel’s bought the Southern Funeral Home in 1942 and combined it with their Prairie Grove business. That same year, Luginbuel’s bought the old Marrs Hotel that was built around 1900, which is their current building. The old hotel was remodeled for use as a funeral home with apartments upstairs. The building was later enlarged to include a chapel, waiting room, offices, & viewing rooms. The funeral home is still run by Loyd Luginbuel’s son and grandson, Loyd Wayne and Stacey Luginbuel.
The Magnolia Coffee House and Prairie Grove Town Center was built around 1930 as a Magnolia filling station and garage and has been rebricked. By 1941, it was owned by J.A. and Jimmy Smith, who did auto repair, welding, and blacksmithing there. Carl Kelley used to build stock racecars in this building and some of them won national championships.
Prairie Grove Waterworks was built around 1930 and housed the water office, pump house, and fire department. A water tank was built behind the waterworks building in the parking lot that held water from Mock Spring, and later from Ruby Spring that was piped in from Bethel Grove beginning in 1955. In 1968, a dam was constructed on Muddy Fork south of town to form Prairie Grove Lake, which became the city’s water supply. In 1980, the Arkansas Department of Health required the spring water to be excluded from the system and in 1983 the City Council voted to remove the old water tank. Services Enterprise Corporation of Evansville, Indiana was hired to do the job. On July 24th, 1983, the easternmost legs of the water tank were severed, along with the big standpipe, while the westernmost legs were notched, so the tower would theoretically fall to the west into the parking lot. However, it changed directions and fell right on top of the Farmers True Value Hardware where Daisie and Olives is, the Crescent Dept. Store, and Sterling Drug. It blew out the front window of the Crescent and scattered cowboy hats along Main Street.
The Legion Hut was built in 1934 by the Works Progress Administration or WPA. An addition was built in the early 70s to provide an area for roller skating, dancing, and other civic activities. It was named the Mason-Nations Post after James Edward Mason, the first Prairie Grove man killed during World War I, and Morris Edward Nations, who died in December 1941 from injuries sustained during the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor.
The Prairie Grove Public Library was started in 1935 in a room in the Legion Hut. In 1945, the library moved to the 2nd story where the Prairie Grove School Administration and Technology Offices are now. In 1954, it moved to the back of the City Waterworks, and in 1966, architect and University of Arkansas faculty member Cy Sutherland designed the current library building. It was enlarged to its current size about 1996.
The Legion Hut was built in 1934 by the Works Progress Administration or WPA. An addition was built in the early 70s to provide an area for roller skating, dancing, and other civic activities. It was named the Mason-Nations Post after James Edward Mason, the first Prairie Grove man killed during World War I, and Morris Edward Nations, who died in December 1941 from injuries sustained during the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor.
The Prairie Grove Public Library was started in 1935 in a room in the Legion Hut. In 1945, the library moved to the 2nd story where the Prairie Grove School Administration and Technology Offices are now. In 1954, it moved to the back of the City Waterworks, and in 1966, architect and University of Arkansas faculty member Cy Sutherland designed the current library building. It was enlarged to its current size about 1996.
Walk to Daisies & Olives, look across the street
North side of Buchanan. In 1906, the wooden buildings on the north side of main street were almost completely destroyed by a huge fire that started in the Bon Ton Barber Shop on the west end of Buchanan. There were no water hydrants at the time so dynamite was used to control the fire. Seven businesses and two vacant storerooms burned and the estimated loss totaled $20,000. Two wooden buildings on the south side also burned, but the other buildings were made of brick and the only damage they suffered from the fire was broken windows when the dynamite exploded. All of these buildings on the north side date from 1906 or later.
Arvest Drive-thru - This corner lot and the lot beside it with the brick office building were occupied by two homes in the early 20th century. The Carl House stood where the brick building is and was the first location of Luginbuel’s Funeral Home. After the house on the corner lot was demolished sometime after 1948, Burl & Ena Horton ran a Texaco station there.
The Creative Fix - Built around 1935. There used to be a small building on the right side that the Eat Shop café was in from the mid-20th century until the 1970s.
Dr. Miller’s Optometrist office – Horah’s Meat Market was there until the late ‘20s, then Southwestern Gas & Electric Company, which would later become SWEPCO, opened its office there in 1933.
The Local’s, Gray part on east - This was the Mock Clinic, built about 1920 by Dr. Mock, and originally had a full front porch supported by 5 columns. Dr. Mock operated a 30-bed hospital here, where he treated all types of illnesses and performed surgical procedures. At one time, there were three doctors and a dentist in the Mock Clinic. In addition to Dr. Mock, Dr. Jeff Baggett had his office here.
Summit Hill Cottage, Main Entrance with Green Awning - This part of the building held 3 businesses. J & B Auto moved down here after its building next to the Farmers & Merchants Bank was damaged by a fire in 1958.
Mock Building with Redfeather Trading Co., Antique furniture store, Farmers Insurance – The Mock Building dates from about 1912 and was also built by Dr. Mock. Like today, it had 3 storefronts and numerous businesses over the years, including the post office in the 1940s.
Citizen’s Bank building – This was built in 1912. About 1915, First National Bank bought the Citizen’s Bank and moved into this building. After it became Farmers & Merchants bank in 1929, it moved down to the corner where the Prairie Grove School offices are. This building later housed Clark’s Jewelry and then in 1957, Charles & Colleen Knowles’ flower shop. In 1986, it became Flowers ‘n Friends and moved to its current location next door.
Flowers ‘n Friends – This was built about a year after the 1906 fire. It was a meat market by 1913. In the mid-30s, Mobley Dry Cleaners was here, which became the Cosby Cleaners in the 1940s. In 1958, Charles Stills bought Dunn Cleaners, which was across the street, and Cosby Cleaners, and opened his store as Charles Cleaners and was here until 1975 when he moved across the street.
Prairie Grove School Offices – The easternmost part of this building with the original red brick façade dates from about 1906. The Prairie Grove Opera House was upstairs, and a grocery and drug store were downstairs. The opera house had a stage for live performances as well as a projector for movies. It was destroyed by fire around 1925. After the fire, a new red brick commercial building with 5 storefronts was constructed. This portion of the building may have housed Harlan’s 5 & 10 dime store. Other businesses in this row were Earl’s Café, by 1950 Dixon Saddlery was here, Fairway Grocery, J & B Auto in the late 50s, Pyeatt-Ryan Butane Service Co., a pool hall, and a cold storage locker plant.
West side of the School building - This may have been built in 1904 and possibly survived the 1906 fire. I think the Farmers & Merchants Bank moved into this building in 1929 when it consolidated with the Farmers State Bank. Dr. Calvin Bain opened his dentist office upstairs in 1950 and several decades later his sons Andrew and John joined his practice. A fire in 1958 damaged the bank building and it was at that time that the bank expanded into the buildings on its east side.
Arvest Drive-thru - This corner lot and the lot beside it with the brick office building were occupied by two homes in the early 20th century. The Carl House stood where the brick building is and was the first location of Luginbuel’s Funeral Home. After the house on the corner lot was demolished sometime after 1948, Burl & Ena Horton ran a Texaco station there.
The Creative Fix - Built around 1935. There used to be a small building on the right side that the Eat Shop café was in from the mid-20th century until the 1970s.
Dr. Miller’s Optometrist office – Horah’s Meat Market was there until the late ‘20s, then Southwestern Gas & Electric Company, which would later become SWEPCO, opened its office there in 1933.
The Local’s, Gray part on east - This was the Mock Clinic, built about 1920 by Dr. Mock, and originally had a full front porch supported by 5 columns. Dr. Mock operated a 30-bed hospital here, where he treated all types of illnesses and performed surgical procedures. At one time, there were three doctors and a dentist in the Mock Clinic. In addition to Dr. Mock, Dr. Jeff Baggett had his office here.
Summit Hill Cottage, Main Entrance with Green Awning - This part of the building held 3 businesses. J & B Auto moved down here after its building next to the Farmers & Merchants Bank was damaged by a fire in 1958.
Mock Building with Redfeather Trading Co., Antique furniture store, Farmers Insurance – The Mock Building dates from about 1912 and was also built by Dr. Mock. Like today, it had 3 storefronts and numerous businesses over the years, including the post office in the 1940s.
Citizen’s Bank building – This was built in 1912. About 1915, First National Bank bought the Citizen’s Bank and moved into this building. After it became Farmers & Merchants bank in 1929, it moved down to the corner where the Prairie Grove School offices are. This building later housed Clark’s Jewelry and then in 1957, Charles & Colleen Knowles’ flower shop. In 1986, it became Flowers ‘n Friends and moved to its current location next door.
Flowers ‘n Friends – This was built about a year after the 1906 fire. It was a meat market by 1913. In the mid-30s, Mobley Dry Cleaners was here, which became the Cosby Cleaners in the 1940s. In 1958, Charles Stills bought Dunn Cleaners, which was across the street, and Cosby Cleaners, and opened his store as Charles Cleaners and was here until 1975 when he moved across the street.
Prairie Grove School Offices – The easternmost part of this building with the original red brick façade dates from about 1906. The Prairie Grove Opera House was upstairs, and a grocery and drug store were downstairs. The opera house had a stage for live performances as well as a projector for movies. It was destroyed by fire around 1925. After the fire, a new red brick commercial building with 5 storefronts was constructed. This portion of the building may have housed Harlan’s 5 & 10 dime store. Other businesses in this row were Earl’s Café, by 1950 Dixon Saddlery was here, Fairway Grocery, J & B Auto in the late 50s, Pyeatt-Ryan Butane Service Co., a pool hall, and a cold storage locker plant.
West side of the School building - This may have been built in 1904 and possibly survived the 1906 fire. I think the Farmers & Merchants Bank moved into this building in 1929 when it consolidated with the Farmers State Bank. Dr. Calvin Bain opened his dentist office upstairs in 1950 and several decades later his sons Andrew and John joined his practice. A fire in 1958 damaged the bank building and it was at that time that the bank expanded into the buildings on its east side.
Walk to The Creative Fix, look across the street
Long recessed building, east part of Daisies & Olives - Built around 1920 by Arthur McCormick, he owned and operated Prairie Grove Motor Company here until 1947, when he sold it to Jimmy Smith. McCormick sold Ford cars and had a Texaco service station. Jimmy Smith and his father, J.A. Smith, established the Smith Tractor & Implement Company in this location. They sold the business in 1951, but in 1957 Jimmy Smith and Robert Earl Cunningham bought it back. They ran it as Smith-Cunningham Tractor & Implement Company until 1965, when Smith sold the building to Jack Bartholomew. By the early 1970s this was Burger Quick and then later on the Pepper Pot Mexican restaurant.
Eastern portion of Daisies and Olives - In the early 1900s the Banner Grocery and Hardware Company was in this part of the building and was run by John Carl and J.O. Bain. In May 1934, James Fay Parks and Taylor Hannah opened the Beverly Theater here. James Fay had previously been a member of the Beverly Players, a group of young people who produced plays under the direction of playwright Clay Mobley, thus the name of the theater. James Fay’s twin brothers, Donald and Barry Parks and their uncle, Arthur McCormick, as well as other family members, also helped run the theater. When James Fay moved to Chicago in 1935, the theater’s management responsibilities were turned over to his brother, Donald, who was only 16 years old at the time. By 1941 the theater had cushioned leather seats and new cooling and sound systems. The front of the theater had a marquee and a ticket booth. J.P. Jones purchased the theater in 1952 and operated it until it closed in 1959.
Entrance to Daisies & Olives (western part of building)—Beginning in 1936, this was Carman Drug, run by L.A. and Ruetta Carman. In 1973 Kenny Bartholomew bought the IGA Grocery and moved it into both storefronts and called it the B & K Market, and Carman Drug moved down to the building where the Brian Stark’s photography shop is now. In 1977 Sam Escue bought Farmers Hardware and moved it into the former B & K building and later expanded into the long eastern section of that building.
Crescent Dept. Store - In 1928 Guy Skelton, Bob McCoy, and J.A. Skelton opened the Crescent Department Store in this building. In 1929 Nathan Brooks joined the Crescent as a partner. The Crescent sold clothing for men, women, and children, shoes, household linens, and fabrics. Guy Skelton’s sons, Elton and Donnie, later managed the Crescent. Bill Ramsey bought it in the early 1970s, sold it in 1985 to Mr. & Mrs. Jim Reese, and it’s currently owned by Travis & Shannon Stearman.
Sterling Drug - C. L. Cummings built this in 1915 and the McNeal Drug Company was here until 1918 when it consolidated with another local drug store, Palace Drug, and changed its name to Sterling Drug. In 1955 Vincel Bell and Clarence Davis bought Sterling Drug and in 1971, Clarence Davis and his son, Gary, assumed full ownership, and Gary still owns it and works there.
Green “1915” Building, Wild West Flea Market – The first bank in town was organized in 1901 as the Bank of Prairie Grove and opened later that year on this site in its new 2 story building. In 1905, it was sold to the newly organized First National Bank and in 1914 this building was destroyed by fire and a new one built in 1915. The Blue Moon Café was here in the 1930s and later Neal’s Dry Goods.
PG Auto & Farm Supply - Built around 1918 this building originally had 2 storefronts. In the 50s, Mr. & Mrs. Norris Dunn moved their dry-cleaning business into the right side of the building and the left side was occupied by the City Café. In 1960, Frank West bought the building and moved the Farmers Hardware Store here from the current Ace Hardware building on the corner. He remodeled the building and made it into one large store. It was bought by Larry & Karen Crawley in 1985 and they still own and run the store.
What My Eyes Have Seen Photography - Built around 1910 and home to R.P. Edmiston Hardware and Grocery. This is where Carman Drug moved in the early 1970s, and then in 1982 it was bought by Peggy & Don Woolsey, who opened Valley Drug.
Jack’s Barber Shop - There was a barbershop & dry-cleaners here by 1913. In 1950, it was sold to Jack McClelland, who worked there as a barber until 1966, when he sold it to his son, Eddie. Easton Mathias runs the shop now.
Country Charm Antiques - Built around 1910. In 1913, it was a dry goods store where you could buy boots, shoes, and clothing. A grocery store occupied the space by the early 1950s and it later became the IGA Grocery. In 1973, the IGA was bought by Kenny Bartholomew, who renamed it the B & K Market and moved it down the block. In 1975 Charles Stills moved the Charles Cleaners here, and in 1986 it was sold and became the Prairie Grove Cleaners.
Southern Mercantile Company – This is the oldest building on main street. In 1883, early Prairie Grove businessmen J.J. Baggett and A. Sanders partnered to build the present structure and ran it as a hardware store called Baggett & Sanders. The store’s name changed in 1891 to Baggett & McCormick after Baggett became a business partner with Dorse McCormick. By 1903 the name had changed to the Ozark Mercantile Company. In 1907, Baggett bought another local mercantile owned by brothers S.R. and Frank Wilson and renamed his store the Southern Mercantile Company.
The store’s motto was “From the cradle to the grave” and you could find just about anything you needed. The right side of the building housed the dry goods department with clothing, bolts of cloth, boots & shoes, and on the left side was the hardware department. The Southern bought the Flower Shop building next door in the early 20th century for their grocery department. An inside door connects the buildings. The Southern carried a wide variety of merchandise over the years, including hardware, dry goods, groceries, buggies and buggy parts, seed, farm machinery, feed, furniture, caskets, electrical supplies, and household appliances. At one point the store even offered a radio repair service, an ambulance service, a funeral home, and sold burial insurance.
As transportation became more convenient, people began traveling to Fayetteville to buy their merchandise that hurt the Southern’s business. The dry goods department closed in 1948, followed by the grocery department in 1958. The hardware department expanded and the store continued to be open until the death of owner Miss Florence Hill in 1987. She had worked and/or managed the Southern for about 60 years. Since that time, the main part of the Southern has been an antique store, and the old grocery part has been The Flower Shop. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
Walk to PGTC warehouse
Masonic Lodge - These two buildings were placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2018.
The cornerstone for the B. H. Harrison Masonic Temple was laid on July 8, 1903. The Masons, the Order of the Eastern Star, and Rainbow Girls met upstairs in the lodge hall, and the first floor was rented out to different businesses. When the building was completed, the Wilson & McMillan Mercantile was on the first floor. About 1910 it became The Cash Store that sold general merchandise and groceries and was owned by Clint Carl. In 1913, the Lyric Theater opened on the first floor and in 1925 it was renamed the Cozy Theater. It was the Prairie Grove Enterprise office from 1943 until sometime around the mid-90s.
Fat Rolls building – This was built in 1904 by B. F. Carl, great-grandfather of Andrew Bain who has his dentist office next door. The building started off as part of the Ozark Mercantile Company and sold furniture and caskets. Before 1938, the upstairs part was used by the Southern Funeral Home. The Dixon Saddlery rented the back part of the building and sold saddles and harnesses. They later installed double doors on the back so that buggies and Model T Fords could be brought inside the building for repair and to make new canvas tops. The Dixon Saddlery moved to the north side of Buchanan Street in 1950, and this building was used as overflow storage for the Southern Mercantile. In the 1960s it became a home decorating center that sold paint and wallpaper. The building was bought in the late 1990s by Jim & Sharon Glover, who operated an antique store here for 12 years before it became Fat Rolls.
About 1920, there was a 1-story building on the north side that was a laundry. You can still see where the roofline was.
PGTelco Warehouse – The second bank in Prairie Grove was the Home Bank, started in 1904, and was located in the tallest section of the warehouse. It changed its name to Farmers State Bank in 1913 and merged with First National Bank in 1929 to become Farmers and Merchants Bank. I think that’s when it moved into the Arvest building on the corner.
In 1925, Walter Dodson and Bob Bogart opened the Dodson Lumber Company in the attached recessed section. This part of the warehouse probably dates from the early-tosmid 1920s. In 1932, Dodson bought the lumberyard down on south Mock Street from W.F. Bell and Jim Woodruff where Jones Lumber Company used to be. He moved his business down there and changed the name to Dodson Lumber and Coal Company. Bell and Woodruff opened the Prairie Grove Lumber Company here, and in 1946 sold it to Ozark Lumber and Supply in Springfield, Missouri, with Paul Jones and George Cox as managers, and the name was changed to the Washington County Lumber Company. That business closed in 1956 and that’s probably when the Telephone Company bought it.
The Kelley Canning Company used the old bank building for storage around the late 1960s and the Telephone Company bought it, I think, about 1970.
The phone company’s older, light-colored brick office building is from 1953 and the newer section on its north side was added in the late 1970s.
On the north side of the warehouse building are two initials, “P.G.” painted in orange. People who see this most likely assume it stands for “Prairie Grove.” However, they’re actually the initials of Pershing Geiger who painted them on the building sometime in the 1930s. Geiger later moved to Wyoming where he became a noted wood and bronze sculptor of western historical individuals, Native Americans, and wildlife.
Look to the corner of Buchanan and Mock streets
McCoy Produce Building - This was built about 1886 and B.A. Carl opened a dry goods store called the Carl Store there in the late 19th century and it later moved across the street. About 1900, McCoy Produce opened in this building, run by R.L. McCoy, who was later joined by his son, Layton McCoy. It was originally a 2-story building and the upstairs was removed in 1937. In 1958 Layton McCoy remodeled the building and opened a Laundromat. McCoy Produce continued to operate out of the back of the building.
The old city well and pump dating from the late 1800s was on the corner next to the McCoy building. It was used as the starting point when the city was platted in 1888. The well and pump remained in use until the late 1930s or early 1940s when the McCoy’s put in a new sidewalk.
Mel’s Diner - This was the Dairyette in the 1960s, later on the Bee Hive restaurant, and next door was the Lion Oil Service Station.
While walking to McCoy building and down to Fidler building point out E.C. & F.H. Carl’s names on east side of Ace Hardware building.
Ace Hardware main building – This was constructed about 1905 and housed the Carl General Merchandise Store, run by brothers E.C. and F.H. Carl, whose names you saw on the side of the building. The Prairie Grove Herald newspaper was in the left side of the building. In 1936, the newspaper became the Prairie Grove Enterprise. At that time, there was a café next door to the newspaper office and the Prairie Grove Telephone Company was upstairs. In 1943, the Enterprise moved to the Masonic Building and in the early 1950s the Farmers Hardware store, owned by Frank West and Argil Bartholomew, moved from the north side of Main Street into the space where the Enterprise used to be, and then later moved to where the Crawley’s Auto & Farm Supply store is.
In 1888, the first telephone line in Prairie Grove was strung on Main Street between Dr. E.G. McCormick’s office and the McCormick Brothers drugstore that he co-owned with his brother, Will. In October 1906, the Telephone Company was incorporated by the two McCormick brothers and Mel Collier, who worked at the drug store with Will McCormick. Mr. Collier later moved to Fayetteville and opened his own drugstore, called Collier Drug. Jim Parks, Dr. McCormick’s son-in-law, started working at the telephone company as a switchboard operator and worked his way up to running the business. The company remains in the Parks family and is currently headed by Jim Parks’ grandson, David Parks.
Middle recessed building next to Ace Hardware - In the 1930s, Roy Fidler built a garage and filling station out of native stone. In 1943, he bought the old building next door and opened the Oklahoma Tire and Supply Company, or OTASCO store there. He later bought the lots west of the filling station and built rock veneer buildings over to Kate Smith Street. When Roy Fidler died in 1970, his brother, Howard Fidler connected the buildings by putting doorways in the interior walls. The last building there on the corner of Buchanan and Kate Smith streets had Basham’s Grocery & Market, and other storefronts were occupied by Arkansas Western Gas, Kate Cheatham’s Café, the post office, a ladies clothing shop, and a dry-cleaners. The buildings have been re-bricked on the front.
Cemetery History - In September 1838, Reverend Andrew Buchanan and his wife, Sinai, sold a little over 2 ½ acres for $25 to representatives of the Prairie Congregation of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, where Buchanan was pastor. Part of the agreement of the sale directed church members to use the property as a cemetery, and to build a church and a school. This land is where the current Cumberland Presbyterian Church building stands, and also includes part of the cemetery’s Historic Section, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 8, 2016. The Historic Section does not include the church property. Its north and west boundaries are the paved cemetery road that connect to Buchanan Street, or Highway 62, and Kate Smith Street.
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(Brief church history: The first church was a log building called the Prairie Meeting House. Date of its construction is unknown, but it was there during the early 1850s. It was used by the Confederates about a day before the Battle of Prairie Grove began on December 7, 1862 as General Hindman’s headquarters. It was used as a hospital for injured Confederate soldiers on the day of the Battle, but was abandoned soon after the Confederates left the area. The Union Army then took control of the building, dismantled it, and used the wood to build winter quarters for their soldiers. When the Union Army left, they most likely set fire and destroyed the structure. In 1905, the church received a reparation’s check from the Federal Government for $800 as reimbursement for the federal troops destroying the church.
The second church was a wood frame building known as the “White Church” and also used as a school. It was probably built in the early 1870s behind the current church and faced east.
The current church was built during 1887 & 1888 and the second church was probably used as a school building until 1900, when the first public school in Prairie Grove opened. In 1911, this second building was sold by the highest sealed bid to the First Presbyterian Church of Prairie Grove, who used the wood to build their manse, which is still standing.)
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The location of the first grave in Prairie Grove is unknown. Chunks of field stones or field markers served as headstones and are scattered throughout the older sections of the cemetery. In 1941, the Prairie Grove Cemetery Association placed a commemorative marble headstone at the first known grave with the inscription “First Grave in Prairie Grove.” This belonged to Tennessee resident Mary Percilla Inman, who was visiting relatives in Cane Hill when she became sick & died in 1831. Before her death, she asked to be buried in the beautiful valley she had traveled through on her way to Cane Hill.
During my research on the cemetery for the National Register application, I asked Loyd Wayne Luginbuel from the funeral home to help me with burial statistics, and during that process he discovered that Mary Percilla Inman is actually the third oldest documented grave. The oldest recorded burial is five-year-old Rachel C. Marrs, who died in 1818. Rachel was the daughter of James Marrs, who was helping map the area with his brother Isaac and Thomas Wagnon in 1817 and 1818. The second oldest documented grave is of another girl, two-year-old Mary Ann Crawford, who died in 1824. Interestingly enough, the families of both Rachel Marrs and Mary Ann Crawford are both related to the Buchanan family.
The entire cemetery has 1,604 historic burials, or those that are 50 years or older. Many of the granite, marble, and sandstone historic markers are hand-carved. In the National Register section, there are at least 745 historic burials and 106 non-historic. No one knows how many unmarked graves there are in the cemetery, but there are quite a few. For example, the section directly behind the church has numerous unmarked graves that were discovered by funeral home workers as they were digging new graves in the 1950s.
One of Prairie Grove’s most important historical figures buried in the Historic Section is someone I’ve already mentioned, James Preston Neal. Neal was born in 1820 in Kentucky and moved to Arkansas in 1829 with his mother, Sinai Buchanan and stepfather, Reverend Andrew Buchanan. Neal later became a lawyer with a practice in Fayetteville but left in 1847 to volunteer as a soldier in the Mexican-American War. He returned to Fayetteville after the war ended in 1848 and practiced law there until he was elected mayor in 1851 and served in that office until 1854, when he and his wife, Adaline, moved to Austin, Texas, due to her failing health. She died there in 1863. In 1868 Neal moved back to Prairie Grove, and in 1871 he decided to formally establish Prairie Grove as an actual town and was soon appointed postmaster. In September 1877, Neal requested a survey and plat for the downtown area. Neal retired as postmaster in 1887, and a year later in 1888, Prairie Grove was incorporated. By 1890, the town had a population of 412. James Preston Neal died in 1896 and is buried in the Historic Section. This inscription is on Neal’s marker and says, "Founder of the Town of Prairie Grove. A Veteran of the Mexican war. A fearless defender of popular rights, a true friend of Arkansas: a brave, patriotic progressive citizen, a polished gentleman: an honest man.” Neal is buried near his stepfather and his mother.
Susan Parks-Spencer, with information from Rachel Silva, last edited February 16, 2019.
Long recessed building, east part of Daisies & Olives - Built around 1920 by Arthur McCormick, he owned and operated Prairie Grove Motor Company here until 1947, when he sold it to Jimmy Smith. McCormick sold Ford cars and had a Texaco service station. Jimmy Smith and his father, J.A. Smith, established the Smith Tractor & Implement Company in this location. They sold the business in 1951, but in 1957 Jimmy Smith and Robert Earl Cunningham bought it back. They ran it as Smith-Cunningham Tractor & Implement Company until 1965, when Smith sold the building to Jack Bartholomew. By the early 1970s this was Burger Quick and then later on the Pepper Pot Mexican restaurant.
Eastern portion of Daisies and Olives - In the early 1900s the Banner Grocery and Hardware Company was in this part of the building and was run by John Carl and J.O. Bain. In May 1934, James Fay Parks and Taylor Hannah opened the Beverly Theater here. James Fay had previously been a member of the Beverly Players, a group of young people who produced plays under the direction of playwright Clay Mobley, thus the name of the theater. James Fay’s twin brothers, Donald and Barry Parks and their uncle, Arthur McCormick, as well as other family members, also helped run the theater. When James Fay moved to Chicago in 1935, the theater’s management responsibilities were turned over to his brother, Donald, who was only 16 years old at the time. By 1941 the theater had cushioned leather seats and new cooling and sound systems. The front of the theater had a marquee and a ticket booth. J.P. Jones purchased the theater in 1952 and operated it until it closed in 1959.
Entrance to Daisies & Olives (western part of building)—Beginning in 1936, this was Carman Drug, run by L.A. and Ruetta Carman. In 1973 Kenny Bartholomew bought the IGA Grocery and moved it into both storefronts and called it the B & K Market, and Carman Drug moved down to the building where the Brian Stark’s photography shop is now. In 1977 Sam Escue bought Farmers Hardware and moved it into the former B & K building and later expanded into the long eastern section of that building.
Crescent Dept. Store - In 1928 Guy Skelton, Bob McCoy, and J.A. Skelton opened the Crescent Department Store in this building. In 1929 Nathan Brooks joined the Crescent as a partner. The Crescent sold clothing for men, women, and children, shoes, household linens, and fabrics. Guy Skelton’s sons, Elton and Donnie, later managed the Crescent. Bill Ramsey bought it in the early 1970s, sold it in 1985 to Mr. & Mrs. Jim Reese, and it’s currently owned by Travis & Shannon Stearman.
Sterling Drug - C. L. Cummings built this in 1915 and the McNeal Drug Company was here until 1918 when it consolidated with another local drug store, Palace Drug, and changed its name to Sterling Drug. In 1955 Vincel Bell and Clarence Davis bought Sterling Drug and in 1971, Clarence Davis and his son, Gary, assumed full ownership, and Gary still owns it and works there.
Green “1915” Building, Wild West Flea Market – The first bank in town was organized in 1901 as the Bank of Prairie Grove and opened later that year on this site in its new 2 story building. In 1905, it was sold to the newly organized First National Bank and in 1914 this building was destroyed by fire and a new one built in 1915. The Blue Moon Café was here in the 1930s and later Neal’s Dry Goods.
PG Auto & Farm Supply - Built around 1918 this building originally had 2 storefronts. In the 50s, Mr. & Mrs. Norris Dunn moved their dry-cleaning business into the right side of the building and the left side was occupied by the City Café. In 1960, Frank West bought the building and moved the Farmers Hardware Store here from the current Ace Hardware building on the corner. He remodeled the building and made it into one large store. It was bought by Larry & Karen Crawley in 1985 and they still own and run the store.
What My Eyes Have Seen Photography - Built around 1910 and home to R.P. Edmiston Hardware and Grocery. This is where Carman Drug moved in the early 1970s, and then in 1982 it was bought by Peggy & Don Woolsey, who opened Valley Drug.
Jack’s Barber Shop - There was a barbershop & dry-cleaners here by 1913. In 1950, it was sold to Jack McClelland, who worked there as a barber until 1966, when he sold it to his son, Eddie. Easton Mathias runs the shop now.
Country Charm Antiques - Built around 1910. In 1913, it was a dry goods store where you could buy boots, shoes, and clothing. A grocery store occupied the space by the early 1950s and it later became the IGA Grocery. In 1973, the IGA was bought by Kenny Bartholomew, who renamed it the B & K Market and moved it down the block. In 1975 Charles Stills moved the Charles Cleaners here, and in 1986 it was sold and became the Prairie Grove Cleaners.
Southern Mercantile Company – This is the oldest building on main street. In 1883, early Prairie Grove businessmen J.J. Baggett and A. Sanders partnered to build the present structure and ran it as a hardware store called Baggett & Sanders. The store’s name changed in 1891 to Baggett & McCormick after Baggett became a business partner with Dorse McCormick. By 1903 the name had changed to the Ozark Mercantile Company. In 1907, Baggett bought another local mercantile owned by brothers S.R. and Frank Wilson and renamed his store the Southern Mercantile Company.
The store’s motto was “From the cradle to the grave” and you could find just about anything you needed. The right side of the building housed the dry goods department with clothing, bolts of cloth, boots & shoes, and on the left side was the hardware department. The Southern bought the Flower Shop building next door in the early 20th century for their grocery department. An inside door connects the buildings. The Southern carried a wide variety of merchandise over the years, including hardware, dry goods, groceries, buggies and buggy parts, seed, farm machinery, feed, furniture, caskets, electrical supplies, and household appliances. At one point the store even offered a radio repair service, an ambulance service, a funeral home, and sold burial insurance.
As transportation became more convenient, people began traveling to Fayetteville to buy their merchandise that hurt the Southern’s business. The dry goods department closed in 1948, followed by the grocery department in 1958. The hardware department expanded and the store continued to be open until the death of owner Miss Florence Hill in 1987. She had worked and/or managed the Southern for about 60 years. Since that time, the main part of the Southern has been an antique store, and the old grocery part has been The Flower Shop. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
Walk to PGTC warehouse
Masonic Lodge - These two buildings were placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2018.
The cornerstone for the B. H. Harrison Masonic Temple was laid on July 8, 1903. The Masons, the Order of the Eastern Star, and Rainbow Girls met upstairs in the lodge hall, and the first floor was rented out to different businesses. When the building was completed, the Wilson & McMillan Mercantile was on the first floor. About 1910 it became The Cash Store that sold general merchandise and groceries and was owned by Clint Carl. In 1913, the Lyric Theater opened on the first floor and in 1925 it was renamed the Cozy Theater. It was the Prairie Grove Enterprise office from 1943 until sometime around the mid-90s.
Fat Rolls building – This was built in 1904 by B. F. Carl, great-grandfather of Andrew Bain who has his dentist office next door. The building started off as part of the Ozark Mercantile Company and sold furniture and caskets. Before 1938, the upstairs part was used by the Southern Funeral Home. The Dixon Saddlery rented the back part of the building and sold saddles and harnesses. They later installed double doors on the back so that buggies and Model T Fords could be brought inside the building for repair and to make new canvas tops. The Dixon Saddlery moved to the north side of Buchanan Street in 1950, and this building was used as overflow storage for the Southern Mercantile. In the 1960s it became a home decorating center that sold paint and wallpaper. The building was bought in the late 1990s by Jim & Sharon Glover, who operated an antique store here for 12 years before it became Fat Rolls.
About 1920, there was a 1-story building on the north side that was a laundry. You can still see where the roofline was.
PGTelco Warehouse – The second bank in Prairie Grove was the Home Bank, started in 1904, and was located in the tallest section of the warehouse. It changed its name to Farmers State Bank in 1913 and merged with First National Bank in 1929 to become Farmers and Merchants Bank. I think that’s when it moved into the Arvest building on the corner.
In 1925, Walter Dodson and Bob Bogart opened the Dodson Lumber Company in the attached recessed section. This part of the warehouse probably dates from the early-tosmid 1920s. In 1932, Dodson bought the lumberyard down on south Mock Street from W.F. Bell and Jim Woodruff where Jones Lumber Company used to be. He moved his business down there and changed the name to Dodson Lumber and Coal Company. Bell and Woodruff opened the Prairie Grove Lumber Company here, and in 1946 sold it to Ozark Lumber and Supply in Springfield, Missouri, with Paul Jones and George Cox as managers, and the name was changed to the Washington County Lumber Company. That business closed in 1956 and that’s probably when the Telephone Company bought it.
The Kelley Canning Company used the old bank building for storage around the late 1960s and the Telephone Company bought it, I think, about 1970.
The phone company’s older, light-colored brick office building is from 1953 and the newer section on its north side was added in the late 1970s.
On the north side of the warehouse building are two initials, “P.G.” painted in orange. People who see this most likely assume it stands for “Prairie Grove.” However, they’re actually the initials of Pershing Geiger who painted them on the building sometime in the 1930s. Geiger later moved to Wyoming where he became a noted wood and bronze sculptor of western historical individuals, Native Americans, and wildlife.
Look to the corner of Buchanan and Mock streets
McCoy Produce Building - This was built about 1886 and B.A. Carl opened a dry goods store called the Carl Store there in the late 19th century and it later moved across the street. About 1900, McCoy Produce opened in this building, run by R.L. McCoy, who was later joined by his son, Layton McCoy. It was originally a 2-story building and the upstairs was removed in 1937. In 1958 Layton McCoy remodeled the building and opened a Laundromat. McCoy Produce continued to operate out of the back of the building.
The old city well and pump dating from the late 1800s was on the corner next to the McCoy building. It was used as the starting point when the city was platted in 1888. The well and pump remained in use until the late 1930s or early 1940s when the McCoy’s put in a new sidewalk.
Mel’s Diner - This was the Dairyette in the 1960s, later on the Bee Hive restaurant, and next door was the Lion Oil Service Station.
While walking to McCoy building and down to Fidler building point out E.C. & F.H. Carl’s names on east side of Ace Hardware building.
Ace Hardware main building – This was constructed about 1905 and housed the Carl General Merchandise Store, run by brothers E.C. and F.H. Carl, whose names you saw on the side of the building. The Prairie Grove Herald newspaper was in the left side of the building. In 1936, the newspaper became the Prairie Grove Enterprise. At that time, there was a café next door to the newspaper office and the Prairie Grove Telephone Company was upstairs. In 1943, the Enterprise moved to the Masonic Building and in the early 1950s the Farmers Hardware store, owned by Frank West and Argil Bartholomew, moved from the north side of Main Street into the space where the Enterprise used to be, and then later moved to where the Crawley’s Auto & Farm Supply store is.
In 1888, the first telephone line in Prairie Grove was strung on Main Street between Dr. E.G. McCormick’s office and the McCormick Brothers drugstore that he co-owned with his brother, Will. In October 1906, the Telephone Company was incorporated by the two McCormick brothers and Mel Collier, who worked at the drug store with Will McCormick. Mr. Collier later moved to Fayetteville and opened his own drugstore, called Collier Drug. Jim Parks, Dr. McCormick’s son-in-law, started working at the telephone company as a switchboard operator and worked his way up to running the business. The company remains in the Parks family and is currently headed by Jim Parks’ grandson, David Parks.
Middle recessed building next to Ace Hardware - In the 1930s, Roy Fidler built a garage and filling station out of native stone. In 1943, he bought the old building next door and opened the Oklahoma Tire and Supply Company, or OTASCO store there. He later bought the lots west of the filling station and built rock veneer buildings over to Kate Smith Street. When Roy Fidler died in 1970, his brother, Howard Fidler connected the buildings by putting doorways in the interior walls. The last building there on the corner of Buchanan and Kate Smith streets had Basham’s Grocery & Market, and other storefronts were occupied by Arkansas Western Gas, Kate Cheatham’s Café, the post office, a ladies clothing shop, and a dry-cleaners. The buildings have been re-bricked on the front.
Cemetery History - In September 1838, Reverend Andrew Buchanan and his wife, Sinai, sold a little over 2 ½ acres for $25 to representatives of the Prairie Congregation of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, where Buchanan was pastor. Part of the agreement of the sale directed church members to use the property as a cemetery, and to build a church and a school. This land is where the current Cumberland Presbyterian Church building stands, and also includes part of the cemetery’s Historic Section, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 8, 2016. The Historic Section does not include the church property. Its north and west boundaries are the paved cemetery road that connect to Buchanan Street, or Highway 62, and Kate Smith Street.
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(Brief church history: The first church was a log building called the Prairie Meeting House. Date of its construction is unknown, but it was there during the early 1850s. It was used by the Confederates about a day before the Battle of Prairie Grove began on December 7, 1862 as General Hindman’s headquarters. It was used as a hospital for injured Confederate soldiers on the day of the Battle, but was abandoned soon after the Confederates left the area. The Union Army then took control of the building, dismantled it, and used the wood to build winter quarters for their soldiers. When the Union Army left, they most likely set fire and destroyed the structure. In 1905, the church received a reparation’s check from the Federal Government for $800 as reimbursement for the federal troops destroying the church.
The second church was a wood frame building known as the “White Church” and also used as a school. It was probably built in the early 1870s behind the current church and faced east.
The current church was built during 1887 & 1888 and the second church was probably used as a school building until 1900, when the first public school in Prairie Grove opened. In 1911, this second building was sold by the highest sealed bid to the First Presbyterian Church of Prairie Grove, who used the wood to build their manse, which is still standing.)
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The location of the first grave in Prairie Grove is unknown. Chunks of field stones or field markers served as headstones and are scattered throughout the older sections of the cemetery. In 1941, the Prairie Grove Cemetery Association placed a commemorative marble headstone at the first known grave with the inscription “First Grave in Prairie Grove.” This belonged to Tennessee resident Mary Percilla Inman, who was visiting relatives in Cane Hill when she became sick & died in 1831. Before her death, she asked to be buried in the beautiful valley she had traveled through on her way to Cane Hill.
During my research on the cemetery for the National Register application, I asked Loyd Wayne Luginbuel from the funeral home to help me with burial statistics, and during that process he discovered that Mary Percilla Inman is actually the third oldest documented grave. The oldest recorded burial is five-year-old Rachel C. Marrs, who died in 1818. Rachel was the daughter of James Marrs, who was helping map the area with his brother Isaac and Thomas Wagnon in 1817 and 1818. The second oldest documented grave is of another girl, two-year-old Mary Ann Crawford, who died in 1824. Interestingly enough, the families of both Rachel Marrs and Mary Ann Crawford are both related to the Buchanan family.
The entire cemetery has 1,604 historic burials, or those that are 50 years or older. Many of the granite, marble, and sandstone historic markers are hand-carved. In the National Register section, there are at least 745 historic burials and 106 non-historic. No one knows how many unmarked graves there are in the cemetery, but there are quite a few. For example, the section directly behind the church has numerous unmarked graves that were discovered by funeral home workers as they were digging new graves in the 1950s.
One of Prairie Grove’s most important historical figures buried in the Historic Section is someone I’ve already mentioned, James Preston Neal. Neal was born in 1820 in Kentucky and moved to Arkansas in 1829 with his mother, Sinai Buchanan and stepfather, Reverend Andrew Buchanan. Neal later became a lawyer with a practice in Fayetteville but left in 1847 to volunteer as a soldier in the Mexican-American War. He returned to Fayetteville after the war ended in 1848 and practiced law there until he was elected mayor in 1851 and served in that office until 1854, when he and his wife, Adaline, moved to Austin, Texas, due to her failing health. She died there in 1863. In 1868 Neal moved back to Prairie Grove, and in 1871 he decided to formally establish Prairie Grove as an actual town and was soon appointed postmaster. In September 1877, Neal requested a survey and plat for the downtown area. Neal retired as postmaster in 1887, and a year later in 1888, Prairie Grove was incorporated. By 1890, the town had a population of 412. James Preston Neal died in 1896 and is buried in the Historic Section. This inscription is on Neal’s marker and says, "Founder of the Town of Prairie Grove. A Veteran of the Mexican war. A fearless defender of popular rights, a true friend of Arkansas: a brave, patriotic progressive citizen, a polished gentleman: an honest man.” Neal is buried near his stepfather and his mother.
Susan Parks-Spencer, with information from Rachel Silva, last edited February 16, 2019.