Category Archives: “Looking Back”

Pine Mountain Americans: “Looking Back”

Fifty years ago, on January 7, 1969, Rufus “Bub” Haydon, Jr., 75, former Faulkner County surveyor and a retired surveyor for the U.S. Corps of Engineers, passed away at Conway Memorial Hospital after a brief illness. He was the author of “Pine Mountain Americans, (1947), a book relating old folklore stories and describing events that took place near Round Mountain, south of Conway.

Haydon, the second son of Anna Etta and Rufus Haydon, Sr., was born Continue reading

A Presidential Visit: “Looking Back”

One hundred years ago, on January 6, 1919, Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., the 26th President of the United States died in his sleep at the age of 60. A blood clot detached from a vein and traveled to his lungs in his final hours. He had suffered asthma as a child and continued to have breathing problems all his life. He had a breathing treatment right before bedtime.

Vice President Thomas R. Marshall said upon hearing the news, “Death had to take Roosevelt sleeping, for if he had been awake, there would have been a fight.” Continue reading

Seeing a Show: “Looking Back”

In the 1960s, goin’ to the movies meant going to the Conway Theater on Front Street or going to the 65 Drive-in. The drive-in was south of town across from Ward Bus factory. The Conway Theater was located on Front Street between Clarence Day’s Store and Smith Ford.

The first movie I remember going to see at the Conway Theater with the family was the original “True Grit” with John Wayne. But what I remember the most Continue reading

Spanish Flu 1918: “Looking Back”

The 1918 Spanish Flu was the most severe pandemic in recent history. It was called the “Spanish Flu,” not because it originated in Spain, but because this neutral nation freely reported the news of the flu while the countries involved in the war kept quiet about the severity and spread of the disease to keep up public morale and not reveal illness among the soldiers during wartime.

We now know the flu was caused by the H1N1 virus with genes of avian (bird) origin. First identified in military personnel in the spring Continue reading

County Cotton Gins: “Looking Back”

Although many Faulkner County farmers brought their cotton to Conway to be ginned and then shipped on the Little Rock-Fort Smith Railroad, some farmers preferred to take their crop to a local gin. Cotton gins could be found in many of the rural communities of Faulkner County. Here are just a few of them:

The Little Plantation in the Lollie Community southwest of Conway consisted of approximately Continue reading