One of the most important celebrities to ever visit Conway in yesteryear was Will Rogers, an American stage and motion picture actor, vaudeville performer, humorist and newspaper columnist from Indian Territory in Oklahoma.
Rogers, who got his start as a rope-spinner on the vaudeville stage, was known for his off-the-cuff wisecracks about the current politics. His well-known motto was “All I know is Continue reading
November 11, 2018, marks the 100th anniversary of the Armistice that officially ended World War I. More than four million American families sent their sons and daughters to serve in uniform during the Great War. With a casualty rate far greater than World War II, 116,510 U.S. soldier died from combat and disease while another 200,000 were wounded.
Although World War I began in 1914, the United States did not enter the conflict until Continue reading
For decades, Tuesday was auction day for area farmers who raised livestock. On that day, livestock was rounded up, loaded into trailers and taken to the auction in Conway.
The first Conway livestock auction was held in October 1943. Major Lewis of Shirley and his partner, Homer Brown, would hold sales every Tuesday in J.H. Berry’s on the east side of Markham by the Old Gin building. Continue reading
Although most of us recall from elementary school that the first Thanksgiving took place in Plymouth Colony in 1621, it was not until 200 years later that President Abraham Lincoln declared the final Thursday in November to be a national day of thanksgiving.
Sarah Josepha Hale, author of the timeless nursery rhyme, “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” Continue reading
From 1907 to around 1943, Arkansas participated in a federal initiative to eradicate the ticks that caused Texas tick fever among the state’s cattle herds. The ticks mainly came into the state during the 19th century Texas cattle drives, although there is some evidence that they were in the state before the Civil War.
Arkansas’ climate and the common cattle practices at the time provided Continue reading