Fayetteville History

Fayette Junction

Fayette Junction is the name of a small railroad switchyard on the south side of Fayetteville where the mainline of the Frisco Railway was intersected by the Fayetteville and Little Rock R.R., better known as the St. Paul Branch, which went east from Fayetteville deep into Madison County.

The main line of Frisco runs north-south parallel to Razorback Road. The St. Paul Branch went almost due east. Remnants of the junction still exist at the corner of Cato Springs and Vale Avenue, although the spur line to St. Paul has been long gone.

Smoky Row

The section of Center Street between College Avenue and the Fayetteville square became known as "Smoky Row" during the 19th century, although the exact origin is unknown.

Up to three explanations have been offered over the years:

1. Prior to the use of natural gas to heat buildings, the many offices, eateries and boarding houses along Center Street used wood-burning and later coal-burning stoves, pumping ample smoke into the thoroughfare.
2. Because of the proximity of the old courthouse, many of the offices along the street were leased to lawyers, whose frequent use of cigars caused the row to be smoky.
3. Another explanation has also sometimes been put forward: Smoky Row was named for the creeping of fog from the hollow behind the old courthouse up into the street on cool mornings.

This latter choice seems more likely an effort to explain a name that already existed rather than a source for the name. Fog, after all, would have crept onto Meadow, Spring and Mountain streets as easily as Center Street. (Thanks to the comment below for spurring further reading.)

Mount Sequoyah

View Larger Map

Originally called East Mountain, the largest mountain in Fayetteville was renamed Mount Sequoyah when the hilltop was given to the state Methodist Assembly for use as a religious retreat. It was named in honor of the inventor of the Cherokee syllabary, Sequoyah, and opened for its first summer assembly in 1923. The center is surrounded by Skyline Drive.

Nearly 70 acres on the east side of the mountain was bought back by the city in 2003 to create a city park called Mount Sequoyah Woods.

The city's first water treatment plant and water reservoirs were built on the west face of the mountain between Summit Avenue and Oklahoma Way, high enough to provide water pressure to the top floors of Old Main on the University of Arkansas campus. The reservoirs were removed in 1998 and turned into a city park called Mount Sequoyah Gardens.

The rest of Mount Sequoyah extends northeast to Shadowridge Drive.

Mount Nord

View Larger Map

Roughly bounded by Louise Street on the north, College Avenue on the east, Lafayette Street on the south and Vandeventer on the west, this oval-shaped mount rises about 140 feet above the valley of Scull Creek and separates downtown Fayetteville from Wilson Park. The residential neighborhoods on Mount Nord were developed between 1905 and 1925, including the home of the Fulbright family and reconstruction of the Arkansas House, since razed, on the west end of the mountain, facing the University of Arkansas campus.

Washington Elementary School is on the eastern slope of the Mountain.

The Mount Nord Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, becoming Fayetteville's second historic district.

McIlroy Bank

In 1872, Denton Stark opened the Stark Bank and convinced William McIlroy to invest $7,800 in the bank. Stark, a former Union officer, became overextended through bungled management and financial speculation, and he left town in a hurry.

McIlroy took over control of the bank, changed the name and built it into the city's financial mainstay. It was family owned until 1986, when it was sold to Jim Walton's Arvest Bank Group. The bank's name was officially changed to Arvest Bank in 2001.