1880
The federal census shows Fayetteville’s population to be 1,788, an 87 percent increase from the 1870 population. Washington County’s total population was 23,844.
The Fayetteville Commercial League, similar to a chamber of commerce, is established this year.
April 18 — A cyclone hits the Fayetteville square, destroying many of the buildings and killing at least one person on the square and a child in Fayetteville's Black community.
1881
June 8 — Track of the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway reaches Fayetteville, and the first train arrives with the president of the rail company, Charles Warrington Rogers, aboard. A crowd estimated in the thousands greeted the train about where North Street crosses the line.
1882
July 4 — The first regularly scheduled passenger train of the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway arrives in Fayetteville, coming from Pierce City, Mo.
1884
August 23 — Travis Post No. 19 of the Grand Army of the Republic is mustered.
October 23 — The Pacific & Greater Eastern Railway Co. was incorporated, and track was eventually laid east to Wyman.
November 6 — The Washington County Bank is chartered at Fayetteville with W.B. Welch as president.
1885
Originally published in West Fork, The Republican newspaper is moved to Fayetteville by the owner, W.M. Simpson, and sold the next year to Thomas Brooks and Damon Clark.
The city’s first daily paper also appeared this year. T.P. Price, Frank J. Price and Albert H. Price began publication of The Evening Call, but soon suspended operations.
St. James Baptist Church is established this year on Willow Avenue near Mountain Street.
Fayetteville becomes a city of the second class.
Washington School is built on Highland Avenue between Lafayette and Maple at a cost of about $9,131.55. In the first year, 741 students attended.
1886
Construction of the Fayetteville and Little Rock Railway, better known as the St. Paul Branch, begins.
The first phone line, established as the Washington County Telephone Co., is run from Fayetteville to Farmington, Prairie Grove, Viney Grove, Rhea’s Mill and Cincinnati. However, equipment used on the line turned out to infringe on patents owned by Bell Telephone.
The Fayetteville Building and Loan Association No. 1 is organized with stock issued in two series of $100,000 each. E.B. Harrison was the first president.
March 22 — The Young Men’s Christian Association is organized by Ellis Duncan and Mark Dean.
1887
Fayetteville Lodge No. 28 of the Ancient Order of United Workmen was established this year.
June 16 — The Knights of Pythias organize the Criterion Lodge No. 36.
1888
Col. J.L. Cravens opens an insurance office in Fayetteville. It was not the first such enterprise but the earliest known date. J.H. Van Hoose and E.B. Wall had also sold insurance during the same time period.
The Bank of Fayetteville is established with Lafayette Gregg as president.
January — The Fayetteville Electric Light and Power Co. is organized and a plant is built near where the Old County Courthouse now stands at the intersection of College Avenue and Center Street. Power initially came from the Old Red Mill at the foot of the hill on Greenland Road.
1889
A group of residents hires a Chicago consultant to make a survey of potential sources of water, and they build a pump station on the West Fork of the White River at the eastern end of what is now called Pump Station Road. The original building was replaced by the existing stone building in 1925. Water was pumped to a reservoir on East Mountain at an elevation high enough to serve even the top towers of Old Main. The city bought the waterworks in 1907. The old water treatment plant on Mount Sequoyah was torn down in 1999, and the property was turned into a city park. One later reservoir was turned into a home on Oklahoma Way.
Moore’s Funeral Chapel opens for business.
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