The Future of Our Town
By John M. Lewis, President, The Bank of Fayetteville
Block Street Journal
But first, the past...
The Overland Mail Co. was organized by John Butterfield of New York in 1857 to carry letter mail between St. Louis and San Francisco. This six-year, $600,000-per-year contract stipulated there would be twice-a-week service in good horse coaches that carried the mail and nine passengers. Mr. Butterfield was an experienced teamster in the Northeast, and his engineers, following his advice to use the most direct southern route, chose to come through Northwest Arkansas. At 2,795 miles in length, this mail and stage route was the longest in the world and reputed to be conducted as the best. Stage fare was $200 for the two-week journey that included stops at 140 way stations on the way to San Francisco.
The route from Missouri to Fayetteville came down the "old wire road," on which I and many others still travel to this day, and then on to the hotel and station that Mr. Butterfield personally owned and his eldest son Charles operated. This station was located on the site of the current County Court House and Ozark Theater Building. Fayetteville then was the location of two noted schools, the Female Seminary and Arkansas College, after which College Avenue was named. As a reporter in the New York Herald wrote in his paper, "Fayetteville is located up among the hills in a most inaccessible spot, in what is said by the inhabitants to be the star county of the state. It has two churches, the county court house [then in the center of the square], a number of fine stores and dwellings, and I believe 1,800 inhabitants. It is a flourishing little town ... "
Mr. Butterfield also owned a 360-acre farm on the western edge of town which he frequented regularly and also used to entertain his friends from the East. The Butterfields regarded this region as the most healthful and beautiful along the entire route. Fayetteville was their favorite city.
The Butterfield Stage and Overland Mail Route through Arkansas was terminated in 1861 by the Civil War.
So What?
Mmm. An interesting bit of history, but of what future consequence? Well, our past defines and shapes our future, and to me, this little story graphically illustrates a piece of our culture that we must recognize and emphasize to guide us through the perils of the future. Our forefathers revered education. And, as we shaped our land, the land shaped us. Our land is beautiful and serene, but it can also be harsh and unforgiving to the unprepared.
Natives or people educated in the hills of Arkansas credit this area for helping to shape and create their thoughts and character. Bill Fulbright, Ed Stone, Fay Jones and Jimmy Lambeth, along with many others, all recognize that the beauty and serenity of our hills have influenced them, as they have then influenced others. Most also note that the difficulty of living off the land develops character. Survival requires persistence, independence, original thought and tenacity. Our simplicity, honesty, integrity and work ethic have in turn created the quality of life we all enjoy. Perhaps then, it is not pure chance that we are doing well as an area when other areas arc not.
My grandmother said it takes character to survive in the Ozarks. She learned that from her grandfather, a doctor who came to Spring Valley in 1830. In their turn, Louise Bell and Harry Vandergriff, among others, taught my generation that character traits, not personality traits, were essential to individual and collective development.
Now, the Future
Just as the Civil War interrupted the Butterfields' dream, our future is filled with unknown perils. It has always been that way.
Lessons from our culture can supply the map to a better future. We must use the educational underpinning of original thought to properly plan for the future; we must be proactive. We have a different way of looking at things, we recognize what is authentic and what is fabricated, what is glitter and what is gold, and what is lasting and what is ephemeral. This knowledge comes from our culture, our education and our love and respect for our land.
We have problems now and we will have them in the future. We must address them honestly and with all of the technical expertise and education that we possess. We must also use our education to learn traits that will be essential: flexibility, tolerance and compassion for our fellow man. Not anything new, but well worth bringing into our culture as benchmarks for the future. The problems we have are not caused by lack of people but a lack of understanding born of education. The solution can be for us to comprehend a shared history and to collectively agree upon common objectives for the future. Similar to teaching our children "Roots and Wings," except it applies to us adults.
Fayetteville has always been unique, a city of charm and grace, of style and dignity. We need to remember that and build upon those inherited characteristics, our common distinctions and accomplishments. We must share this common background with our children and with our friends, and just as important, with the many new residents moving into our area.
Incidentally, Hogeye was the next favorite stop on the Butterfield Stage. It was reported to have good food and distilled corn whiskey served in earthenware jugs. From there it was only 15 more hours to Fort Smith and any passenger who passed over the route without feelings of terror and astonishment was almost certainly oblivious to every consideration of personal safety.