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| Altus Well Shed/Gazebo |
ALTUS WELL SHED/GAZEBO, ALTUS, FRANKLIN COUNTY
SUMMARY
The Altus Well Shed/Gazebo
originated as a water supply well for
the Missouri Pacific Railroad (the
railroad was originally the Little
Rock & Fort Smith, later the St.
Louis, Iron Mountain, & Southern - the
well could have been dug by the Iron
Mtn., we don't really know - this
information comes from interviews of
the oldtimers by our constituents.)
Now, get this date, "prior to, or in
the 1920's, the well was covered over
and the gazebo was built from native
stone (we think it is concrete-we're
still trying to ascertain that too).
Good luck. Criterion C. Located at
the southeast corner of the park, just
northwest of the int. of N. Franklin
and E. Main Sts.
ELABORATION
The community of Altus was first
settled around 1875 with the arrival
of the Little Rock & Fort Smith
Railroad, which for a period of a year
terminated at Altus. Though the
railroad soon proceeded with its plan
to complete the line through to Fort
Smith, Altus remained a principal
freight and passenger stop on the
line; in fact, the town acquired its
name through its association with the
railroad, as it occupied the highest
elevation on the railroad between
Little Rock and Fort Smith (the
name "Altus" came from the
Latin "alta," meaning "high").
Originally, Altus was located about a
quarter of a mile east of where it is
today. Mr. U.J. Nichols laid out the
new site and offered the railway every
alternate lot, and a 300 x 300 feet
depot site to move Altus to the
present location. The town consisted
of four streets situated around the
depot as a square.
Coinciding with the arrival of the
railroad was the founding of Central
Collegiate Institute in October of
1876 by Reverend Isham L. Burrow. The
college grew gradually over the years,
and a new three story building was
constructed in 1884. Later that year
the college was purchased by the
Arkansas Valley, Little Rock, and
White River Methodist Conferences.
The name was changed to Hendrix
College in honor of Bishop Hendrix of
Kansas City. In 1890, the three
Methodist conferences decided to
relocate the college to a town larger
than Altus in order to ensure the
future growth of the institution.
After accepting bids from all over
Arkansas, the town of Conway was
chosen as the new location, and the
college remains there today. After
Hendrix College left Altus, however,
Rev. Burrow reopened another school on
the same campus called Hiram and Lydia
College in honor of his mother and
father. The new school also
flourished for sixteen years, 1890-
1906, at which time Rev. Burrow
decided to close the school because of
his advanced age.
German and Swiss settlement in
Altus began in 1881 when immigrants
from the wine-making regions of both
countries were encouraged to settle
there by the Little Rock and Fort
Smith Railroad Company. Many of the
families settled on Pond Creek
Mountain to the north of Altus and
began growing grapes. An active
winemaking industry soon developed
with such families and the Posts and
Wiedekehrs achieving considerable
success in bottling and marketing
their wines broadly. Altus remains
the winemaking capital of the state,
with three active wineries still in
operation.
Altus was incorporated on August
31, 1888, and the town had a
population of five hundred at the
time. Altus' status as an early
college town was soon complimented by
its role as a shipping center for the
burgeoning local coal mining
industry. Coal had been discovered in
Old Spadra, Johnson County, as early
as 1873; by 1880 it was a prosperous
local industry. The mining community
of Denning, located approximately two
miles south of Altus, was the most
productive mining community and was
connected to the main rail line via a
branch line constructed in 1895. This
line was subsequently extended to
Ozark for the purpose of bypassing the
steep grade between Altus and Ozark.
Shortly thereafter, it became the main
line, and in 1936, the railroad track
through Altus was pulled and all
traffic diverted through Denning.
The history of the Altus Well
Shed/Gazebo is tied directly to that
of the railroad, but there is some
confusion as to the dates of
construction. According to several
eighty-year old Altus residents, the
well was dug by the Missouri Pacific
Railroad about the time the original
depot was built in Altus. A trough
extended to the north from the well
and provided water for the horses and
mules used for hauling cotton from the
ferry on the Arkansas River to the
railroad for shipment.
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