Today in History

September 29 - Regional planning gets started

1966 — The Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission was created on this day to help coordinate development of regional infrastructure such as highways between Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers and Bentonville.

September 27 - Boudinot dies; Early frost; Julian Bond at UA

1890 — Elias Cornelius Boudinot died on this day at Fort Smith, Arkansas. Boudinot lived in Fayetteville during the 1850s, publishing the Arkansian newspaper prior to the Civil War, serving as secretary to the Arkansas secession convention, rising to colonel in the Confederate Army, and then representing the Cherokee nation before Congress after the war. He was also instrumental in securing a line of the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway through Fayetteville.
1942 — Fayetteville’s earliest frost was recorded on this day.
1978 — Julian Bond, the civil rights leader from Georgia, spoke at the University of Arkansas on this day.

September 25 - Osage cede land; Baum Brothers fire sale; Son's Chapel on register

1817 — The Osage ceded a portion of land that included present-day Fayetteville to the United States on this day, although the Arkansas Territory had earlier in the year taken the land without treaty.
1894 — A smoldering match left in some hay caught a stable east of the square on fire. The fire spread to the Baum Brothers store, destroying it and killing one man when a wall collapsed.
2003 — Son’s Chapel, the rock church built between 1933 and 1937 on East Mission Boulevard, was added to the National Register of Historic Places on this day.

September 24 - Spock speaks about Vietnam War

1969 — Dr. Benjamin Spock gave a speech at the University of Arkansas on this day. Spock, a noted child psychologist, came on behalf of the Civil Liberties Legal Defense Fund, an organization that represented conscientious objectors during the Vietnam War.

September 23 - Fulbright book-signing

1988 — Former U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright autographed copies of his latest book, The Price of Empire, at the Bank of Fayetteville on this day, celebrating the 50th anniversary of his installation as president of the University of Arkansas. A plaque and bust of Fulbright were also unveiled on the Fayetteville square.

September 22 - Fayetteville reoccupied

1863 — The Arkansas 1st Regiment Cavalry, the 1st Regiment Infantry and the 1st Battery Light Artillery reoccupied Fayetteville permanently on this day. The cavalry and infantry regiments remained based there until February 1865, while the artillery battery stayed until March 1864.

September 21 - Statehood sought; Sidney born at LR; Kunstler debates Jim Guy

1835 — Arkansas elected its first delegates to a state constitutional convention on this day to draft a state constitution in preparation for seeking statehood.
1957 — Sidney Moncrief, who starred on the University of Arkansas basketball team before competing for the Milwaukee Bucks, was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, on this day.
1970 — William Kunstler, the attorney who defended the Chicago Eight, and Jim Guy Tucker, the newly elected prosecuting attorney in Little Rock, debated on this day the merits of using violence to force social change. The two presented their opinions at the University of Arkansas before a crowd of about 1,500 people. Tucker defended the current system of government, and Kunstler condemned it.

September 20 - Guisinger Building added to register

1984 — The Guisinger Building at the southeast corner of the Fayetteville Square was added to the National Register of Historic Places on this day.

September 19 - Rollerball premiers at Ozark Theatre

1975 — Rollerball, the movie starring James Caan and scripted from a short story by a Fayetteville author, William Harrison, premiered at the Ozark Theatre on this day.

September 18 - First stagecoach rolls in; Last passenger train pulls out

1858 — The first Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach rolled up to the station in Fayetteville at 11 a.m. on this day. Passengers had a chance to stretch their legs before the stage headed southwest for Fort Smith, San Francisco and points in between.
1965 — The last regularly scheduled passenger train stopped in Fayetteville on the morning of this day. M.E. Brewster was the engineer for the southbound St. Louis and San Francisco train. Among the passengers was a Fayetteville resident, W.W. Swaney, who was then 94 and who, as a child, had ridden as a passenger on the first train to enter Fayetteville in 1882.