Times Past
We don't know the facts about this photo of the Gainesville High School cheerleaders singing to a crowd standing on the bleachers in the old school's gym (now the Gainesville post office), but it's thought to have been taken during the singing of the school song in the late 1950s during a school-day assembly rather than at a ballgame since only two young children are pictured.
Ozark County News
Nov. 7, 1883
LOST – On November 6th, at or near the ford of the Big North Fork above Poe's mill, on the road from Gainesville to St. Leger, a silver purse containing $215. One $50 bill and a $10 bill with a corner torn off were among the other bills. I will pay $25 to any person...
Isabella schoolteacher Dallas Herd stopped by his school to say good-bye to his students on the day he was leaving to go overseas in World War II, probably sometime in 1942, says his daughter Jeannie Jackson, who shared this photo a few years ago. She doesn’t know the students’ names or who took the photograph. Herd, son of the late Joe and Mae Herd of Isabella, served with the Army in England, France, Belgium and Germany. After the war, he returned home and served Ozark County as county clerk for 40 years, believed to be longer than any other county clerk in the state. He died in 2007.
Ozark County News
Nov. 2, 1899
Gainesville was visited Tuesday night by burglars, and the general merchandise store of J. W. Howard was the scene of operations. That night the youth of Gainesville were out in force to carry out their Halloween program. Before they had finished swapping wagons,...
This photo of the 1950 Dora High School driver’s training class is reprinted from the Dora Historian Facebook page curated by Mary Collins. Front row, from left: Harry Eagans, Charley Pendergrass, Lyman Smith, Andrew Jackson, Boyd Dodson, Lloyd Collins, Herman Johnson, Johnny Collins. Back: Zella Ballinger, Johnny Naugle, Twila Welton, June Skiles, Anna Collins, Lillian Russell, Bonnie Routh, David Nash, Martha Jane Cropper, Joan Roy. Martha Jane, known as Marty to friends and family, married Dale Uhlmann a month after she graduated from DHS in 1950. She remembers taking the class and recalls that it was taught by Bill Jackson, who had a second brake pedal on the front passenger side of the vehicle where he rode beside the student driver. Marty already knew how to drive when she took the class, but she had learned on the big truck her father, John Cropper, used to haul goods from West Plains to his store in Dora. So driving a car was new to her.
Ozark County News
Oct. 25, 1883
During circuit court, Sheriff Tate was called away to convey John Hensley to the penitentiary. It was arranged that during his absence, Julia McCool should stay with his family. It turned out, however, that the sheriff had not been on the road long before Miss McCool...
The original Tecumseh post office was established in this log building in the summer of 1898, with Julia E. Isom as the first postmaster, according to a story by the late Ruby Robins in the April 13, 1967, edition of the Times. When it opened, the post office stood alongside "a wagon trail from West Plains to Gainesville [that] was served by a ferry across the North Fork River not far from the present steel bridge [now the Highway 160 bridge]. The place is said to be named for the famed warrior chief of the Shawnee tribes." In 1965, during Nova Pleasant's 33 years as Tecumseh postmaster (1944-1977), the post office moved to its present location a few miles east on Highway 160 next to the Tecumseh Volunteer Fire Department. Robins speculated that the current building is probably the fifth to house the Tecumseh post office. This photo is shared courtesy of the Dora Historian Facebook page, curated by Mary Collins.
Ozark County News
Oct. 18, 1883
More homestead applications have been made in Ozark county this year than in any previous year in the history of the county. This fact shows wisdom on the part of the people.
The Republican
Oct. 18, 1906
Homer Hamilton was in Gainesville Sunday, having a tooth...
This photo of Gamaliel, Arkansas, just south of Bakersfield, is thought to have been taken in the mid-1950s. When it was originally posted on Facebook by Anita James Hartlein and shared by Bakersfield resident Micheal Mahan, one commenter noted that online sources said the road, looking north in the photo, was renamed State Highway 101 in 1941 and was paved in 1953. The Stinnett store is just out of view; the Gamaliel post office now stands on this site.
Ozark County News
Oct. 31, 1895
On Friday, October 25, at their residence ten miles north of Gainesville, Mr. Elisha Luna and wife, Mrs. Eliza Luna, celebrated the 60th anniversary of their wedding. There were about 400 people present. Of those present, the children, grandchildren and great-...
Hodgson Mill store, likely 1930s-40s This photo of the Hodgson Mill store, from the collection of the late Donna Milstead, is thought to have been taken in the late 1930s or early '40s, based on Facebook commenters' dating of the two vehicles shown. In Facebook comments in 2010, Virginia Berry suggested that the girls at far left, walking along the unpaved road (now Highway 181), may have been her sisters "Wanda, Scharlotte and myself" as their home was nearby. In her posts, Virginia said Fred and Cecil Leach lived above the store, which was destroyed by fire in 1960.
Ozark County News
Oct. 10, 1895
A serious difficulty arose yesterday between William Holt and John Richardson, in which the latter shot at Holt with a shot gun which was loaded with buck shot. None of the shot took effect, but it is feared that the shooting affair will create more trouble than was...
Ozark County News
Oct. 6, 1887
The two cent stamp is hereafter to be printed in green and bear the picture of Washington instead of Franklin.
The new school house is being completed as rapidly as possible. When finished it will be a fine building – that is what every-body says.
Luther Daniel...
The house was unpainted when this undated photo was taken. It’s believed the people in the photo are members of the John and Mary Conkin Harlin family, who owned the house “sometime after 1873,” according to Times archives. Perhaps some of the Harlins’ eight sons are some of those pictured.
The four photos accompanying this week's Times Past column show the grand old house that once stood where the Town & Country Supermarket is now. We don't know when the house was built, but a historical piece published in the Feb. 1, 1973, Times, says that "sometime after 1873," John W. and Mary...
This photo, from the collection of Patsy Trivitt, shows a float in the Hootin an Hollarin parade more than 50 years ago. The float was sponsored by Joan’s Cafe in the early 1970s and carried, from left, Kent Suter, Terry Akers Maddox, Trena Trivitt Uchtman, Jim Trivitt, Tammy Latham Johnson and Mike Richardson.
Ozark County Times
Sept. 13, 1912
Lutie – Edith Norton, the 17-year-old daughter of J. B. Norton of this place, committed suicide Thursday evening by drinking carbolic acid.
H. T. Owens, C. C. Hosman and E. F. Jones attended the colt show at Hammond Saturday.
Sept. 24, 1915
Oak Dale – Mr. Holt...
Hootin an Hollarin costumes: With Hootin an Hollarin coming up next week, we're sharing these two photos from previous festivals' costume contests. Mandy White anxiously awaits the announcement of contest winners alongside her sister, Dusty, left, and Tiffany, who is sitting on the lap of her great-grandfather, Al Dreckman (1894-1992). The girls, daughters of Darrell and Diane Dreckman White, are wearing dresses made by their grandmother, Jean Dreckman (1927-2005). The photo is undated, but the girls participated in the costume contest several years and won the small-group category in 1983.
Ozark County News
Sept. 13, 1883
Thirty-five dollars have been paid into the Treasury this week as fines for misdemeanors.
The Republican
Sept. 13, 1906
Testimonial ad. – Harry Ebrite, Editor of The Republican, in discussing corns the other day, said, “I had two corns on my feet that had bothered...