November 18^th was chosen this week by Day Sponsors Bill & Janis Walmsley. The poster reads-Take care and stay safe!  The campaign ad is from the 70’s but he is still caring about the people of our community!

November 1^st celebrated the 14^th year in business here in Independence County for FutureFuel. The company is a leader in the Biofuel industry, while also maintaining the facility’s status as a world class specialty chemical manufacturer.  They are long time day sponsors of the Museum.

Captain Charles Warner at the famed “Governors’ Corner” northeast of Batesville, Arkansas in 1967

Marker reads as follows:

                     Near this spot stood the homes of

                              THREE GOVERNORS

                    OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS

                  Thomas S. Drew        (1844-1849)

                  Elisha Baxter              (1873-1874)

                  William R. Miller           (1877-1881)

Powell Guard Collection # 251

The town center of Floral, Arkansas in the early 1900s. Many men stand looking up to where the photographer stood.  The building on the left is Luther Gilbert’s store. The store in the upper middle was owned by Bird and Claude Brown. The Floral post office opened in 1879 with Joel Mark Jeffrey appointed the first postmaster. Before the post office was established, there were the small communities of Cedar Grove, Pine Grove, Starnes Spring, and Union between Pleasant Plains and Banner in Cleburne County, AR. Banner was in Independence County until 1883 when Cleburne County was formed. Nearby in White County were Davenport and Tyler, which no longer exist. The community of Alonzo sprang up near Floral with its own post office between 1899 and 1918. Floral is believed to have received its name from the beautiful flowers that grew in the area, but may have been named for a Floral family who lived there (according to Mark Biram).

Kenneth Rorie gave permission for the museum to print a copy of this photograph which he had posted on the internet from the Bonnie Frazier Collection via Tom and Sandy Grady.