The location was perfect. The round hilltop overlooked a peaceful valley where deer and wild turkeys came to drink from a sparkling stream that formed a natural lake. It was the perfect spot for Zebulon Whinery and his family to build a log cabin in 1845.
Fast forward about 40 years. The location was still perfect. Raw materials were available for craftsmen who were busy erecting buildings for investors who had discovered the place that could be called paradise -- right here in northwest Arkansas!
The buildings and monuments the stone masons created still stand tall and strong today -- but silent. They wait for a new generation to see and appreciate their value and their heritage. It has been a long wait, more than a century, and those solid, staid structures, if they could talk, might tell stories about special events that, in their time, rival happenings of today.
Let me share with you a brief history of that place that wasn't and isn't called paradise. It received its name because of the many springs that flowed in the peaceful valley. Many of the new residents were health seekers who came because of the health-giving qualities of that spring water, while investors envisioned developing the community into a health spa -- hence the new buildings they were having constructed. It was then the community which became known as Sulphur Springs.
I grew up in that small town, not a century ago, of course, but during the later dates of the depression, during World War II and finally during the after-the-war growth and good-time era which many small towns experienced. Unfortunately, that positive atmosphere eventually waned for many places. This was true throughout the nation, including Benton County.
This 'cuff article is about those native stone buildings erected during the early 1900s. They still stand, guarding the town. This story will focus on personal observations and especially on articles about those buildings printed in the Sulphur Springs History Book, published for the town's one-hundredth birthday, 1990. An updated issue was published recently.
I never learned the names of those skilled artisans who designed the stonework in the park, who also built several large stone business structures, as well as the beautiful native stone Methodist Church which holds service each Sunday. These buildings, still standing, are enough to catch the eye of visitors to the community. But the two imposing stone structures on the hill, just a block from downtown, are the real monuments for the town which at one time attracted hundreds of summer residents and health seekers to bathe in the sulphur water. One, called The Livingston Hotel, also housed a health sanatorium. The other, the Kihlberg Hotel -- named after one of its primary investors, Oscar Kihlberg -- was one of the most plush and famous hotels in all of northwest Arkansas.
Both hotels enjoyed several years of glory, especially the Kihlberg, which was the site of numerous grand and gala events attended by numerous well-to-do and important guests. But times changed. Other recreational and health resorts opened, World War I occurred and the automobile, that four-wheeled "monster" made personal travel easy and replaced the train excursions which every summer brought crowds of people to the small, yet thriving, community.
It was in 1924 that John Brown, a minister, purchased the structures and related buildings, as well as the big shady park with its springs, and also Lake LaBalladine, which today is a favorite spot for swimmers.
Brown opened a liberal arts school and attracted about 100 students from as many as 16 states. Called John Brown University, it completed his John Brown College located in nearby Siloam Springs. The Brown family moved into a large home on the hill overlooking the school and the town. Many changes occurred during ensuing years. Two years later, the school became a junior college for girls which included a factory to make dresses.
It was during this era the school was consolidated with the one in Siloam Springs. Together they became John Brown University, which today is one of the nation's best four-year private educational facilities.
For a short period of time, the stone buildings in Sulphur Springs operated as a sanatorium and home-resort, but depression days resulted in more change. The site became the Julia A. Brown School, for parents seeking a Christian school for their children through ninth grade. In 1937, it became known as John Brown Academy, which also offered a summer program, "Camp Buddy," named for the Brown's son John, whose nickname was "Buddy."
How well I remember a cold day in January, 1940, when the town of Sulphur Springs was blanketed by heavy smoke, smoke from a huge blaze that destroyed the tower and the top floor of the Kilhlberg Hotel. I was five, knew little about the building, only the smoke I saw outside the kitchen window. I was really scared. The remainder of the building and a portion of the circular tower were restored, and use of the building continued. The structure remains sound today.
How well I also remember, in later years, the cadets who, in their uniforms, marched on the school grounds shouting the cadences: B.M.A.O., BMAO, B.M.A.O., Brown Military Academy of the Ozarks. Those sounds were familiar in Sulphur Springs for many years, until the early 1950s when BMAO merged with a similar Brown academy in California.
It was then those historic stone structures became home for Wycliffe Bible Translators, an internationally known missionary organization which, incidentally, had its beginning several years earlier in a small residence north of Sulphur Springs.
It was during Wycliffe's occupation that Rev. Billy Graham, perhaps the world's most famous evangelist at that time, visited Sulphur Springs and spoke to a crowd of several thousand people in the park on September 14, 1959. The huge crowd assembled near the springs, near the creative rock work of those long-ago stone masons. After about 20 years, the Wycliffe organization returned to its California headquarters.
The Church of Shiloh, a religious group from New York state, purchased the properties about 1970 and several families moved to make their home in Sulphur Springs. The organization operated a bakery which supplied bread and other baked goods to a clientele over a wide area. Missionaries from throughout the world visited Shiloh where they found lodging in those native stone buildings.
During recent years attrition has taken a toll on the Shiloh family which resulted in the closing of the bakery and its other services, finally forcing the closing of the two buildings. A sign along Highway 59 lists the property for sale. The buildings still stand, tall and proud, and, if they could speak, are probably saying to passing motorists, "Come and see us; what we have to offer...."
Time surely holds an answer. State Representative Kim Hendren of Gravette has been instrumental in contacting several agencies for possible use of the property. Because of the buildings' sturdy and functional construction, Hendren feels the right person, the right firm, the state, or someone interested could continue the story of this historic spot. The possibilities are unlimited, yet unknown.
Then Sulphur Springs could again become a center of activity and progress. Its history, and the history of the two buildings, have many more chapters to write!
Dodie Evans is former owner and long-time editor of the Gravette News Herald. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
General News on 06/22/2016