Stuttgart

By Glenn Mosenthin

Join author Glenn Mosenthin as he recounts the history of Stuttgart, Arkansas and how the Mississippi River helped to create this progressive city.

Stuttgart was founded in 1880 by a colony of German Lutherans who moved from Ohio to Arkansas's Grand Prairie. The city grew steadily after the Cotton Belt Railroad arrived in 1883. A group of realtors promoted Stuttgart to residents of Midwestern states, attracting a large population influx. Initially, the main income sources were hay and cattle, but that changed forever after rice was successfully grown near Stuttgart. The first rice mill was built in 1907, followed in 1921 by the creation of a farmers' cooperative that is now the world's largest rice processor and marketer. By the 1930s, Stuttgart's location on the Mississippi Flyway, along with abundant surface water, led to its renown as a waterfowl hunter's paradise. The World Championship Duck Calling Contest has been held here since 1936, and today it is a nationally known event. In the post-World War II era, Stuttgart launched a successful industrial development campaign that resulted in today's progressive city.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Apr 6, 2015
• ISBN: 9781439650707

Glenn Mosenthin

Author Glenn Mosenthin is a third-generation graduate of Stuttgart High School. He went on to earn a business degree from Tulsa University. Glenn worked for many years with American Airlines as an airport operations agent and is editor of the Grand Prairie Historical Bulletin.

Book preview

(AC/SPL).

INTRODUCTION

The history of Stuttgart, Arkansas, began when a colony of German Lutherans arrived in 1878, led by a minister with visions of establishing a new church synod. Rev. Adam Buerkle, a native of Plattenhardt, Germany, settled near Woodville, Ohio, around 1867. He journeyed to the Arkansas Grand Prairie in 1878 to look for the right place to start a colony and found the prairie much to his liking. He purchased the antebellum Gum Pond Plantation, over 7,700 acres in size, for around $3 per acre. Reverend Buerkle brought two colonies to Gum Pond, one in 1878 and the other the following year, totaling around 28 families in all, including 17 Lutheran ministers. Buerkle sold half the plantation to his colonists for the same money he had paid and kept the other half for his family. It is unclear whether he occupied the original plantation house or built a new one on the site. His home also served as the church until 1896, when a permanent one was built.

Reverend Buerkle established a post office in his home in 1880, naming it Stuttgart after the city near his birthplace. School was held in the Buerkle home until a one-room schoolhouse was built around 1882 in what is today’s business district. In 1883, the Texas & St. Louis (Cotton Belt) Railroad was completed through the Grand Prairie but ran some distance south of the Buerkle home. The railroad would not recognize Stuttgart as a stop since there was no post office present. Besides, the Cotton Belt was promoting Goldman as the new town at the time. Reverend Buerkle solved that problem by building a post office next to the tracks, and thus began Stuttgart on the present site. The new town was platted in 1884, but some years would pass before any real growth occurred.

The 1887 arrival of developer Thomas H. Leslie began the first era of expansion. Leslie had the business sense and ability to raise money necessary for the town’s industrial growth. He founded a bank and built a railroad to Gillett to tap the region’s resources. Leslie organized a real estate exchange that spurred trade in the business district. Stuttgart was incorporated in 1889, with Col. Robert Crockett, grandson of the famous Davy Crockett, elected as its first mayor. In the same year, both a preparatory college and new public school were built. Hay and cattle were the area’s main income sources at the time. To encourage an industrial base for Stuttgart, promoters attracted businesses such as furniture makers, livery stables, flour and feed mills, gristmills, wagonmakers, farm implement factories, well drillers, dairies, blacksmith shops, and a concrete plant.

A dramatic chapter in Stuttgart’s history began in 1902, when a successful rice crop was grown in the vicinity. By 1907, Arkansas’s first rice mill was built, and in a mere two years, it needed to be expanded. Rice production took off in a big way, made viable by the prairie’s clay soil layer, which supported irrigation. This attracted hundreds of settlers from the Midwest, who responded to advertising by promoters including J.E. Balle, W.M. Price, D.C. Adams, Philip Reinsch, Ray O. Burks, and Elliott Tallman, who organized twice-monthly railroad excursions to Stuttgart. The town experienced a boom, resulting in a new brick public school and railroad depot, sidewalks, sewers, a paved Main Street with many new brick buildings, and electricity to all homes.

After World War I, the price of rice dropped, causing growers to form a cooperative to gain greater dominance in the marketplace. They received cash advances on delivery of rice at harvesttime, instead of settling for low prices. Formed in 1921, the Arkansas Rice Growers Cooperative Association developed into today’s Riceland Foods, the world’s largest rice miller and marketer. The Rice Carnival was held in Stuttgart most years from 1909 to 1928. By the 1920s, area farms cultivated hundreds of thousands of acres of rice, which were flooded after the autumn harvest. With an abundance of surface water, nutritious flooded rice fields, and a convenient Mississippi Flyway location, millions of migratory waterfowl began wintering in the region. Grand Prairie residents quickly realized the opportunities commercial duck hunting would provide for their area. Lodges, guiding services, and suppliers were established, aiding the area’s economy then just as today. The Depression years proved difficult for Stuttgart, but the founding of a new sporting competition would soon begin to transition the town to better times.

The first National Duck Calling Contest, sponsored by the local American Legion post, was held in November 1936. The event was inspired by a dispute that broke out among local duck hunters as to which one was the best caller. A committee of three Stuttgart Legionnaires—Thad McCollum, Dr. H.V. Glenn, and Verne Tindall—originated the contest. A carnival was set up on Main Street to accompany the annual contests, reviving the rice carnivals of previous years. The event, now known as the World Championship Duck Calling Contest, has grown to become a truly national and international competition. It is now part of the Wings Over the Prairie Festival, a huge source of revenue for the Stuttgart area and one of the largest such events in Arkansas.

In 1943, Producers Rice Mill was founded, and later expanded into cooperative rice drying. It is now one of the largest private-label packers of rice in the country. The World War II years brought another economic boost in the form of a military base. The Stuttgart Army Airfield operated from 1942 to 1945, performing flight training initially in the Waco Hadrian glider and then in twin-engine aircraft. The air base consisted of four 5,000-foot runways and facilities for 6,000 personnel. New houses were built to accommodate the influx of service personnel, while