Washington to Hope

Hempstead County has fascinating legacy

Hempstead County celebrated its bicentennial in 2018, presenting an opportunity to take a look at one of the most interesting and historically significant counties in Arkansas. On Dec. 15, 1818, the Missouri legislature adopted a bill to create three new counties in what was then Arkansas County — Clark, Pulaski and Hempstead. Occupying much of southwest Arkansas, Hempstead County stretched westward from the Ouachita River into modern Oklahoma.

Hempstead County was propitiously situated, sitting astraddle the Southwest Trail — the only thing that could be called a road in early Arkansas — which ran diagonally across the state from southeast Missouri to the Spanish province of Texas. Another advantage of the area was the rich, deep soil of the Gulf Coastal Plain, the natural division encompassing most of southwest Arkansas. Being good cotton lands, Hempstead County would soon be home to many large farms worked by enslaved people.

One of the early groups of settlers established farms on Mound Prairie, close to the Red River, where deep black soil produced abundant crops. A grist mill and blacksmith shop were built in 1808 by brothers Abner and Reuben Mouren, and the community which developed at the site was named Columbus. Fulton, located on the Red River, was a thriving steamboat landing until the coming of the railroads after the Civil War. Land speculator Stephen F. Austin was one of the promoters of Fulton.

The government of Hempstead County was organized June 28, 1819, when 25 men gathered at the house of early settler John English to create a court of common pleas for the new county of Hempstead. The court proceeded to name the first county officials, and as the late historian Mary Medearis has written, transacted the first orders of business: “There was a bill to probate, a broken contract to consider, a few cases of larceny and five indictments for assault and battery; there was a fee of $15 to pay Asa Blankenship for conveying William Finley ‘a person charged with murder’ from Pecan Point; and an allotment of $18 per month from court funds for the maintenance of George Jones, ‘a poor person from this county.’”

By 1824 Hempstead County was ready to select an actual county seat with a proper courthouse, rather than meeting in the home of John English — an early settler who represented the county in the first territorial legislature. In 1823 the legislature authorized moving the courthouse to what would soon become the town of Washington. At first the county officials and the new circuit court held official meetings in the tavern of Elijah Stuart, but soon a new log courthouse was finished at a cost of $250.

The Southwest Trail ran through the middle of the new town of Washington, and a village soon emerged. William Trimble, who would later serve on the Territorial Supreme Court, opened the first of many law offices by 1826. Other prominent early lawyers were Grandison Royston — who would later represent Hempstead County in both the 1836 and 1872 Constitutional Conventions — and future Federal Judge Daniel Ringo. Later, the great jurist, governor, U.S. senator and U.S. attorney general Augustus H. Garland got his start practicing in Washington.

The first known Jewish immigrant to Arkansas, Abraham Block, established a business in Washington by 1825. Stagecoach service began in 1838, providing transport to Little Rock in only 38 hours. A newspaper, the Washington Telegraph, began publication in 1839 (or 1840, depending on sources), the only newspaper in Arkansas published continually throughout the Civil War. James Black established a thriving blacksmith business — but it was his development of the Bowie knife which earned him a place in history.

Washington played a role in the war for Texas independence. As the last town before reaching the Texas border, Washington was the place Sam Houston plotted his independence efforts. English visitor George W. Featherstonhaugh wrote: “General Houston was here, leading a mysterious sort of life, shut up in a small tavern, seeing nobody by day, and sitting up all night.”

A few Hempstead County residents participated in the war for Texas independence. Far more fought later in the War with Mexico. But it was the Civil War which sent many county residents onto the field of battle. In 1860 Hempstead ranked as the fifth county for enslaved population, 5,398 out of a total population of 13,989. Thus, it is no surprise that local men readily joined the rebellion. The most famous unit was the Hempstead Rifles, which rode away with expectations of being home by planting time, only to suffer grievously at the Battle of Wilson’s Creek on Aug. 10, 1861, near Springfield, Mo. — the first major battle of the Trans-Mississippi theater of the Civil War.

The Confederate state government relocated to Washington when Little Rock fell in September 1863. The county escaped the war relatively intact.

A Freedmen’s Bureau branch was established in Washington during Reconstruction to assist the large number of former slaves. Local whites were probably amazed to witness the creation of a school for black children — not to mention the election of former-slave Richard R. Samuels to the state legislature. Haygood Seminary was established in Washington in 1883 to train black teachers.

Once again, transportation was to bring more change to Hempstead County. By 1873 the Cairo and Fulton Railroad completed laying track into the area. But the railroad bypassed Washington by about nine miles — enough that a new town named Hope arose and in 1939 became the county seat after a 60-year battle.

The construction of the interstate highway system of the 1950s and 1960s continued the impact of transportation on Hempstead County history. Hope benefited from being adjacent to Interstate 30.

Twentieth century Hope exceeded 19th century Washington in its impact on politics and government. Bill Clinton is the best known political leader from Hope, but it was also the boyhood home of governor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. Mack McClarty not only hailed from Hope and went to elementary school with Clinton, but he became Clinton’s chief of staff.

Hempstead County is a great place to visit. Each August the Hope Watermelon Festival brings thousands to town to savor the juicy melons. In addition to the Clinton Boyhood Home historic site in Hope, nine miles north of town is Historic Washington State Park, a wonderful museum town — which, with proper vision and funding, could become our version of Williamsburg.