Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
The 1970s was a memorable decade with big changes for Rogers
The present explosion of growth and construction in Rogers brought to mind the time when our town emerged from a sleepy little Mayberry-like town and began the changes that affected our lives forever.
Rogers increased in size during the 1960s and ’70s with the coming of Beaver Lake and Daisy Manufacturing. However, like the rest of the nation, it was changing dramatically. With the explosion of automobiles, businesses were moving away from the crowded downtown into shopping centers with plenty of parking and easy access. The flight in Rogers was advanced when the first Walmart in the world opened as an experiment in 1962 at 719 W. Walnut Street, and was expanding like mad in the 1970s under the management of Clarence Leis.
New shopping centers, motels and restaurants were popping up along Highway 71S (Eighth Street) and West Walnut.
The first shopping center in Rogers was Southgate on Highway 71 South. Southgate Center opened in 1966 and included Kress Variety Store, Piggly Wiggly Grocery, OTASCO, Bowlin Furniture Mart, IGA Thriftway South, Dollar Saver and others.
The next shopping center opened just two years later at Eighth and Poplar. Cash Village Shopping Center included Foodtown Grocery, Cash Village Barber Shop, Dean’s Men’s Wear and Gibson’s Discount Center. Gibson’s was a huge 35,000 square foot discount store and had a fierce rivalry with Walmart. By 1974, Gibson’s was gone and the store was occupied by Howard’s Discount Center.
The Walnut Plaza opened in the early 1970s at the southwest corner of Walnut and Eighth Streets. In 1973, Walmart expanded again and moved across the street to the new Plaza Shopping Center. According to Manager Clarence Leis, the employees moved the entire store in shopping carts. The police held up traffic while they wheeled the goods across Walnut to the new store. When Walmart moved, “Big Jim” Croxdale and Jimmy Rieff moved their IGA Thriftway Grocery with them to the Plaza Center. Other prominent businesses in the Plaza were the Malco Twin Theater, Wilson’s Department Store, Rice Jewelry, Walsh’s Clothes, Fun City and more.
In about 1979, Rogers’ first covered mall opened. The Dixieland Mall was at the corner of Walnut and Dixieland Road. It is my understanding that Campbell-Bell Department Store was already there and became part of the mall.
In 1974, Rogers’ leaders decided that our growing town needed an
organization to preserve our history and artifacts. A Bi-Centennial committee was appointed to celebrate our nation’s 200th birthday, which was coming up in 1976. The committee consisted of Vera Key, Jerry Hiett, Harold Jones and others, with John Sampier as chairman. Their first project was to establish a historical museum. Vera Key was chosen as chairperson of the first Museum Commission. Other commissioners were Ellen Luffman, Davis Duty, Peel Strode, Fred Hiett, Gale Hall, Madeline Lee, Marjorie Bryant, and Beth Hough.
In 1977, Kathleen Dickerson was appointed to the commission. The Museum Commission secured the historic old Bank of Rogers Building at 114 S. 2nd Street as the first home of the new museum, according to Jerry Hiett in an interview in August 2021.
The Rogers Historical Museum has expanded through the years and today the campus includes the restored Newt Hailey Auto dealership as the main exhibit building, The Key Wing Education Center & Historic Hawkins House, and the Eversole Collections Building.
Auto dealers started moving from downtown in the 1960s, and in 1973, the last auto dealership, Buddy Sparks Chevrolet-Olds, moved from downtown. Sparks moved from the original McNeil Chevrolet building built in 1930 at 119 S. Second Street out to 2100 S. 71 Highway. By 1974, it was the Sparks/Summers ChevyOlds dealership.
With the increase in population and automobiles, where did folks eat and hang out in the 1970s?
Drive-in restaurants were popping up all over Rogers. The Jan-Lin Drive-In on Highway 71 in front of the Southgate Shopping Center was a popular place. Teenagers drove around it multiple times if they had any kind of wheels, checking out who was there. The Besi-Dream at Eighth and Walnut Streets was a favorite hangout. The Ness Dairy House, Dog n’ Suds and Uncle Bob’s Fried Chicken were along Highway 71 S.
The A&W Root Beer was on Poplar just south of the Walnut Plaza Shopping Center. Downtown was the HiD-HO Drive-In on Walnut at Sixth Street and the famous Susie Q was on North Second Street. Today the only drive-in from that era is the Susie Q , which is still serving the same delicious food. Another restaurant that survived was Wesner’s Grill. Harry Wesner built the first Wesner’s Grill at 221 W. Walnut in 1955, and it still is the oldest eating establishment in Rogers.
Where did people get the money to buy new automobiles, homes and food?
New industries were moving to Rogers with good paying jobs. Emerson Electric on N. Thirteenth Street employed as many as 900 people until it closed in 2001. Crane Valve at 1201 N. Eighth Street made valves and water meters and employed 200 people in 1970. This number expanded to 1200 people before closing in January 2000.
In 1970, the Continental Can Company had just completed a major expansion on Dyke Road. It employed 102 people in 1970 and continued to grow. In 1974, Scott Paper moved to Rogers just east of the railroad tracks on New Hope Road. Scott made the plastic liners for the new (at the time) disposable diapers. Scott employed about 175 people and provided good jobs until it was sold in 1992. These are just a few of the major employers of that era.
While some businesses moved from downtown as our city expanded westward in the 1970s, many stayed and flourished. Stroud’s was Rogers’ first department store and opened at 114 W. Walnut in 1898. In 1970, the prominent store was owned by Harold Wardlaw. Wardlaw retired in 1972 and sold to Betty and Bill Crum and H.K. Scott. Through the years, Stroud’s was the most popular department store in Rogers. When it closed in 1994, Stroud’s was the oldest continuous business in Rogers, operating for 95 years with the same name and location.
The other major department store downtown was Hunt’s, just a few doors east of Stroud’s. Hunt’s, under the leadership of Bob Balch, continued to thrive in Rogers until 1978 when a disastrous fire threatened to burn the entire business section. After the fire, Hunt’s never recovered their former business and closed on December 31, 1981.
Other notable businesses were: Sterling’s 5¢ to $1, Lewis Drugs (formerly Applegate’s Drugs); Rogers Hardware, owned by Mr. and Mrs. Dick Bean and in 1974 by Charles and Bunny McCrory; Rogers Pharmacy, owned by Ivan Rose; Townzen’s Barber Shop, owned by Arthur, Herschel, and Gary Townzen, Opal Beck’s Mode O’Day Dress Shop, The Coca-Cola Bottling Company, Rogers Daily News, the Corner Drug Store, Tom & Jerry’s Shoes, Brinks Jewelry, Shofner’s Printing, and Vance Hill’s Auto Supply. Marion Bunyard had his Western Auto Store at 117 W. Walnut. In the late 1970s, he bought the old Kroger Building at 111 N. Second and opened Bunyard’s Appliance Store.
These are only a few of the businesses that succeeded downtown and there are many others but not enough space to mention.
So, where did local citizens hang out and have fun during this era of change?
When the teenagers got tired of circling the Jan-Lin, they would head to Lake Atalanta. Cactus Clark built the Lakeside Restaurant and Swimming Pool in 1948, and it was a favorite place to eat and swim in the 1970s. The Lakeside Skating rink was adjacent to the restaurant and was a favorite hangout. The rink and adjoining miniature golf course was owned by Jo and Buddy McGregor until 1978, when they retired and sold to Gary Rounds. For those who liked to bowl and socialize, the Dixieland Lanes was just to the west of Dixieland Mall. Dixieland Lanes opened in about 1974 with Harold Harris and James Harris as managers. It continued until about 1990.
The Victory Theater opened in 1927 and produced priceless memories for four decades, but competition from the modern theaters in the shopping centers caused it to close in 1971. However, the theater continued on as the Cine’ Theater entertaining with movies until the late 1970s.
Out on the highway west of town, the Twin City Drive-In was a popular place, both for romance and movies. The drive-in opened in the early 1950s with a capacity of 360 cars and closed in the mid-1980s. Folks who worked there have many funny stories about cars with one teen driving and paying the 50 cents per car fee and then unloading a trunk full of friends trying to sneak in, only to get caught.
Many other stories about extra-curricular amorous activities can’t be mentioned here. Haha!
When I started this column, I knew that it would take several books to cover the decade of the 1970s, but I wanted to bring back fond memories to those who lived it and to give a little glimpse of life in Rogers at that time. Maybe I will get the opportunity to write about the stuff that I left out in the future.