Walls Talk to tell the story of the Butterfield Cabin
Walls Talk, the Siloam Springs Museum’s second annual fundraiser, will take visitors on a trip back to a time when the mail was delivered by stagecoach.
The event, planned for 7 p.m. Saturday, July 21, will include tours of the historic Butterfield Trail Cabin as well as a blacksmith demonstration and tours of the home of Dr. Larry and Genia Van Dyck and a second cabin on the family’s property. It will also include drinks, and hors d’oeuvres and desserts by Edibles by Zoe.
In addition to being one of the museum’s main fundraisers of the year, the Walls Talk home tour is also designed to help the museum bring history to the community, especially while the the museum is closed for renovations, according to Laura Klenda, museum board member and chairperson of the museum’s activities and programs committee.
“We really want to connect members of our community with the historic buildings in our community outside the walls of the
of the museum and hear the stories of Siloam Springs and how they’ve shaped our history,” Klenda said.
The VanDycks’ cabin was originally a stage coach depot in Strickler, Ark., an unincorporated community in Washington County, said Chuck McClary, director of education and community outreach for the museum. It was moved to West Siloam Springs and restored.
John Butterfield established the Butterfield Overland Express in 1858 with the goal of creating a route that would connect the Mississippi River and the Pacific Ocean and enable mail to be delivered more quickly, according to the Arkansas Heritage Trails website, www.arkansastrails.com/butterfield. Previous to the time, mail was delivered by ship around South America or with an overland crossing in Panama.
Butterfield received a $600,000 contract from the U.S. Postal Service for the mail service, with the stipulation that it would take less than 25 days to deliver mail and passengers from the Mississippi River to San Francisco, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, encyclopediaofarkansas. net. A total of 141 way stations were established along the route.
Butterfield’s trail was not long lived. In 1860 it was overtaken by the faster Pony Express, and in 1861 the Civil War and a Western Union transcontinental telegraph line brought an end to the business, the encyclopedia states.
In Arkansas, Butterfield Overland Trail lines were established from Missouri to Fort Smith, as well as from Memphis to Fort Smith, with a side-run to Little Rock, according to Arkansas Heritage Trails. The portion of the trail from Fayetteville to Fort Smith — where the VanDycks’ cabin was originally located — was so rough that mules had to be used instead of horses, the encyclopedia states.
Tours of the VanDyck home and second cabin will also reveal antiques and elements of local history, McClary said.
Learning about local history offers people a sense of connectedness to the community, Klenda said. It isn’t just important to people who grew up in the area or whose families have always lived in Siloam Springs, it’s also important to anyone who visits the town, even for the smallest amount of time, McClary said.
“(The Siloam Springs Museum) preserves the history of the town. … but while preserving the history, we are also involved in the community and documenting the history that is going on now,” he said. “So it’s obviously important to know where you come from or where your family comes from, or if you just moved here, it’s a great way to get acclimated to the town. I just moved here last year and working at the museum has helped me a lot with knowing the lay of the land.”
McClary said that local businesses such as Cherokee Casino, Simmons Foods, Wasson’s Funeral Home and Cobb Vantress, have stepped up to help make the event possible.
“We’re very grateful to the generosity of our sponsors and the event was made possible because of them,” he said.
Tickets are $50 and are available for sale on the Siloam Springs Museum’s website, siloamsprings museum.com.