Battlefield State Park Turns 50

PRAIRIE GROVE – Battlefield State Park will commemorate its 50th anniversary with a low-key celebration this weekend.

There will be cupcakes served inside the Hindman Hall building on Friday and Saturday (June 25-26), and the public is welcome to stop by and visit.

While the park joined the Arkansas State Parks system 50 years ago, back in 1971, there is another and longer history one must consider.

Names of individuals and organizations from the past, some

early as 1908, when the first organized efforts to secure and preserve the battlefield site actually began, are largely responsible for this 50th year celebration of the site with the Arkansas State Parks system.

First Nine Acres Purchased

In 1908, approximately 113 years ago, the local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy purchased nine acres, said to be the geographic center of the battle (where the park headquarters and Hindman Hall now sit on the north side of U.S. 62 inside the Prairie Grove city limits.)

The grounds were used for many years as a meeting place for Confederate veterans and their wives, who were commemorating the anniversary of the Battle of Prairie Grove, fought on Dec. 7, 1862.

This nine-acre park, early on, was maintained by the UDC Chapter for almost 50 years.

But as the Confederate veterans and their families began to die out, in and around 1909, another lesser-known individual stepped up to help preserve the nineacre park and actually set about a relationship with the state of Arkansas that exists until today.

J. Sherman Dill, a farmer turned merchant who had moved into Prairie Grove for his fledgling mercantile business, became an early supporter of the battlefield site and developing the area into a park. Dill, who was also politically active, was first elected mayor of Prairie Grove (1906-08). He then ran for the state Senate seat for a single term and served 190912. He was the lone state senator whose entire district was Washington County.

In the start of the 38th Legislative Session, Sen. Dill proposed a bill to set aside $10,000 in state tax monies (equal to $281,190.47 in 2021) for the benefit of the Memorial Park. The UDC, along with Sen. Dill, asked for the monies to beautify the grounds as a fitting memorial as it was first dedicated.

And so, it began …

Gateway Arch Built

In 1925, the rock work on the Gateway Arch ( at the entrance of the park) began with Wade Chatham of Lincoln in charge of the construction, according to the files of the Flashback of the Washington County Historical Society and the newspaper files of the Prairie Grove Enterprise (a forerunner of the Enterprise-Leader).

Other improvements in 1925 were the construction of a bandstand, a gravel driveway through the 9-acre park and other changes.

Sadly, about the time of these improvements, the local chapter of the United Confederate Veterans (UCV) was being disbanded after 60 years, following the end of the War Between the States. The economic catastrophe of the Great Depression followed.

The park fell into further disrepair, and at one time for many years, the entire park was enclosed in a chain-link fence.

All that remained of the park was the old wooden bandstand, five military pieces of artillery and a rock and concrete fountain that was actually built from donations of the Children of the Confederacy. There was also a tablet on the grounds, marking the spot where Gen. Thomas C. Hindman established his headquarters on Dec., 7, 1862.

Lions Club Adopts Park

In 1953, as the effects of a Post WWII booming economy came to Washington County and all of Arkansas, the efforts to preserve the park began with the newly formed Prairie Grove Lions Club adopting the park as a club project.

The affiliation between the Lions Club and the park continues until today with many fundraising events held at the park over the decades.

Dr. Fred McQuistion, a former Lions Club president, sparked the renewed efforts of the Lions Club members to preserve the park site. The club had “work nights” where they helped build concrete picnic tables, sidewalks and other areas of the park that needed “sweat equity.”

The Lions Club raised much of the needed cash to purchase supplies through the sale of barbeque chicken dinners at the annual Clothesline Fair, UDC Reunions and other Prairie Grove events.

One of the most unique features of the existing park today, the stone chimney monument, was taken down stone-by-stone at Rhea’s Mill and reassembled at Battlefield Park in 1957. Virgil Couch, according to records, was the stonemason and builder in charge of disassembling the structure at Rhea’s Mill, marking each stone, transporting the stones to Prairie Grove and then rebuilding the monument.

The 707 stones in the chimney, said to weigh 200,000 pounds, stand 55 feet high with an 8-foot square foot base and tapers to a 4-foot by 4-foot dimension at the top. It was a donation from Mr. and Mrs. G. C. Mennick as a monument to the Battle of Prairie Grove.

Vineyard Village Relocated

In 1958, the “Vineyard Village,” the house, barn and wellhouse, were given to the park by F. F. Latta, a grandson of the pioneer family. These structures were disassembled and moved to the park. The two-story log home was built in 1834 on Evansville Creek, 12 miles southeast of Evansville by John Latta.

Many of the other buildings on the site today have an equally historic past to the area and links to prominent families of Washington County and the surrounding Prairie Grove area.

On May 31, 1964, the Hindman Hall Museum, a new building, was dedicated. The construction of this modern structure, was made possible by a bequest of Bisco Hindman, a son of Gen. Thomas Hindman.

In 1971, a new governor and a new energetic supporter of state parks worked a compromise arrangement with the Washington County political delegation to include the battlefield park and its now expanded grounds in the Arkansas Parks system.

Gov. Dale Bumpers approved the measure, and the leadership from Washington County’s delegation came from state Senator Dr. Morris M. Henry of Fayetteville and state Representatives Hugh Kincaid, Charles W. Stewart and the late Rudy Moore.

In 1980, Prairie Grove’s own state Representative, William “Bill” Ramsey, took the baton to find funding for the park. Ramsey asked for $200,000 from a special session to purchase 74 acres of land east and north of the battlefield park. The appropriation was approved, almost doubling the land area of the park.

Other purchases/donations of land in 1992 and 2005 brought the park to its current size of 707.8 acres.

MAYLON RICE SPECIAL TO ENTERPRISE-LEADER The stone work of the front gate of the original nine to 10 acres of the Prairie Grove Battlefield site, with its added iron scrollwork, is a familiar spot along U.S. Highway 62 going through the middle of town.

PHOTOS BY MAYLON RICE SPECIAL TO ENTERPRISE-LEADER This stone structure was central to the Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park in the early days where memorial gatherings were held.

The Art Deco style museum and office building for Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park was erected after World War II from a bequest for the Civil War general of the same name. Today, it houses the park’s interpretation center, information center, museum and souvenir shop. The building also is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The 7,000-stone chimney from the Rheas Mill community, about 6 miles from the Prairie Grove Battlefield, was disassembled, each stone marked, hauled to Prairie Grove, and reassembled. The 8-foot by 8-foot base narrows to a 4 x4 top.