The Bauxite Historical Museum
Years ago, when I worked for Arkansas Parks & Tourism, we ran an ad campaign that featured the slogan, “Go play in your own backyard.”
Today, I live in rural Saline County. But thanks to a new job, I spend a lot of time in Bryant. As a result, the city of Bauxite is my “backyard.” But until recently, I’d never visited the small town. So, during my lunch break last week, I decided to take the short, five-minute drive to Bauxite and, in particular, the Bauxite Historical Museum. The museum, located in the former Bauxite Community House, is truly a hidden gem in the Natural State.
The beginning of the Bauxite Historical Museum starts in 1887, when bauxite was first discovered in Saline County. Mostly made of aluminum hydroxide minerals, bauxite was desperately needed by the U.S. military in both World War I and II, and as a result, the small central Arkansas community became a boomtown.
In 1903, the Aluminum Company of America (later Alcoa) built an ore-drying plant in the Bauxite area. The company-owned town grew in population, and in 1926, Alcoa built the Bauxite Community House for community events. Alcoa employees funded the project, contributing 25 cents per paycheck until the company recouped the building’s cost.
The community house had a library, reading room, game room and fullservice kitchen. It was also home to the town’s Masonic lodge. Clear Lake was built nearby to serve as a recreational area for Alcoa employees and their families.
But with the end of World War II, Alcoa found it most cost-effective to mine bauxite ore overseas, and as a result, the company-owned and operated town of Bauxite nearly went from a boomtown to a ghost town. On June 19, 1967, Alcoa officially notified Bauxite residents that as of July 1, 1969, the company would no longer financially support the town.
Having been run by Alcoa, Bauxite never incorporated. But that changed on Jan. 16, 1973. And as of the 2020 Census, the town had 629 residents.
The Bauxite Historical Museum is operated by the Bauxite Historical Association. The group began as the Alcoa Employees Descendants Association, which began in 1986 as a nonprofit organization charged with the maintenance and preservation of the Bauxite Community Hall and other properties deeded to the organization by Alcoa.
The museum features exhibits and artifacts about the history of bauxite mining and about the lives of those who worked in the mines. One artifact of particular note is made of woven aluminum fabric created by worldrenowned Paris designer, Jean Desses. The $25,000 dress is only one of two known to exist, and it was worn by
Miss Arkansas Barbara Banks at the Aluminum Bowl game at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock on Dec. 22,
1956.
There are also rooms in the museum dedicated to the history of the Bauxite school system, World Wars I and II, as well sports memorabilia from local athletes who went on to have collegiate and professional success. Those include Leon “Muscles” Campbell, a football standout at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville who played for the NFL’S Baltimore Colts and Chicago Bears.
In early 2008, the H. Tyndall Dickinson Family commissioned a large bronze statue titled Unsung Heroes–bauxite Miners to be placed on the museum’s grounds. The statue depicts a father, dressed in overalls, saying goodbye to his family as he goes to work in the mines. The sculpture was unveiled on the front lawn of the Bauxite Community Hall in October of that year.
The Bauxite Historical Museum is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.wednesdays and from 1:30 to 4 p.m. Sundays. Admission is free, and donations are appreciated. The museum is located at 6706 Benton Road in Bauxite. For more information, call 501-557-9858.