Streets of Pea Ridge
Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas (1898-1980)
Editor’s Note: The following is from Billie Jines’ 1996 booklet, “The Streets of Pea Ridge.” It has been updated to include new streets and those scheduled for future development. It is continued from previous columns, the latest which ran Feb. 25.
All north-south streets are named after Union participants of the Battle of Pea Ridge; all east-west ones for their Confederate counterparts.
Union
(cont.) Union soldiers honored on names of north-south streets
• — Turns westerly off of South Davis Street, and is not a through street. It honors Capt. Peter Davidson of Peoria Battery A, 2nd Illinois Artillery.
• —A through street that heads northward on East Harris Street and goes all the way to East Pickens Road and the campus. The original street-naming committee in 1959 selected the Davis Street honoree: Col. Jefferson C. Davis, a Union officer who was not in any way related to the Jefferson Davis, who was president of the Confederacy. The Union Jefferson Davis commanded the 3rd Division under the Union Commander, Gen. Samuel R. Curtis. After the Battle of Pea Ridge, Col. Davis moved east of the Mississippi and became one of Gen. Sherman’s corps commanders. He had been in the army 20 years before the Civil War, and became a mid-level general after the battle here. The noted Garfield, Ark., historian, the late Alvin Seamster, wrote that Col. Davis was the only man who fought at Pea Ridge who had heard the opening gun fired at Fort Sumter. He was in General Sherman’s march to the sea.
• — Runs north from McCulloch Street to and through the Pea Ridge Cemetery and on to Greene Street. The street-naming committee in 1959 said that it honors Col. Grenville M. Dodge, who was in charge of the 2nd Brigade of the Union’s 4th Division. He was badly wounded at the Battle
Davidson Lane
Davis Street
Dodge Street
of Pea Ridge. After the war, he became a railroad builder and is reported to have directed construction of the Union Pacific to Utah. There, it connected with the Central Pacific to form the first transcontinental railroad.
• — Located in the Givens Place development, which was added in 1996. Was named for D.J. Duvall of the 1st Independent Battery, Iowa Light Artillery.
• — North off of Slack Street (Ark. Hwy. 72). Honors Col. Calvin A. Ellis, who led the 1st Missouri Cavalry. Ellis is one of 15 lanes whose names and honorees were selected by Mayor Mary Durand and then-water superintendent, Floyd Blackwell, when the 911 announced that all lanes, too, needed names. The selection of honorees came from the city’s existing list of participants designated “A.” Names were designated for any lane or street with at least two residences. Ellis is a deadend street that runs a short distance between Halleck and Barris Lanes but across Slack Street from them.
Duvall Cul-De-Sac
Ellis Lane