North-South street names honor Union

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.

In 1995, under the leadership of Mayor Jackie Crabtree, Ordinance No. 215 was passed by the Pea Ridge City Council. The street naming segment of the detailed ordinance made it mandatory to use the northsouth for Union and eastwest for Confederate names of combatants of the Battle of Pea Ridge.

Union

Union soldiers honored on names of north-south street

• Barris Lane — Turns left (south) off of Slack Street (Ark. Hwy. 72 W.) by the Nazarene Church. Honors Capt. Sampson P. Barris of the 24th Missouri.

• Barnes Street — Was named for Lt. Col. M.S. Barnes of the 37th Illinois Infantry. Located in Tyler Estates, which is located on the north side of Hayden Road (Ark. Hwy. 265), and was approved by the Pea Ridge Planning Commission in 1996.

• Bowen Street — Lies between Patton and Van Dorn streets. Named for Major William D. Bowen of Bowen’s Missouri Cavalry Battalion.

• Bussey Lane — Turns left (north) off of East Pickens Road at the city limits. Honors Col. Cyrus Bussey of the 3rd Iowa Cavalry and assorted companies of the 1st, 4th and 5th Missouri Cavalry and half of the 1st Missouri Flying Battery. After the war, his men presented Bussey with an ornate presentation sword that is inscribed with the words “Pea Ridge.”

• Carr Street — Turns north off of Slack Street (Ark. Hwy. 72 West), the first street west as you leave Curtis Avenue. Carr Street actually is part of “the old highway” before Ark. Hwy. 94 was built. It was named for Col. Eugene A. Carr, who commanded the 4th Division under Gen. Curtis. It was Colonel Carr who is reported to have taken the elk horns from Elkhorn Tavern up north after the battle. They were returned in 1885 but are not the ones seen on the tavern today.

• Chapman Lane — If you head due north on Hayden Road from West Pickens, you reach a road turning north again just after you take the first curve. You are on Chapman Lane — but only a few hundred feet to the city limits. There suddenly Chapman becomes Easterling Road, reportedly the work of the 911 program. Chapman was named for Lt. W.B. Chapman of the 2nd Ohio Battery. Easterling is outside the city limits.

• Clark Street — Turns north off of East Pike behind the school campus. Its honoree was James W. Clark of Co. H of Phelps Regiment from southwest Missouri. James was wounded in the Battle of Pea Ridge.

• Coler Drive — Turns left (north) up a hill at the east end of the paved section of Carden Road. It ends at an attractive cul-de-sac which circles a large tree. Or you can turn right off of Carden on an undeveloped section of the street. In fact, Russell Yeates, a rural mail carrier, said there are four houses farther down the road that shows Coler, two on each of two forks. Both forks are Carden Street so far as mail delivery goes. This street honors Col. William N. Coler, who led the Union’s 25th Illinois under Brig. Gen. Franz Sigel’s 1st Division.

• Conrad Street — The second street turning south off of Carden Road. It honors Major Joseph Conrad, who was with the 3rd Missouri Infantry. This street on its original plat was called Musteen Road, but was changed by Mayor Jack Musteen in 1968 upon discovery that no one named Musteen could be located in the Union list of participants here.

• Curtis Avenue — The major street in Pea Ridge, entering town at the south as another name for Ark. Hwy. 94, joined later by Ark. Hwy. 72 coming in from Bentonville, and traveling along still northward until the two reach Pickens Road. There Hwy. 94 heads west and Hwy. 72 goes to the east. Curtis Avenue honors Gen. Samuel Ryan Curtis, the Union’s commanding officer at the Battle of Pea Ridge. Curtis’ counterpart was Confederate Gen. Earl Van Dorn. Curtis was the victor; Van Dorn was the vanquished. And by the way, when Hwy. 94 says adieu to Hwy. 72 and heads westward, Curtis Avenue bids its farewell to both of them and continues on another long block to Pike Street and can go no farther north.

• Davidson Lane — 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.

• Davis Street — 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.

• Dodge Street — 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 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.