Hempstead County enjoys bicentennial bash
HOPE, Ark.—While trying to summarize two centuries of history in just two hours seemed like an awesome challenge, former and current Hempstead County officials gladly took on that honor Saturday.
During the two-hour celebration of the county’s bicentennial birthday, which took place inside the University of Arkansas at Hope’s Hempstead Hall, Chris Thomason, chancellor of the university’s HopeTexarkana campus, said the naming of Hempstead Hall as one of the college’s premier buildings turned out to be one of the best decisions of the university system.
“The very naming of Hempstead Hall is something that had to be done as a tribute to our county as well as a tribute to the county’s most remarkable resource—that would be the people of Hempstead County themselves,” he said. “We’ve been blessed enormously by our people here in the county, and we need to make the county’s next 200 years even better than its first 200 years.”
Hempstead County Judge Haskell Morse led the ceremony, which included the input of at least a half-dozen accomplished residents, all of whom were born and raised in the county.
“Two hundred years ago on this very day, Dec. 15, in 1818, Hempstead County became one of Arkansas’ first five counties that actually existed even before the state itself did,” Morse said. “They all grew out of what was still Missouri territory at that time. During the last 200 years, this county has given the state four governors and one president of the United States.”
Besides political personalities, Morse said Hempstead County residents have always been ready, willing and able to help others in times of need.
“When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005 and caused residents to flee up to our state, our residents opened their doors and took in people they didn’t even know,” he said. “When a tornado hit this county earlier this year, we had residents come out with their chainsaws to cut through the downed trees and damaged areas to help get aid to others.”
Following a recognition of law officers and emergency first responders in the county, Morse introduced Hempstead County Historical Society President Joshua Williams, who spoke about the county’s origins.
“While we were still part of what was then the Missouri Territory, in the early 1800s, people came to settle in our first five original counties which eventually became Arkansas Territory,” he said. “Besides being the place where the Bowie Knife came into being, this area also became the launching point for the Texas revolution and its bid for independence from Mexico.”
Other speakers included
“We’ve been blessed enormously by our people here in the county.”
”My blood pressure goes down and my spirits go up every time I cross the
county line into Hempstead County.”
—Former White House Chief of Staff
Thomas R. “Mack” McLarty
former White House Chief of Staff Thomas F. “Mack” McLarty.
”My blood pressure goes down and my spirits go up every time I cross the county line into Hempstead County,” he said. “As a person who grew up here, I can say that we were all blessed to have faith, family, work and a sense of responsibility while growing up here. If I have one word to talk about when it comes to being from Hope and Hempstead County, that word would be gratitude.”
Lavenski R. Smith, a 1977 Hope High School graduate now serving as chief justice of the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, said he learned the most about virtue from his father, the late Cayce B. Smith, who became one of Hempstead County’s longest-serving agricultural extension agents.
“My dad liked to repair radios and television sets while I was growing up,” Smith said. “He would tell me to go out to people he knew, who had tools he needed, and every time he sent out to get the tools he needed, he would say to me, ‘just tell them that Cayce Smith sent you.’ Every time I went out for tools, I became so impressed by the fact that I could do this just based on my dad’s good name and good reputation. That is the thing I remember best about growing in Hempstead County.”