Stone County is located in north central Arkansas and is part of the southeast border of the Ozark Mountain region. The county's early history is found in the development of four early nineteenth century counties: Independence, Izard, Searcy, and Van Buren. These counties contributed the townships that formed Stone County in 1873. Virtually unoccupied in the first decades of the nineteenth century, present-day Stone County was designated part of the Cherokee Reservation in 1817. The area remained an Indian reservation until 1828. Stone County's initial settlement began soon after that in the early 1830s. The White River provided access to Stone County. However, the region's rugged terrain handicapped interior travel which in turn slowed migration and stifled major transportation and commercial development. The mountainous terrain also limited major agriculture operations; the majority of farms were self-sufficient. In specific areas, such as the bottom lands and valley regions, farms were larger and supported a yeoman lifestyle. The majority of settlers in Stone County migrated from the surrounding parts of Arkansas and from Tennessee. These people brought and established their traditional lifestyles. The post-Civil War years brought many changes to the area. Politically, Stone County was founded in 1873 and a year later Mountain View was created as the county seat. Economically, an influx of people into the county and the growth of the White River trade brought general prosperity to the area. This migration and prosperity influenced the county's built environment, particularly in the areas adjacent to the White River.
Although Stone County is accessible from the White River, its mountainous region with intermittent valleys and plateaus presented difficulties for interior travel. The first significant wave of migration into the county came after the removal of the Cherokee Reservation in 1828. The early pioneers relied heavily on secondary waterways for transportation into the interior. Overland routes began as trails and eventually, after constant use, resembled roads. During this settlement period, the area that formed Stone County in 1873 was considered the hinterland of the established counties of Independence (1820), Izard (1825), and later Searcy(1836) and Van Buren (1839). The people who settled in Stone County were predominantly of Scotch-Irish ancestry. This is not surprising since the Scotch-Irish pioneered much of the of the southern United States, including its less desirable regions. The majority of settlers came into Stone County from other areas of Arkansas and Tennessee, though a significant representation migrated from Alabama, Georgia, and North Carolina. A large percentage of the antebellum settlers were agrarian in occupation representing the yeoman and subsistence levels of Arkansas farming culture. This dominance of one people and the isolation of the area created a homogeneous culture that continued into the twentieth century. During the 1830s settlers claimed the bottom lands of the waterways and the fertile lands of the plateaus and valleys. By the late 1840s settlements existed across the county: Buckhorn in the east, Richwoods and Blue Mountain (Mountain View vicinity) in the central region, and Big Springs, and Locust Grove in the western part of the county. As early as 1837 applications for post offices were accepted from Richwoods and Blue Mountain. John Lancaster ran the Blue Mountain Post Office, which was located near the mouth of Hell Creek (a tributary of the White River) where he operated a steamboat landing. This area is located about six miles northeast of Mountain View. By 1860 five other post offices opened in the county,one at Locust Grove in the west with the remainder situated in the eastern section adjacent to the White River.
Samuel Brown House, is located in the Richwoods Valley south of Mountain View. Samuel Brown, a yeoman farmer, migrated from North Carolina in 1840. Upon his arrival and for the next few years, Brown is listed as a partial owner of land with a few other people. But by 1847, he had acquired his own land and began accumulating more acreage during the 1850s. Soon after, Brown sought to make his log house reflective of his prosperity. He covered the logs with weatherboard, added window shutters and multi-paneled doors, and remodeled the interior to include finely crafted fire mantels and handsome paneled wainscotting. The Samuel Brown House is a prime resource illustrating the popular up-grading and refining of a log dogtrot house in rural Arkansas to properlyreflect the success of the owner.
A linear triple-crib barn with driveways was documented as part of the ca. 1859 Miles Jeffery Homestead located near Livingston Creek in the northeast section of Stone County. The barn does not represent an original plan. Each log crib, separated by drives, is of a different dimension descending in size from east to west. The original crib is the largest, measuring 10' x 17'. Its entry opens to the driveway and does not share a common plate with the other cribs. The smaller cribs, 8' x 11' and 11' x 11', are joined with a common log plate and their openings face south. The Jeffery Barn displays a traditional evolution from the single crib to a triple-crib plan, as the demand for its functions increased with the growth of the farm. Probably the most common barn found on the early homesteads was the single-log crib. In addition the plan was adopted in the county for more specialized functions on the farmstead such as a granary or smokehouse. The smokehouse built by Samuel Brown illustrates one use of the single crib. Made of rough-hewn logs, the smokehouse, with an overhanging gable roof, sits in the traditional close proximity to the main house.
Surprisingly, the post-Civil War years showed a steady growth and prosperity in the area that formed Stone County in 1873. While most of Arkansas bustled with railroad construction and characters of the infamous Reconstruction Government were developing their reputations, Stone County's isolation fromthe mainstream provided a more stable environment for recovery. Farming continued as the livelihood for the majority of Stone Countians. The types and production of the crops were much like the years before the war except for the noticeable increase in cotton acreage and the establishment of orchards. The major event during the Reconstruction Period for the area was the formation of Stone County in 1873. The following year Mountain View, centrally located, was created as the county seat.
The first decade of the twentieth century brought significant events to Stone County. In 1907 the Ozark National Forest was created in Arkansas and included the northern section of Stone County as part of its Sylamore District. Sparsely populated, this section of the county was barred from future settlement and development. The other event was the railroad industry's penetration of the rugged Ozark Mountain region. Stone County's only railroad, the Missouri and North Arkansas, came across its southwest corner and established the only railroad town at Arlberg in 1907. However, the railroad had little effect on Stone County's economyas part of the Blue Mountain range, which isolates this southwest corner, proved a serious obstacle in developing an efficient transportation route to the rest of the county. It was during the construction of the Missouri and North Arkansas Railroad that Joe Guffey built his house approximately one mile south of the future town of Arlsburg, at Old Lexington. The weatherboard house is T-shaped with a double pen and centered rear ell. The house features a dominant pedimented porch roof with a decorative bargeboard and embricated shingles. Recessed under the porch is a unique splay area in which the door of each pen is located. It was the Missouri and Kansas City Railroad, built to the east across the White River in Independence County, that spurred Stone County's early twentieth century economy. Beginning in 1902, the railroad brought additional prosperity to the county, particularly those areas adjacent to the White River. The county temporarily benefitted from the railroad construction by supplying the necessary raw materials for the railroad company. Marcella, for example, reached its prime during this period as a river port with a population of 300 people. The community's economic prosperity rested on the trade of products coming byway of the river and from the adjacent interior areas. The railroad's demand for local raw materials spurred Marcella's economy because of the need to transport the material by boat. Thomas M. Hess, assisted by his son Thomas E., controlled the area's commerce by operating the river boat landing and the various related business enterprises. The success of the Hess enterprise is reflected in the 1900 Thomas E. Hess Homestead. The Hess House, an impressive two-story, central-hall house, rises above the one-story structures of Marcella, symbolizing the height of the family's success and in turn Marcella's prosperity. After completion of the Missouri and Kansas City Railroad, Stone County and specifically its eastern section began experiencing a backlash as the railroad proved a more efficient transporter of the region's commerce than the riverboats on the White River. Ironically, the steamboats, which had transported the railroad construction materials, suffered immediate consequences of the railroad operations in the Ozark region. River transportation's inability to compete against the railroad resulted in the decline of the small river ports all along the White River that could not successfully tie into the development of the railroad industry. In the case of Stone County's river ports, the geographic location of the Missouri and Kansas City Railroad and the introduction of the automobile age crippled the local commercial development. The boat landings and the towns supported by their business, such as Marcella, began an eventual economic death as the steamboat became more obsolete in transporting the region's commerce. The railroad brought the outside world closer to Stone County. Although there was a greater exposure to the quickening culture of America's society, it did not significantly influence the county's built environment during the first decades of the twentieth century.
It was not until the mid-1920s with building of the John F. Brewer House that an alternative to the traditional house appeared. The Brewer House, located in Mountain View, was the first Bungalow style house built in the county. The structure introduced to the area a new house type, as well as a new building material, stucco. A second house type of the Craftsman influence also appeared in the county during the same period. The John Bettis House was built as a farmhouse in 1929. The incorporation of the Bungalow/Craftsman style house into Stone County's farmsteads reflects its popularity as an alternative to the traditional farmhouse. Although the Bungalow form and Craftsman style appear in the twenties, they did not become a significant part of the county's built environment until after World War II.
Although most transverse-crib barns in the county were built as multi-function structures, the plan also appears in connection with specialized barns. Two fine examples of the specialized barn are the Jim Morris Barn at Timbo and the H. S. Mabry Barn in the Richwoods Valley. The Morris Barn, built in 1900, stables horses. The builder modified the central driveway into a walkway. The horses enter the stalls by wayof the large rear lattice gates. The second barn, the H.S. Mabry Barn, was built around 1923 by Albert Huebbler, a German craftsman. The barn housed Mabry's large mule herd, which he used in farming and in his stave mill operation. Each stall is designed so that the feeding of the livestock is conveniently done fromthe second floor. The frame structure, covered with weatherboards, is an unusually large and finely crafted barn in comparison with other barns throughout the county.
The first structures around the square were wood frame. Wood construction dominated the streetscape until the 1920s. The Stone County Recorder Building, built around 1908, is the only surviving frame commercial structure that represents this period of wood construction. The native stone, which is predominant on the square today, was not used as a building material until 1904. From 1904 to 1922 stone constructed buildings appeared in the commercial area. The C.L. Smith and Son General Store and the Farmers and Merchants Bank represent the first period of stone construction. These early structures, although primarily traditional in style, reflect an awareness by the builders of the Romanesque style, as exhibited by the stone work around the door and window openings of the buildings. The Brewer Brothers of Mountain View constructed the C.L. Smith General Store in 1905. Bill Laroe, also a local mason, is credited with the stone work on the 1910 Farmers Merchants Bank. The completion of the three-story Stone County Courthouse in 1922 initiated a second stage of stone construction that secured stone as a primary building material on the square. In addition to the courthouse, two other massive stone buildings were erected on the commercial square's most prominent sites. In 1924 Bill Laroe, the head mason on the courthouse project, built the Lackey General Merchandise Store and Warehouse on the corner east of the courthouse. The building housed the largest merchandise business in the county. On the west corner of the courthouse square the Brewer Brothers constructed the C.B. Case Motor Co. Building in 1928. Built to house and service automobiles, the Case Motor Building represents the establishment of the automobile trade in Stone County.Additional stone construction in the twenties is represented by the 1926 Stegall Store and the 1929 A. B. Brewer Building. The two buildings better reflect the more modest building scale of the square than the three massive stone buildings characterizing this decade of stone construction. The Brewer Brothers are credited with the stone work on both the Stegall Store and the A.B. Brewer Building.
As in many courthouse squares throughout Arkansas, the Mountain View Courthouse Square's physical layout gave convenient access to government and business activities while providing a natural focal point for social exchange. This natural setting attracted outside visitors, such as aspiring politicians, drummers, peddlers, and, sometimes, entertainers. These activities created the need for hotels. Mountain View supported as many as five hotels during the first decades of the twentieth century. John W. Webb built the earliest known hotel in 1886. He later built the Dew Drop Inn, one of the two remaining hotels of this period. Constructed around 1920, the Dew Drop Inn is located one block west of the courthouse square. L.C. Johnson, like Webb, replaced his earlier establishment with the Commercial Hotel. Built around 1925, the hotel occupies the northeast corner of the Courthouse Square. Both hotels operate today and appropriately represent the accommodations available to the early twentieth century traveler staying in Mountain View. Located two blocks west of the commercial square, Brewer's Mill stands as the only historic industrial structure in Stone County. In 1915 Frances Brewer built the mill which served Mountain View and the surrounding area until the 1960s. Recently, the rehabilitation of the mill's structure and operational equipment was completed and it now functions as a flour mill.
This article was scrupulously plegerized from www.arkansaspreservation.org/ pdf/publications/Stone_County.pdf . Not all of it is presented here as I have extracted certain elements to reflect the historical and personal parts related to families which married into the Goodwin Line.