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1900’s – Peabody School in Tupelo
These students from the Peabody School in Tupelo, a farming town south of Newport, stand with their teacher, Ruby Harris who taught all grades. A note on the back of the photograph identifies the students by las manes as, from right to left, (first row) Taylor,...
1910’s – Stephens Livery, Feed and Sale Stable
T.S. Stephens and George Stephens started the Stephens Livery, Feed & Sale Stable in Jacksonport in the 1870's. In the 1890's, they moved their business to Newport, where, in addition to other services, they offered three round-trips each day between Newport and...
1905 – Harvey House
Sam W. Harvey and his wife, Maud Harrison Harvey, and daughters Sylla (left) and Clara stand outside their new home in Tuckerman in 1905. Harvey was a prominent merchant, planter, and ginner. Sylla married Edward Wayne Boyce, Sr., who was a ginner, and she later...
1900’s – Family of Colonel Lancelot Minor
The family of Col. Lancelot Minor poses outside their home in the early 1900's. Pictured are, from left to right, (first row) Alcorn F. Minor, Charles L. Minor II, Willie Overton Minor (later Forsythe), and Mildred Minor (who drowned in her teens); (second row)...
1900’s – Watson Afternoon Card Party
An afternoon card party at the home of O.D. Watson offered a pleasant outing for a few Newport ladies. Pictured here are, from left to right, Mrs. Gus Jones, Kate Watson Bennett, Mrs. Bob Harder, Nettie Bond, Sweet Minor, two unidentified ladies, Bessie Watson, O.D....
1909 – Wolff Goldman Department Store
The employees of the Wolff Goldman department store pose outside their newly renovated and expanded operation in 1909. Arkansas's leading architect, Charles L. Thompson, designed the new building at the corner of Hazel and Front Streets. Sigmund Wolff and Isaac...
1900’s – Tuckerman Gin
This photograph shows cotton bales at the Tuckerman gin. From here, they would have been loaded onto railroad cars and shipped to cotton mills in the North. From the Jean Boyce Collection From Watson, Tim, and Elizabeth Jacoway. Newport and Jackson County. Arcadia...
1908 – Ferdinand Tonney Farm in Swifton
Ferdinand Tonney (left) of Swifton produced a cotton crop in 1908 valued at $2 million. The field pictured here produced cotton worth $90 per acre. The Swifton farmer was aided by a mild climate, rich soil, an abundance of timber, and a location near the great...
1900’s – Supreme Council of Shepherds
The cadet company of the Supreme Council of Shepherds, Uniform Rank No. 1 was an organization for the benefit of African American youngsters, apparently in Newport. This photograph from the early 1900's captures the pride that these young men felt in their...
1908 – Independent Order of Odd Fellows
The Independent Order of Odd Fellows had a chapter in town of Grubbs, east of Newport. Among those pictured here in 1908 are, in no particular order, Jim W. Ivy, Perry P. Stegall, Alonzo Moseley, John E. Williams, Jacob M. Kinard, M.S. "Pony" Littleton, Mem Blansett,...
1904 – St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
Jackson County's Episcopal congregation moved into Newport in 1879, changing its name from Grace Church to St. Paul's Episcopal Church and building a small wooden structure at the corner of Third and Hazel Streets. In 1904, St. Paul's built a fine new church on the...
1900’s – White River Railroad Bridge
This postcard shows the St. Louis, Iron Mountain, and Southern Railway bridge over the White River, three miles downstream from Newport. The tracks then proceeded through town along the bluff side of the river, protecting the rails from the frequent overflows in the...
1900’s – Shoffner Family
The Shoffners were wealthy landowners in the southern Jackson County town that bore their name. Here, the patriarch seems to be supervising a goat-cart race among his sons or grandsons. The lovely two-story home with much attention to architectural detail shows...
1900’s – Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks
The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks had a lodge in Newport at the turn of the 20th century, a popular social outlet for many of the town's white men. The Newport lodge held annual minstrel shows as a fundraiser for the organization, and whole families...
1900’s – Main Street in Tupelo
These men and boys are pictured here on Main Street in Tupelo, in southern Jackson County, next to an unloaded wagon that carried watermelons. Stacked next to the railroad tracks, the melons were obviously intended for shipment to market. The notation on the back...
1906 – Sigma Chi Party
A 1906 Sigma Chi party almost ended in disaster when the boat hit a snag, throwing the two young ladies on the roof, Irma Hooker and Jamie Irby, into the river. The newspaper account notes, "Nearly all the young men went to the rescue" and "the baskets of good things...
1900’s – Cotton Train
This postcard shows a trainload of cotton being readied to ship out of Newport. The railroads would soon surpass the steamboats as carriers of the area's farm crops, and the age of the steamboat on the South's inland waterways would be gone with the wind. From the...
1904 – Steamer General Joe Wheeler
The steamer General Joe Wheeler ran on the White and Black Rivers and is shown at Newport in 1904, loaded with 500 bales of cotton. Built in 1899, the boat was owned by Capt. W.A. "Billy" Joyce and Capt. Tom Stallings of Newport when this photograph was made. A big...
1903 – Steamboat Grand
The steamboat Grand docks at either Jacksonport or Newport about 1903. It seems to be coming upriver since the deck is loaded with boxes and buckets instead of bales of cotton. The containers are most likely filled with salt, sugar, coffee, and even oysters, and the...
1900’s – Tuckerman Lumberyard
Tuckerman lies 10 miles north of Newport, and it derived much of its early wealth from the timber industry as well as the production of cotton. Here, a lumberyard stands close to the railroad tracks since Tuckerman is not situated on the river. This photograph was...
1900’s – Paddleboat Sears
The paddleboat Sears loads lumber onto barges at the Jacksonport log yard in about 1900. All types of lumber - including cottonwood, gum, hickory, elm, oak, maple, ash, and cedar - were brought down from the Black, Current, and upper White Rivers to Jacksonport for...
1900’s – Railroad Workers
These unnamed railroad workers show by their faces and clothing that they had hard lives. They worked up and down the rails repairing tiles, replacing spikes, and clearing the track of debris. From Watson, Tim, and Elizabeth Jacoway. Newport and Jackson County....
1990’s – Tom Thumb Wedding
Mrs. O.D. Watson and Mrs. Charles Wilmans sponsored this Tom Thumb wedding as a benefit for the United Daughters of the Confederacy. The performance was in the Newport Opera House. This photograph was taken in front of the Brandenburg house on the southwest corner...
1903 – Junior Chapter of the Southern Memorial Association
Founded by Miss Jim Watson (top left), the daughter of Confederate general James Fleming Fagan, the Junior Chapter of the Southern Memorial Association (United Daughters of the Confederacy) poses in 1903 on the porch of the Watson home at Second and Elm Streets in...