1950s
Elvis Presley warms up for a performance at the Swifton High School gymnasium in 1955. A 13-year-old Tara Chapman snapped this photograph with her Brownie camera; later, her father took her to Elvis’s pre-Graceland house in Memphis, and the King came out and...
1950s
As the newly elected governor of Arkansas Girls State, Newport’s Lindley Williams is escorted into her inauguration by Arkansas Governor Orval E. Faubus in 1955. Outfitted in her prom dress, Williams was following the tradition of her day, which clearly did not...
1950s
Gov. Francis Cherry ( front row, fourth from right ) visited Newport in 1953 to meet with the town’s business leaders. Chamber of commerce executive director Maude Hinkle escorted him around and undoubtedly apprised him of the many industrial development...
1950s
Nine-year-old Tim Watson won the Smiley Burnett Look-Alike Contest in 1953. Burnett was a film star who played in the cowboy movies many children loved to watch on Saturday afternoons. Young Tim came home from the movie with his prize, a mean little Shetland pony,...
1950s
Farmers Day extended into the night and drew huge crowds from all over the county. Note the level of racial integration in a town that had experienced very little racial tension to this point. (Courtesy of Farmers Electric.)
