As towns across rural Arkansas continue to bleed population, the most obvious victims often are the churches. I recently saw an online plea for funds to help keep up a Presbyterian church building at Helena, a once-beautiful city on the banks of the Mississippi River that has been losing residents for decades.
In my mother's hometown of Des Arc, a Presbyterian church was transformed into the public library.
One of my favorite events last year was in Prescott. A historic marker was unveiled at what once was First Presbyterian Church. Truman Warren, a former pastor of the church, asked me to participate, not because I'm Presbyterian. I'm not, but I hail from that neck of the woods and have a deep love of Arkansas history. The more I study our state's past, the more I appreciate the role churches played in bringing civilization to a frontier setting.
The marker at Prescott reads: "The first church in Prescott was a Cumberland Presbyterian congregation organized in April 1874, six months before the city was incorporated. A congregation of the Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) followed in 1879, and land for its building was donated by church member Thomas C. McRae, a future governor of Arkansas. The two churches federated in 1909 and initially worshiped in the PCUS building. When it burned in 1911, another structure was built. It stood until 1973. On Dec. 15, 1974, Prescott Presbyterians dedicated a new building on the same site as they celebrated the congregation's centennial.
"During the summer of 1941, when U.S. Army troops camped in and around Prescott on training maneuvers, First Presbyterian Church threw open its doors to these service members. In the later 20th century, as Prescott's population declined, church membership dwindled. Upon the congregation's request, the Presbytery of the Pines closed the church on May 18, 2013. The building was sold to the city of Prescott for $1 so that it might continue to serve her citizens for years to come."
In 1980, when I was a college student just down the road in Arkadelphia, Prescott had a population of 4,103. By the 2020 census, it had dropped to 3,101.
Like many of the places across south Arkansas that are losing population, Prescott originated as a railroad town. Steve Teske writes for the Central Arkansas Library System's Encyclopedia of Arkansas: "The railroad line crossed the north end of Nevada County in 1873. Robert Burns moved from Little Rock to Moscow in Nevada County, two miles south of the tracks, and persuaded railroad surveyors to plant a town on the line near Moscow. In August 1873, four surveyors, including W.H. Prescott, laid out 24 blocks on each side of the rails.
"Within two weeks, Burns had constructed a frame storehouse. A second store, a restaurant and a hotel quickly followed. The railroad established a depot by November. On Nov. 24, 1873, Prescott received a post office and was later said to resemble an oil boom town in the speed of its growth. Controversy exists surrounding the name of the town. Most historians assumed it was named for the surveyor. Others note that railroad executives Thomas Allen and Henry Marquand had a friend of the same name for whom the city might have been named."
By the town's first census in 1880, the population had soared to 1,253 residents. It was up to 2,705 by 1910. With that growth came the growth of area churches. Descendants of McRae were among those in attendance at last year's dedication.
McRae, the eldest of five siblings, was born at Mount Holly in Union County in December 1851. His father died in 1863, and the young McRae was left to run the family farm during the final months of the Civil War.
McRae finished his education at Washington and Lee University in Virginia in 1872 and began practicing law at Rosston in Nevada County in 1873. Due to the growth of Prescott, the county seat moved from Rosston to Prescott in 1877. McRae moved with it. He was elected as a Democrat to the Arkansas House of Representatives in 1876 and was elected to Congress eight years later. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 18 years.
According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas: "Returning to private life in Prescott, McRae resumed his law practice before purchasing the Bank of Prescott in 1905. Working diligently within Arkansas to promote sound banking, he was elected president of the Arkansas Bankers Association in 1909. Utilizing his past political skills, he influenced banking legislation in Arkansas and spoke nationally in support of the Federal Reserve System."
Prescott continued to grow thanks to the railroad and the timber industry. Ozan Lumber was established there in 1891. Meanwhile, Reader Railroad was created to link timber operations to the Cairo & Fulton line. In addition to donating land for a Presbyterian church, McRae donated money to build schools for Prescott's Black residents. The schools continued to be used until desegregation in the late 1960s.
McRae was elected president of the Arkansas Bar Association in 1917. He agreed to run for governor in 1920 at age 68. He won and was re-elected in 1922. As his second term wound down at the end of 1924, he returned to Prescott to tend to his banking and legal practice. McRae died in June 1929 and was buried in DeAnn Cemetery at Prescott.
In addition to a governor, the town also produced Congressmen Oren Harris and Mike Ross. The T.C. McRae House and D.L. McRae House at Prescott are on the National Register of Historic Places.
Senior Editor Rex Nelson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He's also the author of the Southern Fried blog at rexnelsonsouthernfried.com.
OPINION | REX NELSON: Presbyterians in Prescott
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19.04.2024
As towns across rural Arkansas continue to bleed population, the most obvious victims often are the churches. I recently saw an online plea for funds to help keep up a Presbyterian church building at Helena, a once-beautiful city on the banks of the Mississippi River that has been losing residents for decades.
In my mother's hometown of Des Arc, a Presbyterian church was transformed into the public library.
One of my favorite events last year was in Prescott. A historic marker was unveiled at what once was First Presbyterian Church. Truman Warren, a former pastor of the church, asked me to participate, not because I'm Presbyterian. I'm not, but I hail from that neck of the woods and have a deep love of Arkansas history. The more I study our state's past, the more I appreciate the role churches played in bringing civilization to a frontier setting.
The marker at Prescott reads: "The first church in Prescott was a Cumberland Presbyterian congregation organized in April 1874, six months before the city was incorporated. A congregation of the Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) followed in 1879, and land for its building was donated by church member Thomas C. McRae, a future governor of Arkansas. The two churches federated in 1909 and initially worshiped in the PCUS building. When it burned in 1911, another structure was built. It stood until 1973. On Dec. 15, 1974, Prescott Presbyterians........
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