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| McRae Church Records, Courtesy of SARA |
Railroad construction was
booming during the 1870s Reconstruction period that followed the Civil War. It
was during that time Nevada County was created.
Nevada County was carved from
Hempstead, Columbia and Ouachita Counties in March 1871. Because the county was
sparsely settled, the first county seat was Mount Moriah, a country church. The
county seat moved to Rosston from 1872 to 1877, but citizens voted to move the
seat to Prescott, a newly established railroad town. The county seat remains in
Prescott, which became the county’s largest city.
Notable citizens from Nevada
County include Thomas Chipman McRae, who was a banker, lawyer and politician. McRae
entered politics in 1876 and was a supporter of paying railroad bonds. He
eventually served as a Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives for 18
years. He served as Arkansas’s 26th governor from 1921 to 1925.
McRae leaned toward populism
and supported efforts that eventually led to start of several national forests.
Advancements under McRae also included reorganizing funding to improve state
highways and the educational system, constructing a tuberculosis sanatorium for
African Americans and appointing women to civil political positions.
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| Church Records, Courtesy of SARA |
Although most of McRae’s governor
papers are at the University of Arkansas Libraries Special Collections, a small
collection was donated by Duncan Culpepper, a relative of the governor, to the
Southwest Arkansas Regional Archives. The collection includes political clippings,
personal correspondence, poetry, quotes, speeches and other items Thomas McRae
collected. The items give insight into McRae’s interests and some of his life
in Nevada County.
Original archival materials
are welcomed for donation at SARA. For more information, please contact Melissa
Nesbitt, archival manager, at southwest.archives@arkansas.gov or 870-983-2633.
