Editor’s Note: This is the first of two parts on the town of McNeil as a railroad boomtown.
The Railroad According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture, the St. Louis and Southwestern Railroad Company, which later became known as the Cotton Belt, began construction on a railroad in the late 1870s that would cross the northern part of Columbia County. Construction was completed in 1882, and the town of McNeil, Arkansas, was born along the tracks a year or so later. That, combined with the growth of the town due to its proximity to the “healing” waters of nearby Magnesia Springs, led to a boom in that part of the county.
The springs were developed in the late 19th Century after Caddo Indians introduced settlers to the eleven springs that had purported “healing” powers. Visitors soon flocked to the area to drink from and bathe in the water from the springs. As the reputation of the springs spread, large numbers of tourists from around the region began going there to experience the beneficial effects of the mineral water.
All the growth in the number of visitors coming to the springs coincided with the construction of the railroad, and a depot was built just east of the springs in what would later become the City of McNeil. Cotton Belt trains were soon stopping at the new train station in McNeil to offload passengers, and tourists were being taken out to the springs in horse-drawn wagons. Two hotels, the Hicks House and the Mendenhall, were built to accommodate the large numbers of tourists coming into the area.
Several lumber mills and two cotton gins were operating in the area around McNeil before the railroad was built, and the finished timber and cotton from these operations were the two major products shipped out on the rails. A newspaper, bank, general store, furniture store, ice house, restaurants, a drug store, a doctor’s office, and several other retail establishments sprang up over the next few years, and a downtown area formed just north of the tracks near the railroad depot.
However, business leaders in the City of Magnolia met soon after the railroad was finished and quickly raised the funds necessary to build a spur to connect to the Cotton Belt railroad at McNeil. Magnolia established itself as the economic center of Columbia County with the completion of that railway. Crowds of people from Magnolia rode the new train to and from the depot in McNeil in September of 1883.
Magnesia Springs also became a popular gathering spot for local members of the Methodist Church, and a bandstand and pavilion were constructed for the benefit of church members. Traveling evangelists drew large crowds of people when they held services at the pavilion and campgrounds. By the 1930s, perhaps due to the Great Depression, the popularity of the springs had declined to the point that in 1940 the land containing the springs was leased to the Boy Scouts of America. That ended them as a tourist attraction, and the springs are now a part of Logoly State Park.
The name for what is now the Southern Arkansas University mascot was taken from the early days of McNeil as well. Student-athletes from what was then the Third District Agricultural School rode mules to the railroad station in McNeil to catch a train for their out-of-town games. According to a history of the period written by Dr. James F. Willis, the football team had gone to Fordyce for the last game of the season, which ended in a scoreless tie. A few days later the team rode mules to their coach’s home, which was located on the road to McNeil, to discuss the game. When the coach came outside and saw his players, he uttered the words, “my muleriders,” which would later become the mascot for the school and a small college sports legend.
Baseball teams were formed at the different lumber mills during this time period as people sought a means of entertainment. According to Nettie Kilgore’s “A History of Columbia County,” just a month or so after the first mayor and council of McNeil was elected in 1884, there was a baseball game between McNeil and Magnolia. As many as four players from McNeil ended up playing professional baseball over the years, though the standard was different in those days, as there were many more small pro teams in existence, and baseball was one of the most popular spectator sports before the days of television.
During World War II, troop trains stopped at McNeil, and the soldiers spent quite a bit of money at the local stores and post office, sending postcards to their families and buying cigarettes and candy for themselves. Though the men were not allowed to exit the trains, children gathered at the windows of the passenger cars at the ready to be the middleman for the soldiers and offer their assistance. And to make a little money for themselves on the side.
After the war, another growth spurt took place in McNeil as the entire country went into a long period of economic growth. Dr. Tom Pullig, who grew up in McNeil in the 1940s and 1950s, recalled a peaceful, village-like atmosphere there. “I remember the trains loading and unloading, and after my grandfather died in 1956, my dad opened a store. There was still a lot of train traffic then, and we got to know all the men who worked for the railroad.”
The Era of the Automobile after World War II wrought changes in McNeil as it did in other parts of the country, though they were slower to come there. But change did come. In Part II of Boomtown, the story will focus on the growth of the city centered on an area south of the downtown near the intersection of U.S. Highway 79 and Arkansas Highway 98.