Mayflower

Mayflower is an incorporated town in southern Faulkner County, Arkansas. The town is located at the intersection of Arkansas Highway 365 and Arkansas Highway 89. The town is also served by interchange 135 of Interstate 40. The population of Mayflower is 1,631. Mayflower is named after a Pullman railroad car equipped with a telegraph. The railroad's superintendent called the car "Mayflower" to identify himself when communicating with rail officials down in Little Rock.

Commerce and Industry

In the 1960s many Mayflower residents worked for businesses Conway, Little Rock, and at local launch complexes for the Titan II Missile program. Some continued to farm. In 1962 the town had a supermarket, an auto garage, a television and radio shop, a barber and beauty salon, a cafe, and a service station. Public structures included a ballpark, a post office, and a youth center.

History

The first settlers near Mayflower may have been the Flanagan and Massengill families of Palarm Creek. These families reached the area in the late 1770s or early 1780s, and engaged in subsistence agriculture.

In 1867 the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad completed the line through Mayflower, establishing the end of the line at so-called Twenty Mile Camp. The encampment brought business and more families to the town. A general store and a saloon were established in the 1870s. The Wiley Mosely Store opened in the 1870s. Ten cotton gin owners also set up in town in this decade. A hotel, train depot, and log-cabin schoolhouse completed the collection of local businesses.

The first blacksmith in town, J. F. Taylor, set up shop in 1903. Taylor invented a chain-driven dropped cotton planter and five section harrow. These inventions were sold to the Blount Plow Company. Mayflower's first physician, a Dr. Mathis, worked for the railroad. Other physicians soon arrived: R. G. Dickens and R. B. Greenlee.

The town was incorporated in January 1928. The town has grown through four additions: Worrels Addition, Hays Addition, Miller Addition, and Mosley Addition.

Geology

Mayflower is situated atop a geological formation known as Muskogee Silt Loam. Historically, the town has suffered several Arkansas River floods, particularly in the Great Flood of 1927.

References

• Fay Walston, "Mayflower," Faulkner Facts and Fiddlings 4.2 (July 1962): 3-10.