Fayetteville History

Mount Sequoyah

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Originally called East Mountain, the largest mountain in Fayetteville was renamed Mount Sequoyah when the hilltop was given to the state Methodist Assembly for use as a religious retreat. It was named in honor of the inventor of the Cherokee syllabary, Sequoyah, and opened for its first summer assembly in 1923. The center is surrounded by Skyline Drive.

Nearly 70 acres on the east side of the mountain was bought back by the city in 2003 to create a city park called Mount Sequoyah Woods.

The city's first water treatment plant and water reservoirs were built on the west face of the mountain between Summit Avenue and Oklahoma Way, high enough to provide water pressure to the top floors of Old Main on the University of Arkansas campus. The reservoirs were removed in 1998 and turned into a city park called Mount Sequoyah Gardens.

The rest of Mount Sequoyah extends northeast to Shadowridge Drive.

Timeline -- 1920s

1920
The federal census shows Fayetteville’s population to be 5,362, a 20 percent increase from the 1910 population. Washington County’s total population was 35,468.

1921
E.A. Budd opens a movie house on the south side of the square, adding vaudeville acts later.
March 1 — Rotary Club No. 829 is organized in Fayetteville with Henry D. Tovey serving as the first president.

1922
Lawrence Stinson erects a 100-foot-tall wooden tower near the corner of West and Lafayette to send wireless signals.
The Fayetteville Building and Loan Association No. 2 is organized with H.S. Price as president.
Fayetteville’s first golf course, a nine-hole layout, was built on the farm of Lodie Stone on the White River. Because of the distance from town, a new course was laid out a year later on Highway 71 about a mile and a half south of town, and the Fayetteville Country Club was organized. This course burned in 1926, and 182 acres on the south end of South Mountain were bought for a new golf course.
June — The Methodist Assembly is dedicated atop East Mountain, and the mountain’s name is changed to Mount Sequoyah.

1923
Arkansas prohibited the sale or use of marijuana this year.
June 6 — A local chapter of the Lions Club is chartered with T.L. Hart serving as the first president.

1924
The University of Arkansas erected a wireless transmitter above the engineering building and KUOA began broadcast of “The Voice of the Ozarks.”
February — The Business and Professional Women’s Club is organized with Grace Albright serving as the first president.

1925
W.F. Sonneman purchases the Baum building on the east side of the square, dismantles it and builds in its place the Palace Theater.

1926
Ely-Walker Dry Goods Co. of St. Louis builds a manufacturing plant big enough to handle at least 200 electric shirt-sewing machines. Its payroll for 1927 was $107,000.
The University of Arkansas’s School of Business Administration was established this year, becoming the fifth college of the university. It was later renamed in honor of Sam Walton.

1927
The University of Arkansas’s graduate school was established this year. Prior to the school, graduate study occurred under the supervision of a Graduate Committee.

1929
A tract of land on the south side of town is purchased by the city for $5,000 to build the first permanent airport.