This article written by Herschel Lester was originally published in the Poteau News & Sun March 29, 1987.
Capt. James E. Reynolds built a home on a hill in 1869, that is not called Arkoma Hill, and lived there until he moved to Cameron in 1890.
In 1911, he moved back, and laid out and built Arkoma. He named it this because of its proximity to Arkansas and Oklahoma. It joins Fort Smith city limits on the west and was built as a “bedroom” for Fort Smith.
The captain got a streetcar line established between the two places, which ran on a regular schedule.
He accumulated a great amount of property and had a lot of rental property in Arkoma, hundreds of acres of the most fertile land in Braden Bottoms, and land and property in and around Cameron.
The captain was generous. He constructed a large rock school building just east of his “castle” at the foot of a long, low, flat-topped hill at Cameron, and gave it to the Presbyterians for a “college”.
He also gave Arkoma the grounds for their schools, with ample space left over.
James E. and his wife both died in 1920, on the “hill” near the school.
Some of the early settlers were L.H. (Doc) Reed, Sidney Smith, J.J. (Roscoe) Barker, R.L. Pilgrim, Bill McRandy, Loyd Rogers, Sim McBride, Manuel Cogburn, and the captain’s son-in-law, Dr. W.M. Murray, who also had a hand in developing the town.
Arkoma is still mostly a living area for people who work in Fort Smith. To this day, with a greatly increased population, they have very little industry and very few businesses.
They have a very few small grocery stores, a laundry, a barber shop, an insurance office, a post office, and a city hall.
E.E. Vancil taught school there for 19 of his 44 years of teaching in this county. He also served as mayor.
He states that Arkoma’s greatest period of growth has been since 1955, because of the expansion of Fort Smith. “What is good for Fort Smith is good for Arkoma.”
After all these years, Arkoma still has to go to Fort Smith to play baseball. Oh, the captain gave them plenty of land; it simply is not practical to level that large a plat. It would cost tens of thousands.
Back to Arkoma’s early days:
By 1918, they had a good brick schoolhouse and three teachers. Some of the early teachers were Frank Ward, Reedy Buzbee, O.M. Jennings, and the oldest teacher in tenure, 1960, Mrs. Eula Sterling.
The WPA erected a rock building in 1936, and Mr. Vancil became principal in 1943. There were six teachers to help him.
In 1944, a gym and auditorium were erected. In 1946, two more classrooms, an office and a cafeteria were built. (If you are around at noon, they will still insist that you eat with them.)
A five-room building was erected in 1951, and two more classrooms in 1953.
If this sounds like a lot of buildings, it is. By 1960, Arkoma had the largest grade school (dependent district) in Oklahoma and perhaps in the nation, with 497 students. It also had a Grade-A rating.
The Methodist Church organized very early. Rev. Gerald Main was the pastor in 1960.
The Missionary Baptist Church had at this time 150 members with Doyne Harrald as pastor.
Rev. Ed Williams has been pastor of the Assembly of God for 20 years.
The Honorable Tom Traw of Arkoma and his brother B.? Traw, were state representatives from this area at different times, and these brothers rendered a wonderful service.
Note: Hank Hope Real Estate has just purchased (1987) practically all of the remainder of the Reynold’s property. Don’t look for these tracts under Reynolds on your real estate maps. These were probably in the names of third and fourth generation, but they must have sold together.
Remember, the captain dies in 1920.
This has the feel of the passing of another era.
Get Local News!
