History & Architecture: Arkansas Historic Preservation Program

Fairview Cemetery is being nominated to the National Register of Historic Places under CRITERION A for its association with the lives of persons significant in settlement of Van Buren, Arkansas, and in the history of Crawford County. It is the oldest public city cemetery in Van Buren and Crawford County, Arkansas. Fairview Cemetery has recorded the history of the area through the many significant burials of the early prominent settlers, judges, politicians, recorded but unmarked African-American slave graves, and the Confederate Section (NR 12/6/1996). The cemetery is eligible for inclusion under CRITERION C for its superb display of funerary architecture. As the oldest public city and county cemetery in Van Buren, Crawford County, it illustrates funerary architecture through monuments which illustrate artworks that are representative of the stylistic type and period from 1816 to 1955. Fairview Cemetery is also significant under CRITERIA CONSIDERATION D for cemeteries.

In addition to the landscape and design of the cemetery and its markers, there exists within the boundaries of the cemetery two modern, non-contributing storage sheds. Located just outside the main gates of Fairview Cemetery is a carriage mounting block made of scrolled wrought iron and wooden planks. Contributing to the nomination, this mounting block is located on Poplar Street and faces south to the river. The Fairview Cemetery, Confederate Section (NR 12/6/96) is a contributing resource within the boundaries of the cemetery being nominated.

Town and County History

Arkansas was still a District of the Territory of Missouri when in 1818, David Boyd arrived at the future town site of Van Buren. His arrival was the first recorded event in the history of Van Buren. Although Boyd was the first to arrive, he was not the first white settler. Thomas Martin was the first settler and claimed his rights to the land, which later became a boat landing and a small settlement. In 1819 Arkansas was established as a Territory. Daniel and Thomas Phillips settled in the area of Martin’s claim and established a wood yard for supplying fuel to the flat-bottomed steamboats that traveled the Arkansas River. The small community became known as Phillips Landing.[1]

This region is situated in Crawford County, Arkansas, and it was the largest county in Arkansas upon its establishment in 1820. Prior to this, Crawford County was part of eight counties and also part of the Indian Territory. The county was named for William Harris Crawford (1772-1834), who was secretary of the treasury under President Monroe. With the establishment of Crawford County, a post office was founded at Phillips Landing and named for Martin Van Buren, Secretary of State, appointed by President Jackson. As the community began to grow, the business and commerce of the region began to expand. John Henry & Company, along with John Drennen and David Thompson established general stores and ferry operations. With the expansion of the community, a new settlement, Columbus, was formed. By 1835, Drennen and Thompson became prominent members of that community. Drennen represented Crawford County at the Constitutional Convention and helped to write the first Constitution of Arkansas. In 1836, after Arkansas was admitted as a state, Drennen and Thompson realized that Van Buren, which was owned by Phillips, was a better site for a town than Columbus due to the higher elevation. Drennen and Thompson purchased the town site of Van Buren from Phillips for $11,000.00. The following year, the land was surveyed and plotted out according to the direction of the river, thus spurring on the development of Van Buren and helping to establish Van Buren as the center of commerce for the distribution of goods for northwest Arkansas.[2]

The State Legislature first incorporated Van Buren as a town on December 24, 1842. Van Buren was reincorporated on January 4, 1845. Van Buren became the county seat and Drennen donated land for use as a public square in the center of town and for the location of the Crawford County Courthouse. During the Battle of Van Buren on December 28, 1862, Federal Troops destroyed all courthouse records dating from 1855 to 1860. Then on March 23, 1877, during the period of reconstruction, the courthouse burned, destroying most of the records with only a few surviving the fire.[3]

On April 13, 1851, Congress passed an act that provided for two terms of Federal court of the Western District of Arkansas to be held yearly in Van Buren. The first term of Federal Court that was recorded was held in the Crawford County Courthouse in May of 1854 with the Honorable Judge Daniel Ringo presiding. Ringo resigned and the Federal Court ceased to function during the War Between the States. In 1862, after the raid on Van Buren, the Federal Court of the Western District of Arkansas was moved to Fort Smith, Arkansas.[4]

Van Buren began to develop and expand more as a town with the establishment of the first newspaper, The Intelligencer, in 1842, and with the first railway, The Little Rock and Fort Smith Railway, in 1853. Drennen became the first president of the rail company, and the first train arrived in Van Buren from Little Rock on June 24, 1876. With the first railway in business, the St. Louis and San Francisco Railway was completed from St. Louis, Missouri, to Van Buren in 1882.[5]

With the expansion of Van Buren, Drennen saw the need to establish a public cemetery. He donated 10 acres of land and Fairview Cemetery was founded. Since its establishment, the cemetery has met the needs of the community by serving as the first public cemetery located in Van Buren and Crawford County. The original legal cemetery description is as follows: Part of Section 24, Township 9 north, Range 32 west, Crawford County, Arkansas, being more particularly described as follows:

Beginning at a point where the east line of Fayetteville Road (AR highway 59) and the north line of Poplar Street intersect; Thence north along the east line of Fayetteville Road to a point where the east line of Fayetteville Road intersects with the south line of McKibben Avenue; Thence leaving the east line of Fayetteville Road and along the south line of McKibben Avenue approximately 880 feet to a point being 20 feet east of the northwest corner of Lot 1 Block 8 Grandview Addition (which appears to be the west line of an alleyway); Thence leaving said south line of McKibben Avenue, south to a point on the north line of Poplar Street, west to the point of beginning.[6]

John Drennen, co-founder of Van Buren, was born in Elizabeth, Pennsylvania, in February of 1801. He went into business with David Thompson sometime around 1826, and moved to Arkansas in 1830. In 1835, he was elected to represent Crawford County in the first Arkansas Constitutional Convention in 1836. He was a member of the first Arkansas House of Representatives from 1836 to 1838. Drennen served as Postmaster and Captain of the Arkansas Frontier Guards. He was appointed by President Taylor, in June of 1849, as an agent for the Choctaw Indians, and later Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the southwestern region. He succumbed to Yellow Fever while in Indianapolis, Indiana.

George Henry Knox was one of the earliest settlers in Arkansas. Before Arkansas became a state in 1836, he was appointed District Marshal to look after Indian affairs. He came to live at the site of what is now Van Buren when it was still a wilderness. Knox was known as a prominent man in business, religious and social life. He died on August 12, 1854.

Alexander McClean was, at the time of his death in 1859, the Clerk with the District Court of the United States for the Western District of Arkansas. He was a native of Albany, New York, and was one of the early pioneers of Arkansas. McClean was the first mayor of Van Buren, and clerk of the Circuit Court of Crawford County from 1833-1836.

Judges and Politicians:

The Honorable Judge Jesse Turner was born in Orange County, New Jersey, in 1805. He relocated to the Arkansas Territory in 1831, settling at Van Buren. In 1838, he was elected a member from the counties of Crawford and Franklin to the House of Representatives for Arkansas Legislature; in 1841, he was appointed by the Secretary of War to attend the examinations of cadets at West Point Academy; in 1851, he was appointed U.S. Attorney for that district; and in 1866-1867, and 1874-1875, he was a member of the State Senate in Arkansas. Judge Turner was very involved with the Little Rock-Fort Smith Railway and the Kansas and Arkansas Valley Railway.

The Honorable Judge Jonathan B. Ogdenwas born in Cumberland County, New Jersey, on July 3, 1812. He moved to Van Buren in 1843 and began to practice law. In 1856, he was appointed United States Commissioner of the District Court, Western District of Arkansas, which included all of the Indian Territory west of the Rocky Mountains, and held that office until the Civil War. After the Civil War, he was offered the position of Clerk of the United States Court at Van Buren, but declined. In 1866, he was appointed Assistant United States District Attorney for the Western District and held that position for 6 years.

The Honorable Judge Joseph James Greenwas born in North Carolina in 1813. He moved to Van Buren in the early 1840s. In 1847, he was appointed aide de camp to Brigadier General Duval with the rank of Major of Cavalry in the militia. In 1855, he served in the state senate and in 1857, was a member of the state legislature. He helped to organize the Van Buren Female Academy and served as president of the board of trustees until the Civil War. Green served as Judge of the Fourth Circuit in 1863, and acted as a Civil Officer of the Confederate States of America. He died in February of 1863.

Former Mayors of Van Buren buried at Fairview Cemetery include Alexander Mc Clean, 1845; A.J. Ward, 1849 & 1855; John Austin, 1854 & 1861; Thomas Walden, 1860; David Dickson, 1866-1868; L.C. White, 1872; J.M. Wood, 1872-1873; F.M. Neal, 1876-1877, 1887-1888; Jesse Turner Jr., 1880-1885; James D. Hawkins 1886-87, 1894-95; H.C. Hayman, 1890-1901; Nimrod Turman, 1891-1993; Judge Ben Decherd, 1894-95; Alvis Smith, 1896-1897; J.C. McKinney, 1929-1931, 1945-1947; and Warren G. Furry, 1931-1935.

Former Postmasters buried at Fairview include Jonathan A. Eno, 1852-1855; W.T. England, 1893-1897; Marion Orrick, Oct. 1901 – Mar. 1903; Catherine Orrick, Mar. 1903 – July 1903; and Jonathan Neal, 1906.

Dr. Addison McArthur Bourland was born in Franklin County, Alabama, in 1825. In 1844, he began studying medicine in Barry County, Missouri, under Dr. B. B. Clements. Then, in 1846, he enlisted in Company D, Arkansas Mounted Volunteer Cavalry and fought in the Mexican-American War. He resided in Franklin County, Arkansas, until 1864, and moved to Van Buren where he became one of Van Buren’s prominent physicians. He was a member of the Van Buren Medical Society and American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Dr. James A. Dibrell was born in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1817, and was of French-Huguenot descent. He moved to Van Buren very early in his life and lived here his entire life except when the War Between the States was being waged. He died in February of 1897.

Dr. Henri Charles Pernot was born in France on August 1, 1820, and was educated in Paris, France. He came to America in 1847, and in 1851, married Emilie Annie Sargeant, who was a descendant of Josiah Bartlett, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Pernot moved to Van Buren in 1851, and practiced medicine in Crawford County and in the Indian Territory. He was a president of the Crawford County Medical Association; a member of the City Council; appointed Chief Surgeon of a confederate hospital in Van Buren, and served until the Union troops occupied Van Buren.He then served as physician to soldiers of the Civil War on both sides. He moved briefly to Fort Washita in the Indian Territory where he was appointed to be surgeon of that post.After the war ended, he returned to Van Buren to practice medicine. He died on January 8, 1881.

Phillip Pennywitt was a steamboat operator between Cincinnati and New Orleans. He built the first steamboat ever constructed in Cincinnati and named it for that city. He arrived in Little Rock, Arkansas, in January of 1828, as commander of the steamer Facility, one of the first steamboats to ever sail the Arkansas River. Pennywitt was one of the most popular steam boat men of his day and his name is intertwined with navigation on the Ohio, Mississippi, and Arkansas Rivers. He retired from the steamboat business and engaged in a mercantile and manufacturing business until the onset of Civil War and then retired. He died in 1868.

James A. Scott came to the Arkansas Territory in 1830 or 1831, but was unable to find work at that time, and moved to Fort Gibson, Oklahoma. He returned to Crawford County in 1835, to what was known as Columbus, a rival of Van Buren for the role of county seat, established by John Drennen and David Thompson. In 1837, he married Francis McAlister Thompson, the daughter of David Thompson, co-founder of Van Buren, and established a mercantile business in Van Buren.

Alfred Wallace was born in Georgia on December 22, 1809. In 1844, he moved to Van Buren and engaged in a mercantile business, and was joined by his brother-in-law A. J. Ward. Wallace died in 1856, and left $10,000.00 in a trust fund to the Crawford Institute, a school for boys, which later became the Wallace Institute. The school did not reopen after the Civil War.

Henry F. Meyer was born in Lawrence, Kansas, in 1857, and moved to Van Buren with his mother. He attended school in Van Buren and entered the mercantile establishment of J.W. Statler and later became the firm of Meyer and Hodges. In May of 1892, he was elected assistant cashier of Citizen’s Bank in Van Buren. When Citizen’s Bank & Trust consolidated in 1914, he was elected vice president, and served the bank for 27 years, resigning in 1919.

Other Significant Persons:

Nicholas F. Cornelius was born in Hanover, Germany, in 1838. He lived on the home farm until he was 14, and then worked in a dry goods store in Bremen, Germany, until 1857, when he moved to St. Louis, Missouri, and then to New Orleans, Louisiana. He returned to Hanover for a visit in 1858, and then upon his return to the United States, he operated a clothing store in Buffalo, New York. In 1861, he established himself in business in Van Buren. During the Civil War, he moved briefly to Rochester, Indiana. He was held in high esteem in the city of Van Buren, and was ranked among the city’s most prosperous businessmen.

Captain William Bowlin was born in Knox County, Tennessee, in 1832. He traveled to Van Buren with his mother by steamboat, arriving in March of 1844. At the age of 18, he became an apprentice in a printing office, and worked on the Arkansas Intelligence newspaper. From 1860 to 1864, Bowlin served as City Marshall. In 1859 he established a family liquor and grocery store and remained in business until 1863, when he joined the Union Army. He served in General Pleasanton’s Division of the Department of Missouri, General Sanborn’s brigade, and Colonel John E. Phelps regiment, which drove the Confederate General Price from Missouri in the fall of 1864. After the war, he was appointed by the governor to the board of registration.Bowlin owned and operated a successful farm. He became one of Crawford County’s leading businessmen. He was also a director of the Citizen’s Bank in Van Buren.

William Henry Harrison Shibley was born in Ralls County, Missouri, in 1840. He moved to Crawford County with his parents in 1860. In 1862 he enlisted in the Confederate Army as a private in Company G, 22^nd Regiment, Arkansas Infantry. He fought in the battles of Prairie Grove, Saline River, and Helena.Shibley became the acting adjutant of the regiment while commanding his company. Shibley was the chief clerk of Mr. D. C. Williams for 10 years prior to 1868, and the firm then became Shibley, Wood, and Company.Shibley sold his interest to Wood Brothers and Southmayd. In February of 1888, he became president of the Van Buren Canning Company, which he helped to established and later became its general manager. In July of 1888, the company of Shibley, Bourland, and Company succeeded T. D. Bourland and Company in the wholesale grocery and commission business. Shibley was one of the first leading businessmen in Van Buren; a stockholder in the Van Buren Ice and Coal Company; director and stockholder in the Crawford County Bank; treasurer of the Van Buren Building and Loan Association and the Van Buren Land and Improvement Company.

Thomas M. McGee was born in Van Buren in 1846, in the Collins Hotel. His father was one of the first white settlers in Crawford County, Arkansas. McGee was educated in Van Buren and at the Kentucky Military Institute near Frankfort, Kentucky. After his education he farmed until 1874. In 1881, he engaged a mercantile business in Van Buren and became one of the more successful businessmen in the city. In 1871, McGee served as Deputy United States Marshal and later served two years as the Sheriff of Crawford County under Colonel William L. Taylor. McGee served on the Van Buren School Board for several years and the Van Buren City Council. He was a stockholder in the Crawford County Bank. In 1861, he enlisted in the Confederate Army, first in the Van Buren Guards, and later with General Terry’s regiment in Texas. He served for the duration of the Civil War and was present at the surrender at San Antonio, Texas.

Robert S. Hynes was born in Canada in 1845. He was educated at Lower Canada College and in 1864, came to the United States. He moved to Bentonville, Arkansas, around 1871, and started the Advance, a successful newspaper, which he sold in 1877. In 1879, he came to Van Buren and in 1884, he purchased the Crawford County Bank. In 1886, the Honorable Judge Jesse Turner and D. W. Moore joined him in making the bank a stock company with a capital of $50,000.00, and he was elected cashier. He was one of the original incorporators of the Van Buren Canning Company and the Van Buren Ice & Coal Company where he held the position of a stockholder and treasurer. Hynes was closely identified with many of the chief movements in Van Buren. He was one of the active principals in securing the San Francisco Railroad to the town of Van Buren.

M. W. Drewrey was a brick manufacturer and contractor, born in Princess Anne County, Virginia, in 1828. He was educated in Virginia and lived in Norfolk, Virginia, until he was 16. He then worked as an apprentice in the brick mason’s trade for five years, and in 1857, was employed in the Government Navy Yard at Norfolk for 14 months. In 1861, he enlisted in the Confederate Army, Company A, 16^th Regiment, Atlantic Guards, and served as a First Lieutenant for 18 months.After the war, he worked as a brick mason in Memphis, Tennessee, and in 1869, moved to Van Buren, Arkansas. He manufactured brick in Van Buren, and in the first year produced over 600,000 and averaged around 300,000 every year after that. During his years as a brick-maker he erected some of the finest buildings in Van Buren. He erected the courthouse, which still stands today; a public school; the Methodist Episcopal Church South; and the business blocks of Wood and Southmayd, Creekmore and Lynch, etc. He also erected the college at North Fork and a public school in Paris, Arkansas.

Frank McKibben was born in Seneca County, Ohio, in 1843. He was orphaned when he was 12 and was reared by Henry Isabel in Richland County, Ohio, where he learned the carriage trimmer trade when he was 14. In November of 1861, he enlisted in Company A, 1^st Ohio Cavalry, and participated in 52 engagements. He served under General Garfield in Kentucky, General Burnside in Tennessee, and General Sherman in Georgia. After the war, he worked for his brother David in his mercantile business in Fort Smith, Arkansas, until 1870, when he became a plantation superintendent. In 1871, he established a store in Van Buren and in 1880, his brother-in-law Henry Pape joined him as partner in the business. They sold general merchandise, hardware, clothing, furniture, etc. It was known as the largest inventory of general goods in western Arkansas.McKibben was an influential citizen of Van Buren and was a member of the school board; city council; vice president of the Van Buren Canning Company; and stockholder and director of the Crawford County Bank.

Charles J. Murta was born in Ireland in 1855, and immigrated to the United States in 1865. He received his education in St. Louis, Missouri. At the age of 18 he became an engineer on the Iron Mountain Railroad, and then served as the telegraph agent for the city of Alma, Arkansas, from 1875 to 1885. In 1887, Murta started a mercantile business in Van Buren. In July of 1888, he purchased the hardware stock of Reynolds Brothers. He was a well-respected businessman, who also engaged as bookkeeper in the Exchange National Bank of Little Rock. He was a stockholder in the Van Buren Ice and Coal Company and the Van Buren Canning Company.

Clara B. Eno was a noted historian of Crawford County. She was born in Van Buren on February 14, 1854. In her younger years she taught school, and later devoted her life to work in religious, literary, and historical affairs. Her contemporaries knew her as one of the more outstanding historians in Arkansas.

Fairview Cemetery retains integrity of location, setting, materials, design and workmanship. The cemetery’s setting atop a hill overlooking the Van Buren Historic District (NR 04/30/76) and the Arkansas River remains comparable to when the first burial took place in 1816 and when the cemetery was officially established in 1846. Cedar and oak trees dot the cemetery, and alleyways and narrow drives incise the landscape, inviting guests to walk the cemetery and enjoy the serenity it has to offer.Victorian-era and Egyptian Revival-influenced markers are prevalent throughout Fairview Cemetery, the granite and marble stones formed into columns, urns, obelisks, massive monuments and understated tablets. These various markers exhibit funerary art, such as clasped hands, roses, inverted torches, crosses and Masonic emblems.

[1] Eno, Clara B. History of Crawford County, Arkansas. Van Buren, Arkansas: Press Argus, 1950, p. 27-29.

[2] Ibid., p. 52-66.

[3] Ibid., p. 27-56.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Legal Description. Fairview Cemetery. Crawford County Abstract Company, Van Buren, Arkansas.

Carrott, Richard G. The Egyptian Revival: Its’ Sources, Monuments and Meanings, 1808 – 1859. Oct. 1978.

Eno, Clara B. History of Crawford County, Arkansas. Van Buren, Arkansas: Press Argus, 1950.

Legal Description. Fairview Cemetery. Crawford County Abstract Company, Van Buren, Arkansas.

Meyer, Richard E. Cemeteries and Gravemarkers: Voices of American Culture. Logan, Utah: Utah State Press. 1992.

Sexton’s Record. Fairview Cemetery. Held by Joe E. Smith, Acting Superintendent and Board Member of Fairview Cemetery, Van Buren, Arkansas.