John T. Chidester Stagecoach Inn
Operated from 1857 to 1900

McCollum-Chidester House Museum
Built 1847

           The  McCollum-Chidester House Museum  was built by
           Peter McCollum, a local merchant, in 1847 on land received
           by  a grant  from  the United States Government.  It was the
           first  house in Camden built  of  planed lumber, had the first
           wallpaper,  and  the  first kitchen in Camden to have an iron
           cook stove.  The  furnishings were brought up the Ouachita
           River from New Orleans, Louisiana by steamboat. It has five
           fireplaces. The house was sold to John T.Chidester in 1858
           and  was his headquarters  for  the famous Chidester Stage
           Line  that  ran  for a time from  Alabama  to  Yuma,  Arizona.   
          The  furnishings in the house are the original  furnishings of
           the  Chidester   family.  The  home  was  purchased  by  the
           Ouachita  County  Historical  Society  in 1963  and  opened
           as  a  museum.   This  house  was  the   setting  of  the  TV
           miniseries,  "North & South"  and  entertained  movie  stars,
           Patrick Swayze and Kirsti Ally.

Powell-Dietrich House
Built in 1859

Maude Crawford House

In  striking  display  of neoclassical styles, the Richie-Crawford House feaures full height fluted columns capped with the ionic capitols which support  the roof of  the two story porch.  Above the porch is a classical pediment  punctuated  with an infilled  ox-eye  window.  Completed  in 1909  for   the  family   of  businessman  Walter  Richie,  the  home  in subsequent  decades  was  owned  by Clyde and Maude Crawford.  It was  from  this  home  that  Mrs. Crawford,  an  attorney,  mysteriously disappeared on March 2, 1957 in one of Arkansas' most talked about unsolved mysteries.

MISSOURI PACIFIC RAILROAD DEPOT
Built 1913

        Lovingly restored in 1995, it now houses the Main Street
        Camden Chamber of Commerce.

The allure of trains is inherent in many of us.  Many of us remember those gargantuan engines puffing and steaming into town, then roaring away from depots on silver ribbons.  We have heard their mysterious wailing late at night.  Depots, the work stations of the railroad, also hold memories.  They were much more than just a place to buy a ticket.

In 1913, the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway Company built Camden's depot down on Adams Street, just a stone's throw from the Ouachita River.  Construction cost was $7,600.  The Missouri-Pacific Lines absorbed the Iron Mountain System in 1917.  This depot served first as a passenger station, and then primarily as a freight station until it closed in December of 1983.

The Mo-Pac, as it is familiarly known, was the largest and most important railroad in Arkansas.  Its roots go back to July, 1851.  Mo-Pac grew through mergers with dozens of smaller railroads operating within the same regions.  At that time, the main line entered the state at Memphis, continuing to Little Rock, then taking a northwesterly route to Booneville.  Numerous branch lines provided service to Fordyce, El Dorado, Malvern, Camden, Hot Springs and Dardanelle.

By 1927, the Missouri-Pacific Railroad Company operated a total of 705.22 miles of track in Arkansas.  By the 1930's, the line had extended into Oklahoma, with two branches running south through the timber and oil country of south and southwest Arkansas.

What did railroad development mean to our area?  Let's take a brief look:

"The town that is now named Chidester was laid out in 1881 by the old Iron Mountain Railroad.  That was the end of the line at that time.  Coming to Camden meant a stagecoach ride from that point.  Chidester literally owes its existense to the railroad.  At the turn of the century, Lester, another Ouachita County community, had coal and clay mines known as the Maximo mines.  The rail lines allowed these products to be moved out of the area into the market.  Without the rail system, the communities of Louann and Reader would have had great difficulty getting their products out and into the world of commerce.  It is overwhelming to think of the amount of timber taken out by rails, or the numbers of barrels of oil borne by the railcars.  Without the railroad none of this could have happened.

Timber, one of the main sources of income for our area was, and still is, moved primarily by rail.  Grapette, a soft-drink invented in Camden and shipped all over the nation, and some foreign countries, left Camden, by railcar.

With the onset of World War II, rail traffic increased to the point that at times there were 30 trains daily through Camden.  Many freight trains bore army tanks and artillery used to help the United States win the war on two fronts.  The passenter trains carried soldiers who would ultimately find their way to the Pacific or European front.  Connections were made here in Camden on the Missouri-Pacific to go to the training camps in Louisiana, California, or wherever their particular destination was.  The mail was moved on the railroad, and the mail moved the nation.  In wartime and in peacetime, communication has always been crucial.  The depot was the spot where the mail was sent out and brought in.  Western Union was very often found in the depots around the country.  Urgent messages to loved ones have gone out from our depot via the telegraph machine.

The Mo-Pac depot was the scene of many dramatic moments for people arriving and departing Camden.  Newlyweds, embarking on thier honeymoons, have fond memories of making their departure from this depot.  Our only remaining depot, the Mo-Pac Depot, must be saved.  It is an integral part of our history, both economical and cultural, and perhaps something less definable, our heritage of memories.  It will become, when the dream of revitalizing this structure comes true, something practical, something needed here in Camden: a Chamber of Commerce office and a museum.  Other communities in Arkansas have saved their depots.  They have turned them into attractive and functional sites.  So can we!"

Jo Anne Holyfield, Camden's Back on Track 1995

 

A drive by tour of the Historic Greening District is available.

Ralph and Patsy Hale's Log Cabin Village

Don't forget that the Log Cabin Village is included with the home tours.

Quick Contact

General Information
info@camdenfestival.com

Craft Vendors
crafters@camdenfestival.com

Entertainment
entertain@camdenfestival.com

Food Vendors
food@camdenfestival.com

Lodging

Mailing Address

Camden Daffodil Festival
P. O. Box 693
Camden, Arkansas 71711
870-836-0023