This was published June 4, 1983, in the Monroe County Sun. There is no author or source cited. -- Jane Dearing Dennis
History Notes of the City of Holly Grove
EARLY BEGINNINGS The first settlers in what was to become Holly Grove arrived in the early 1830s. The first land grant was to Henry Augustus Fay, November 15, 1836. At this time Holly Grove was a community of several families who lived mostly in the northwest part of the village near a large holly thicket. There were three holly groves, one in the center and two nortwhest of town. J.M. Smith built the first house in town. The old "Mull House," so well known over this area, was originally the Kerr Place. It was constructed before the Civil War by Benjamin Franklin Kerr. Built entirely by slave labor, it required five years of intermittent work before completion one year before the War. Benjamin Kerr sold the house to Mr. Allen of Helena from whom Captain Mull obtained it in 1880. Macedonia Cemetery, located one and one-half miles south of Holly Grove, was part of the Kerr Plantation also, and was donated by the Kerrs to the community.
Probably about 1872, Mr. and Mrs. J.M. Smith and A.K. Roberts gave the town the name Holly Grove. (Legend has it that the community was called "Pull-Tight." The wood burning steam engine had such a struggle getting up the incline just west of town, it had to pull-tight!) But certainly the large holly groves had a bearing on the town's name.
INCORPORATION A change in transportation methods brought Holly Grove to life. While the steamboat held sway over the field of commerce, the town of Lawrenceville, then the county seat of Monroe County, was an active business center in the area. It was located near Maddox Bay, and Holly Grove was just a plantation source and a house or two. But the coming of the railroad changed all that.
The Arkansas Central Railway Company was formed to build a railroad from Helena, Arkansas, to Little Rock, and this was completed in 1873 [handwritten note in my news clipping: "was not completed"]. With the arrival of the railroad came a shake-up in population, which eventually made Lawrenceville non-existent and promoted the growth of Holly Grove. This brought many of the earlier families from their farms near Indian Bay and Maddox Bay to be nearer the tracks. Because delta lands of the bay were subject to flooding each year, malaria was one of the common illnesses that caused so many deaths, especially in children. By June 19, 1876, enough families had concentrated in the community for 20 persons to sign a petition asking to be incorporated as a town. It became officially incorporated July 25, 1876, and was given the name Holly Grove.
With the coming of the railroad, the business district was built on each side of the tracks. Jack Kerr gave the south side, for the right-of-way, and James Kerr gave the north side. D.B. Renfro owned and operated the first store in Holly Grove.
EARLY GROWTH By 1890, Holly Grove had one drug store, several general stores, a grocery, a boarding house and hotel, an undertaker's shpo, a steam cotton gin, a grist mill, mechanic shop, two doctors, four churches, a Masonic Lodge, two schools and a population of 300.
About 1910, June Davidson acquired a contract with the Midland Railroad for making cross ties. This proved to be a very profitable buisiness since tehre was much virgin timber still in this section of the country. Around 1917, a Mr. Graham was editor of the Holly Grove Herald. By 1920, Holly Grove also had a picture show. In 1927, the first modern garage and filling station was built by Rue Abramson.
The railroad offered a surer mode of transportation for getting farm products to market. All goods coming into Holly Grove came on the train. Sugar was ordered by the carload because merchants like Mayo and Mayo did a large "furnish business." In 1916 they were one of the largest furnishing stores in Monroe County.
THE COTTON GINS Because cotton was the leading agriculture crop in the 1800s, one of the first necessities of the community was a cotton gin. At a very early time a mule-powered gin was operating in the vicinity of Brown Lumber Company on the north side of the railroad track. In 1890, Rudolph Abramson built the first steam powered gin in the area.
In 1944, the Rudolph Abramson gin was town down and replaced with an electrical gin. In 1950, the New People's Gin was built, and in 1973 a Co-op was formed and the Holly Grove Gin Company was built.
Holly Grove is located in one of the best cotton growing districts in the country and the economy is geared to agriculture. Soyeans and rice also make up a large part of the crops in this area.
THE DEPOT When the Arkansas Central Railroad was formed to build a railroad from Helena to Little Rock, Arkansas, land for the depot was donated by J.M. Smith and James Kerr. The large holly thicket in the center of the community had to be cut down and the new station building was erected about 1873. The Arkansas Central became the Arkansas Midland in 1910. Even though, in 1917, another merger occurred and it became the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company, many people still called it the "little Midland Train." They remember Engineer John Smith, who lived in Clarendon, and "Old Jim" the porter who came each day from Clarendon through Duncan and carried them to Helena at the crack of dawn and brought them home at dusk. These trips were interspersed with stops at Pine City Junction, Postelle, Marvell and Walnut Corner.
Through the years the depot remained the central outlet for all travel in the area. Drummers came into town on the train, spent the night at the local hotel and left on the early morning train.
In 1928, the Holly Grove Depot was remodeled and stucco added to the exterior. In recent years the Missouri Pacific has removed the tracks and the station was bought by local business interests.
In 1974 it was sold to the Holly Grove Depot and Development Corporation for its civic project of restoring the old station building and equipped it for use as an attractive and interesting restaurant. It is now known as "The Bent Rail," Holly Grove Depot Restaurant.
HOLLY GROVE TODAY Leroy Renfro's grandfather was the young pioneer, at age 17, who planted the massive oaks on Smith Street. And other early settlers visualized beauty these trees could give through the years when they laid out the streets and planted the oaks alkong each side. Today these same trees shield large sections of the town from the summer sun.
Many of the original holly trees found in and around the town are gone now. When June Davidson bought his home northwest of town in 1914 there were 108 hollies on his land. Now there are only a a few.
For several years the major project of the women's civic organizations has been to encourage residents to promote the planting of the American Holly to perpetuate the town name. Also, grounds surrounding the wlecome signs on the east and west approaches of Holly Grove have been planted and landscaped with holly trees and shrubbery. Other projects have been landscaping the old railroad track bed which ran through the center of town and the completion of the "mall" with its decorative lighting and handsome gazebo.
Holly Gove is a quiet town but by no means an inactive one. Neat paving covers its streets, helping it maintain a clean appearance. Residents take great pride in their little town and appreciate their heritage. Although the town is small it continues to grow and is developing into a prosperous community.
-- Edited by Jane Dearing Dennis at 17:15, 2005-12-27
