Frances Donovan, retired school teacher from Chicago, writes on sociological subjects. Her books are: “The Sales Lady” (1929); “The School Ma’am” (1938) and “The Woman Who Waits.” At the present time she is working on a sociological study of Eureka Springs.
Cora Pinkley Call is author of “Pioneer Tales of Eureka Springs” (1930); “Shifting Sands” (1943); “The Dream Garden” (1944); “From My Ozark Cupboard” (1950); “Eureka Springs: Stair-Step Town” (1952). Mrs. Call is president of the Ozark Artists and Writers Guild.
Constance Wagner is a short story writer and novelist. Her latest novel, “Sycamore,” came from the press in 1950. Dr. Bonnie Lela Crump writes feature stories and has published a number of booklets. Morris Hull specializes on confession and human interest stories and contributes to the leading magazines in this field. He is the author of the novel, “Cannery Annie,” published several years ago. Bill Dierkes of the Dierkes Press is author of three books of poetry: “Gold Nuggets,” (1928); “The Man from Vermont,” (1935); and “Emerge with the Swallow,” (1944).
I began writing about the Ozarks in 1925 and have written and published about one million words on the history and folklore of the region. My books, to date, are: “An Ozarker Looks at Life,” (1927); “Dream Dust,” (1924); “Roadside Chats,” (1939); and “Ozark Country” of the American Folkways Series (1941). Most of my writing has been for magazines and newspapers and for my own Ozarkian publications: “Ozark Life,” (1925-30), “Arcadian Magazine,” (1931-32), “Arcadian Life Magazine,” (1933-42), and “Rayburn’s Ozark Guide,” (1942 to the present time).
In addition to the authors who have produced books, there are a score or more of writers in Eureka Springs who write for magazines and newspapers. Some of them are professionals, others write for their own pleasure. If all the stories, articles and poems produced in this town were assembled into books and placed alongside the volumes already published, it would make a sizeable library. Not many communities can boast of such a literary output.
Eureka Springs has been a mecca for artists for many years. Several years ago, Louis and Elsie Freund bought Hatchet Hall, the old home of Carry A. Nation, and made it into an art center. For several years they conducted a summer art school. Other Eureka Springs artists, whose works I have observed are: William Farnum, Fred Swedlun, Glenn Swedlun, Lester M. Exley, W. F. Von Telligan, Mr. and Mrs. L. V. Orsinger, Verne Stanley, Virginia Tyler, Art Foster and Bonnie Lela Crump. I am sure there are others who deserve mention but I have not seen their work. Most of the above are professional artists who work with oils and water colors. Some do pen sketches. Thousands of paintings and drawings have been made of the scenery and quaintness of Eureka Springs during its seventy-five years of history. If all of these creative products could be placed on exhibition at one time it would make a row of pictures miles long.
XXXIII
THE OLD AND THE NEW
Time marches on and not many of the men and women of the pioneer eighties are with us today. Among those who are native born or who came in their youth when the town was a booming spa are: Mrs. Annie House, Jim Bradley, Mrs. Fred West, Mrs. Wilma Jarrett Ellis, Mrs. C. A. Fuller, Mrs. Louis Haneke, Mrs. May S. Miller, Mrs. Chrystal Lyle, Wallace McQuerry, Otis McGinnis, Joe Hoskins, Mr. and Mrs. Joe Porch, Sam Riley, E. A. Jordan, Tom Walker, Walter Burris, T. L. Hawley, Mrs. Claude Pike, Charlie Perry, Mrs. Maud Woodruff, Frank Pickard, Mrs. Alice Campbell, Mrs. Lida Mae Roberts, and perhaps a few others. Most of these older residents now live in retirement, but a few are active in business.
Early in the twentieth century we find F. O. Butt on the stage of action as a practicing attorney. Mr. Butt served his district as senator in the state legislature, was mayor of Eureka Springs for two terms and newspaper editor for a number of years. He is still on the job as a practicing attorney.
R. R. (Dick) Thompson came to Eureka Springs in 1908 as a teacher in Crescent College and later became president of the institution. In the middle twenties he established his Lake Lucerne Resort and the Ozarka Water Company and now devotes his time to the management of these two concerns.