History of Stuttgart

Suggested Historic Sites in Stuttgart

In October 1878, the Reverend Adam Buerkle and twelve families of German immigrants founded a settlement at the former Gum Pond Plantation, the roughly 7,500-acre antebellum estate established by the Mitchell family that included much of the Grand Prairie surrounding the modern site of Stuttgart on the Grand Prairie in Arkansas County.  The next year the small colony was joined by sixteen additional families and in 1880, Adam Buerkle petitioned for a post office named Stuttgart, after Buerkle’s old home in Germany.

Stuttgart's fortunes were improved by the arrival in 1882 of the city's first railroad, the Texas and St. Louis Railroad. Though this did not run directly through the existing site of Stuttgart, Rev. Buerkle and his followers immediately realized the wisdom of locating adjacent to this important connection to the outside world, and the community relocated to the railroad line. This railroad line, running roughly east-west, was later complimented by the construction of both the Kansas City and New Orleans Railroad (later incorporated into the Rock Island Railroad system) that ran roughly north-south, and the short-line Grand Prairie Railroad that ran to the northwest. The city's first major sources of commercial income were cattle and hay, though the railroads soon brought several small manufacturing enterprises, such as furniture and woodworking shops, farm implement factories and an assortment of mills.

On 5 August 1889, citizens petitioned to have the town incorporated and the people elected Colonel Bob Crockett (one of Davy Crockett’s grandsons) as the first mayor. Education was also given a place of importance in 1889, as a new two-story schoolhouse was constructed on Leslie Street (between 3rd and 4th Streets) to replace the original one-story schoolhouse. Stuttgart College (located at 15th and College Streets) also opened its doors in 1889 as a four-year institution.The first city census of 1890, reports Stuttgart’s population as being 1,165 residents.


Ironically, the descendants of several of these early settlers departed Stuttgart at the turn of the century, as the agricultural potential of the Grand Prairie was thought to be "played out"; and indeed, the cultivation of the traditional crops of cotton and hay had sapped the soil of the required nutrients. It was within the first decade of the new century, however, that saw the first successful experiments in cultivating rice on the Grand Prairie with the harvesting of a three-acre plot near Hazen to the north. By 1904, local entrepreneurs worked with the railroads -- and the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad in particular -- to encourage more German immigration to the Grand Prairie to provide the manpower to transform more acreage into rice farms. The state's first rice mill was constructed in Stuttgart in 1907 -- the Stuttgart Rice Mill -- and by 1909, 27,000 acres of the prairie are planted in rice. By 1919, just ten years later, the total acreage of rice farms surrounding Stuttgart totaled 143,000.


The last years of the century's second decade witnessed the first surge of prosperity for the city; one of the city's banks, which in 1915 claimed total deposits of only $118.00 could boast of over $800,000 in total deposits as of 1918. After some drastic fluctuations in the price of rice that occurred in the first year or two of the 1920's, the price rose dramatically thereafter, and Stuttgart experienced a period of growth and prosperity that has largely continued to this day.


Unlike most of the other counties within the state that host dual county seats, the establishment of both northern and southern districts within Arkansas County appears to have been motivated by the vastly increased level of civic and legal activity that attended the dramatic growth of the city in the 1920's rather than the approximately twenty-mile distance from the older county seat at DeWitt or any natural and/or seasonal barriers between them (though the Grand Prairie had a shallow water table and was prone to shallow flooding, particularly in the early twentieth century before the establishment of effective regional drainage districts).

The introduction of rice to the Grand Prairie would eventually enhance the area’s potential as a waterfowl venue since Stuttgart is located in the Mississippi Flyway near the meandering Arkansas and White rivers. The Bayou Meto and several lakes make the Stuttgart region that much more inviting to waterfowl. Until the advent of drying facilities, harvested rice was left to dry in the fields, drawing waterfowl in great numbers to feed. Even still, ducks and other waterfowl arrive in the fall to feed on the remnants of rice left in the fields. In 1936, the first World’s Championship Duck Calling Contest was held as part of the Rice Carnival. Three men are credited with the idea of the contest: Dr. H.V. Glenn, Vern Tindall and Thad McCollum. The primary goals of the contest were to bring visitors to Stuttgart and to develop competion. The first national duck calling contest ocurred on Main Street in downtown Stuttgart on 24 November 1936. Seventeen contestants entered the contest, with Thomas Walsh of Greenville, Mississippi, being selected as the first championship duck caller. Walsh won a hunting coat valued at $6.60; today the prize package is worth approximately $15,000.00. Stuttgart became a place where famous people came during duck season, many of which would stay at the Riceland Hotel (built 1929). The Hotel became the hub of duck hunting in Stuttgart, a place where all of the guides would meet. Many celebrities stayed in the Riceland Hotel while engaging in the hunt including: actors Andy Devine, Wallace Bery, Robert Taylor and Rod Cameron; baseball player Ted Williams; publishing giants Joseph Pulitzer, Ray Long, Jim Quirrk; cartoonist Bud Fisher; industry leaders Cluett of Cluett-Peabody, and New York Jeweler Piere Cartier. Beginning in 1955, every five years the Champion of Champions Duck Calling Contest is held in Stuttgart. In 1957, the Queen Mallard Pageant made its debut. The Duck Calling Contest is now part of the Wings Over the Prairie Festival held each year. The festival has received national attention as hunters come from both near and far to participate not only in the Duck Calling Contest but also to hunt migratory birds. On 28 September 1996 the United State Senate passed a resolution to designate Saturday, 30 November 1996, as National Duck Calling Day, the day in which the contest is held in Stuttgart.

Events of national significance also impacted Stuttgart as briefly described in the following narrative. After the entrance of the United States in to WWI, the town’s first recruits were housed at the Fairchild home on Main Street. During the war the local Red Cross requested housewives save peach pits that would be pulverized to be used as absorbent filters in gas masks. During the Great Depression, New Deal Programs that impacted Stuttgart included the Farm Credit Act, the Commodity Credit Corporation, and the Agricultural adjustment Act. After the United States entered WWII, the Federal Government bought rice farms north of the city for a large army Airbase, which brought many military families to the area, which in turn helped to jump-start the economy. Prairie farmers planted rice on every piece of ground that they could attend; German war prisoners were even shipped to the airbase to help out with the rice harvest.During WWII, 52 soldiers from Arkansas County lost their lives.After the war, the airfield was deeded to the city for private use. According to Census Records, the two greatest periods of growth, occurring within a twenty-year span, occurred between 1900 and 1920 with an increase of 3,264 people and between 1940 and 1960 with an increase of 4,033 people. To date, the Grand Prairie is the world’s leading rice producer and shores up the state’s economy with major crops. Stuttgart’s Riceland continues to be the world’s largest processor of rice. Stuttgart’s historic legacy is rich and it is steeped in tradition, which allows Stuttgart to call itself the "Rice and Duck Capital of the World".