Barren Forks was founded on the Barren
Fork of Polk Bayou. The Post Office was opened in May 25, 1876.
Craig Ogilvie gives insight to the renaming of Barren Fork to
the name it now uses, Mount Pleasant in the Oct. 1967 issue of
the Independence County Chronicle , a Arkansas historical magazine.
In his article he states: “Young ladies sometimes change
the destinies of towns as well as men. When Miss M.E. Moore went
to Jackson, Mississippi, to attend school, the students asked
her if the place where she lived was really barren. When she
came home she had her father , O.P. Moore, to circulate a petition
for a change of name. The post office was changed to Mount Pleasant
October 29, 1914.’’
In his January 1988, McSpadden News Letter, Lynn McSpadden states:
“Barren Fork after the Civil War appears to be a thriving
town. During that era of Reconstruction, several businesses were
operated by McSpaddens and their relatives. Two of William and
Sarah’s sons, (William S. McSpadden and Sarah Birch Stroud)
George A.S. and William “Bill” had a blacksmith shop.
Henry Conyers and Bill K. McSpadden had a store. The Star Hotel
was built by a company from St. Lewis, which ran it until 1901
when George A.S. McSpadden bought it. The Bank of Barren Fork
, chartered at Mt. Pleasant in 1913, included on its board of
directors A.L. Conyers, William King McSpadden and others. Samuel
M. McSpadden was cashier at the bank.’’ |
