A 50th birthday celebration takes place tomorrow at Jacksonport State Park near Newport. Superintendent of Jacksonport State Park is Mark Ballard.
“Jacksonport State Park opened in 1965, and we are celebrating that milestone in our park’s history,” according to Ballard. “The focus will be telling about the early days and what it took to establish this park. All of that occurred through the efforts of the Historical Society to save the old courthouse. We have some of those founding members that will be here starting at 10 in the morning.”
Special guest speakers will include Richard Davies, Executive Director of the Arkansas Dept. of Parks & Tourism; Greg Butts, Director of Arkansas State Parks; Mark Ballard, Superintendent of Jacksonport State Park; and Van Manning, Jackson County Historical Society. Ballard tells about the significance of Jacksonport.
“The park is situated on the White River. We were established because of our history. Steamboats operated up and down the White River and Jacksonport was a unique port because all of the big boats came up the river from Memphis and New Orleans and down from St. Louis and offloaded their goods onto smaller boats at Jacksonport. Those boats would then travel to Batesville and Powhatan and other cities north of us. The raw materials that were collected in our area were loaded on those big boats to take those materials to markets in Memphis, New Orleans, and St. Louis.”
He says the celebration will focus on the history of the role steamboats played at Jacksonport.
“The steamboating story is the reason why we were founded as a state park 50 years ago. The saving of the historic courthouse in the 1960s allowed us to create a museum that allows people to come here and learn about that history.”
He tells about the history of the courthouse at Jacksonport.
“The town itself was founded in the 1830s by Thomas Todd Tunstall. The courthouse was supposed to be built before the Civil War, but they used the funds they had been collecting for the war effort to build the courthouse in 1872. It was used as a county seat, and people would come in and take care of their county business, they could get marriage licenses, they could pay taxes, and even trials took place there. It was used for that purpose for over 20 years. When the railroad came through the area, Newport started to grow. Newport was established in 1875. Steamboats declined as the railroad took over, and Newport eventually housed the county seat.”
He says the courthouse is now a museum that helps tell the history of the area.
“Today, people can go into the courthouse and learn the history of the courthouse and the region. There are numerous exhibits that are located in the museum on a rotating basis. There is the old postscript room in the courthouse and people can learn how county clerks did their job at that time. It also tells how the courthouse was used in its history. It was a courthouse, but it also became a school after the county seat moved to Newport. After that, it was used as a cotton gin around 1905. In 1911 or 1912, it served as a home for people that didn’t have any place to go to. In 1952, it was abandoned and was set to be demolished before the Jackson County Historical Society decided to renovate the courthouse in the 1960s.”
He says the courthouse was renovated in the 1960s and it sustained tornado damage in 1997 as a tornado ripped the roof off of the building. He says the courthouse will be one of the focal points in tomorrow’s celebration. Everything starts at 10 in the morning and there will be the firing of a Civil War cannon tomorrow, an encampment will be there to fire Civil War muskets, and there will be exhibits that will talk about the restoration of the courthouse. There will be refreshments for the visitors and a commemorative coin will also be given to those who attend.
