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CONFEDERATE MOTHERS MEMORIAL PARK |
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Confederate Mothers Memorial Park is a commemorative park
located in Russellville
(Pope County).
The park contains three monuments dedicated to the mothers of
Confederate soldiers and is the only known memorial park to these women in
Arkansas.
The land for the park was donated to the United
Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) by
Judge R. B. and Mary Howell Wilson on June 30, 1921. Located at the
intersection of Skyline Drive and West 19th Street/South
Glenwood Avenue, the park was established on October 10, 1921. At the
opening ceremony for the park, organized by the John Homer Scott Chapter
of the UDC, a tablet was dedicated to Confederate mothers and “the
happiness of the children of our united country.” A granite shaft
dedicated to the mothers of the Confederacy had previously been placed
in the park by the Wilsons.
Over the next several years, the UDC made several improvements
to the park. By November 1923, the group had constructed two roads that
connected the park to the city and built a pavilion in the park. Plans
were made to continue the improvements with the addition of a
playground, birdhouses, and an imposing entrance to the park.
Two entry columns were dedicated on June 12, 1924. Constructed
of fieldstone, each column contains an inscribed plaque. One column was
dedicated by the Ben T. Embry Camp of the Sons
of Confederate Veterans (SCV),
while the second was dedicated by the John Homer Scott chapter of the
UDC. Other UDC members from Atkins
(Pope County) and Dardanelle
(Yell County) attended
the ceremony.
The other planned improvements to the site, including the
playground and entrance, never took place. A short iron fence was added
to the entrance columns in the early twenty-first century, separating
the gravel parking lot from the street. The monument dedicated by the
UDC in 1921 and the entrance columns are the only structures in the
park. The granite shaft placed by the Wilsons was removed from the park
at some point.
Set on a hill overlooking both Russellville and the Arkansas
River,
the park covers approximately twenty acres and is managed by the
Russellville Recreation and Parks Department. It has several walking
trails and is heavily wooded. The park was added to the National
Register of Historic Places on May 3, 1996. |
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