Museum exhibit considers each of Bella Vista's churches

"It was a lonesome time for the first Catholics who moved to Bella Vista. There was no church, no priest and no parish."

So reads the introduction to a history of St. Bernard of Clairvaux Catholic Parish in Bella Vista. The church's history lies open -- along with those of the other 28 churches in Bella Vista -- in an exhibit at the Bella Vista Historical Museum. The 29 churches in Bella Vista serve a population of about 28,000, according to 2015 U.S. Census statistics.

"Pictures are included of the old churches built in the early 1900s up through the newest ones built within the last few years," said Xyta Lucas, co-president of the Benton County Historical Society, which operates the museum. The display cases housing "History of Bella Vista Churches" -- on display through Thanksgiving -- share another aspect of life during the past 100 years of Bella Vista's history as interpreted at the museum. Four of the area's earliest church buildings remain standing and have been home to various congregations through the years.

EARLY STEPS

The earliest records of a church in the area come from the Dug Hill church, which built its first building in 1868, Lucas said. "[U.S.] 71 Business (currently Interstate 49 through town) was just a dirt road," she showed in a picture of the early church. "There was no road to the church, so they had to build steps by digging them out of the dirt of the hill. I honestly don't know how the people got to the church."

The current Dug Hill building was constructed in 1936, she said.

The Donivan church was built of blackjack logs in 1935, Lucas said. "It was known for many years as the 'Blackjack Church.' The Donivan name was a common one in western Benton County."

The New Home church -- which still stands behind the Lowe's Home Improvement location in Bentonville just outside the village -- goes back to 1896. A school was located across the street from the New Home church. "Dug Hill was a church, a school and a community center," Lucas said.

"Before [Clarence Linebarger in 1917] developed the resort, those in the area were all farmers," Lucas shared, pointing out other exhibits in the museum to help tell the story. "They raised cattle and sheep and grew hay in the valleys."

Despite the lush Ozark Mountain landscape that attracts residents to Bella Vista today, enough of the land was flat for farming, Lucas explained. "Strawberries were a big crop, and they grew tomatoes for a tomato-canning factory in Bentonville." Many families made their livings -- even into the 1960s -- by selling their yields from vegetable and fruit stands they erected. A farm just across Interstate 49 from the museum operated a sorghum stand, she said.

Even when Lake Bella Vista was developed as a summer resort, all of the land north of the lake to the state line still held farms. Today's residential areas were not developed until John A. Cooper came to the area in 1964.

"And nearly all of the churches featured in these [display] cases sit on land donated by Cooper [Communities]," Lucas added. "They have a reversal clause that, if they stop using it as a church, the land reverts back [to Cooper.] The Coopers -- John Sr. and John Jr. -- were very generous."

The museum and American Legion Post next door both stand on land donated by Cooper, she said.

BRINGING TRADITIONS

As the Cooper family developed the original retirement community of Bella Vista, people began moving there from other areas of the country. They missed the practices and traditions of their home churches, Lucas said.

"In most cases, the retirees moving here want something similar. They didn't want to attend church in Bentonville. Most churches started with a few couples who got together in someone's home," she said.

The area's Catholics traveled to Rogers or Noel, Mo., to attend Mass, and a few attended worship services at Bella Vista Community Church, according the St. Bernard history.

"On June 3, 1980, Bishop Andrew J. McDonald of Little Rock transferred Father Bernard Malone from Fort Smith to Bella Vista, the beginning of the Catholic parish in Bella Vista," the church history reads. "Father Malone arrived in Bella Vista on June 10 and rented a house at 6 Duvall Lane."

The small house served as both the rectory and parish office. Mass was read each week from the chapel in the basement.

"The first Mass was celebrated at 4 p.m. on June 17, 1980, the day Father Malone delivered an altar built by a parishioner from Christ the King [Catholic Church] in Fort Smith," the history records.

The quickly growing congregation met two months later at the Bella Vista United Methodist Church. They built the first parish church in 1982 on land on Arkansas 279 donated by Cooper. The current campus off West Lancashire Boulevard -- also on land donated by Cooper -- boasts an 1,400-seat sanctuary, a chapel, parish hall, offices, gardens, a columbarium and an outdoor Stations of the Cross. Membership is just shy of 700 families. The first building was sold to Judson American Baptist Church, now Forest Hills Baptist Church.

MISSION

Newly forming church communities grew into the buildings other congregations had outgrown. Fellowship Missionary Baptist church got its start in that old Dug Hill building in 1982, when Treva and Larry Lovvorn came to Bella Vista with the mission of starting a church.

"In the Dug Hill community building on the hill in Bella Vista, with a handful of faithful members, Fellowship became a church," the church history reads.

Fellowship next bought a vacant church building in 1985 for $300,000, only to have it mostly destroyed by fire three weeks later. The church then negotiated a reduced price of $16,000, members restored the building, and the faithful continue to meet there each week.

"On Nov. 1, 1976, a group of 10 Christians, under the direction of District Presbyter the Rev. Hugh Still, met in the home of Ray and Erma Friend for the purpose of organizing an Assemblies of God church in Bella Vista, Arkansas," starts the history of Bella Vista Assembly of God. "The Arkansas District Council of the Assemblies of God appointed the Rev. Lee Rich of Huntsville, Arkansas, pastor at that time."

During the early part of 1978, Cooper Communities donated 2 1/2 acres in the Windsor edition as part of a "planned" community, to include the church.

"The building of Bella Vista Assembly of God was truly an effort on the part of every member of the congregation, including many of the 25 teenagers who attended regularly," the church history reads. "For many weekends in the summer and fall of 1979, the men worked while the ladies of the church brought food to them. Their dream was finally realized when the first service was held in the new facilities on Dec. 16, 1979."

MORE

Noticeably missing from the exhibit's two display cases is the Mildred B. Cooper Memorial Chapel, the transparent steel and glass Gothic structure designed by renowned architects the late E. Fay Jones and the late Maurice Jennings of Fayetteville. "Cooper Chapel is strictly for special events, like weddings and concerts," Lucas said. "And it was not their intention to hold regular services."

But Lucas pointed to another display case in the museum dedicated to the Cooper Chapel, the landmark attraction constructed in 1988.

Lea McCalmon, a museum volunteer, started research for this exhibit several years ago, but because of other demands, put the exhibit aside, Lucas said. McCalmon's work and current histories provided by the area churches were combined with 1993 research by the late Gil Fite, a retired history professor.

In addition to pictures of each church in Bella Vista, the display includes some artifacts -- perhaps one of the most interesting a "time capsule" from the 25th anniversary of the Presbyterian Church of Bella Vista in 2010.

NAN Religion on 10/22/2016