Spring came early to Arkansas in 2017, bringing with it the urge for weekend drives. It once was a highly refined art in our state. People would take to the roads on Saturdays and on Sunday afternoons after church, often with no scheduled stops. They were the great desultory drivers, out to enjoy whatever this state had to offer.
My grandparents in Benton often would make the drive to Lake Norrell, the city's water-supply lake in the Ouachita Mountain foothills. Sometimes the destination would be the Salem Dairy Bar for ice cream, the Congo Mercantile Store (which had wooden floors and a wood-burning stove in those days), Lake Winona in the Ouachita National Forest or Peeler Bend on the Saline River. For my grandparents at Des Arc, there was flatter terrain to cover. Weekends might involve a drive to Brinkley or Searcy. My favorite trips were the ones from the Prairie County seat of Des Arc to the other county seat of DeValls Bluff for barbecue at Craig's or fried catfish at Murry's.
My parents in Arkadelphia would simply say "let's drive out around the lake" once the Caddo River was dammed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to form DeGray Lake. We would drive through the campgrounds, looking at the license plates to see what states were represented. We would cross the dam. We sometimes would finish with supper at the lodge at DeGray Lake Resort State Park.
In a state filled with nice views, the warm late-winter days and the urge to hit the road have had me thinking about my favorite views. Near the top of my list is St. Mary's Mountain above Altus, specifically the view from the parking lot of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church, commonly known as St. Mary's Church. Maybe it's not just the view that has me ranking this spot high on the list. Perhaps it's also the things that go with the trip there--visits to the tasting rooms of Arkansas wineries, the trout for lunch at the Wiederkehr Weinkeller restaurant, the chance to step inside the beautiful church. The mountain that most people now call St. Mary's was known as Pond Creek Mountain when the church was founded in 1879 to serve immigrants from Switzerland and Germany.
In April 1869, the Little Rock & Fort Smith Railroad was chartered. A depot and freight yard were constructed at Argenta (now North Little Rock), and track was laid to the Arkansas River so boats could deliver freight cars, engines and rails. Twenty-four miles of track were laid in 1870 toward the west. The total mileage had reached 82 miles by the end of 1871. Due to strikes, the collapse of railroad bonds and foreclosure, progress then slowed.
Larry LeMasters writes in the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture: "On Dec. 10, 1874, the railroad was foreclosed on, and nine days later, a new group of Eastern investors reopened the company, keeping the name Little Rock & Fort Smith Railroad. On June 12, 1875, the name of the railroad was changed to the Little Rock & Fort Smith Railway. An influx of skilled German immigrants in Arkansas allowed the LR&FS to push on across the state. These immigrants worked for the railroad and settled on land grants given by LR&FS and in towns along the railway, eventually forming the basis of Arkansas' wine industry near Altus."
The aggressive recruitment of immigrants by the railroads took place because government land grants on either side of the track had little value unless buyers could be found. Land agents promoted the fact that a German-speaking priest lived in the Altus area. The Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 and the religious persecution that occurred during the remainder of the decade drove many German Catholics to the United States. The priest who had founded St. Mary's, Beatus Maria Ziswyler, died in 1887, but the Benedictine monks from Subiaco Abbey on the other side of the river saw to it that the parish continued to operate.
The cornerstone for the current building was laid on May 24, 1901, and the Romanesque-style church was dedicated on Sept. 2, 1902. The rocks used to build the church were mined from an adjacent hillside. The stonework was done by masons from St. Louis. Painted cedar forms the pillars of the basilica-style church. There are murals that were painted by German artist Fridolin Fuchs in 1915-16, and an 1897 John George Pleffer pipe organ was added in 1924.
Construction of the current structure was overseen by Father Placidus Oechsle. According to the church website: "Father Placidus also found time to extravagantly decorate the church along with immigrant painter Fridolin Fuchs. Donations from parish members also enabled the acquisition of the four large bells that grace the bell tower and the purchase of a first-class organ to fill the interior with music. His 38-year pastorate was by far the longest of any priest at St. Mary's. Although times changed rather dramatically throughout the 20th century, little changed around St. Mary's until the 1960s. That time of transition just after Vatican II also saw the reluctant demolition of the old nun's house and rectory and their replacement with much more modern buildings."
Make the drive to St. Mary's Mountain one Saturday morning. Enjoy the view. Admire the inside of the church. Make sure to leave a small cash donation. Have lunch nearby. Perhaps bring home some Arkansas wine. By all means, do your part to revive that old Arkansas tradition known as the weekend drive.
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Freelance columnist Rex Nelson is the director of corporate community relations for Simmons First National Corp. He's also the author of the Southern Fried blog at rexnelsonsouthernfried.com.
Editorial on 03/08/2017