In Little Rock last weekend, people gathered to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the publication of True Grit, a novel by native Arkansan Charles Portis. The celebration included music from Iris DeMent and a panel featuring nationally known writers Roy Blount Jr. and Calvin Trillin. There was a screenwriting panel; a screening of the 1969 movie True Grit, which stars Arkansan Glen Campbell, Kim Darby, Robert Duvall and John Wayne in his only Oscar-winning performance; and a screening of the 2010 version of the movie, which was directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and stars Matt Damon, Jeff Bridges and Hailee Steinfeld.
At the same time in Fort Smith, the Arkansas Historical Association was holding its 77th annual conference. It was the sixth AHA conference in the state's second-largest city. The first was in 1960 at the Ward Hotel downtown when Farrar Newberry from my hometown of Arkadelphia was president and 73 people were registered. There were almost 250 people registered this year. For two decades, I've been attending what my wife lovingly refers to as "history nerds weekend." There are few places in the state with a richer history than Fort Smith. It was that colorful history that inspired Portis.
Portis' novel was published by Simon & Schuster in 1968 after having first been serialized in the Saturday Evening Post. In the book, 14-year-old Mattie Ross from Dardanelle in Yell County tries to avenge her father's murder with the help of a one-eyed deputy federal marshal named Rooster Cogburn. The novel is considered an American literary classic. Speaking on National Public Radio, crime novelist George Pelacanos said: "Mattie's voice, wry and sure, is one of the great creations of modern American fiction. I put it up there with Huck Finn's, and that's not hyperbole."
Author Donna Tartt said: "There are the books we love so much that we read them every year or two and know passages of them by heart; that cheer us when we are sick or sad and never fail to amuse us when we take them up at random; that we press on all our friends and acquaintances; and to which we return again and again with undimmed enthusiasm over the course of a lifetime. I think it goes without saying that most books that engage readers on this very high level are masterpieces, and this is why I believe that True Grit by Charles Portis is a masterpiece."
"So few books stand the test of time, but True Grit's literary reputation and its popularity have only grown in 50 years," said Little Rock author Jay Jennings, a senior editor at Oxford American. "We thought the book's landmark anniversary deserved a big celebration in the state that is the setting for much of the book and the home of both the author and the magazine."
Portis was born at El Dorado in 1933. He was raised in several towns in south Arkansas before his family settled in Hamburg when he was in the eighth grade. After serving in the Marine Corps during the Korean War, Portis enrolled at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and received a journalism degree in 1958. He entered the newspaper business after graduation, working for the Arkansas Gazette before being hired by the New York Herald Tribune, the acclaimed writers' newspaper that employed the likes of Tom Wolfe, Red Smith, Roger Kahn, Homer Bigart, Walter Lippmann, Judith Crist, Jimmy Breslin, Dick Schaap and John Steinbeck through the years. Portis covered the civil rights movement in the South and then moved to the Herald Tribune's London bureau. He returned to Arkansas in 1964 and began writing fiction.
For those of us with multiple interests, April is the cruelest month. There are many competing events. I would have liked to have attended the Little Rock festival, but I'm glad I was in Fort Smith with my fellow history enthusiasts, some of whom I only see once a year. I've long been enchanted by the border city's offerings, especially downtown.
Dinner the first night was at 21 West End, which features fine dining in the basement of a historic commercial structure near the Arkansas River. Dinner the second night was at Taliano's, an Arkansas classic that has been serving Italian food for decades in the Sparks Mansion. James Sparks, a pharmacist and wholesale druggist, built the home in 1887. The four chandeliers are the original gas fixtures. The woodwork, fireplaces and stained glass also are original to the home.
My favorite entrance to the state is the U.S. 64 bridge from Oklahoma. You'll suddenly find yourself on Garrison Avenue, the widest city street in Arkansas, modeled after Canal Street in New Orleans. In the distance, Immaculate Conception Catholic Church rises. It was completed in less than 18 months and dedicated on June 1, 1899. The principal architect was Adolphus Druiding of Chicago. The stained class was produced by the F.X. Zettler Royal Bavarian Art Institute of Munich, Germany. In October 2013, members of the parish began what's known as the Restoring to Glory Capital Campaign to raise more than $3 million for renovations.
Looking to the right after crossing the bridge, you'll see the large U.S. flag flying over the First National Bank building. The bank was organized in February 1872 as the National Bank of Western Arkansas. The name was changed to First National Bank of Fort Smith and a brick building was constructed at the corner of Sixth and Garrison in 1888. The existing eight-story white brick building at that corner was completed at the end of 1909.
I so enjoy this view that I normally continue west on Interstate 40 on trips to Fort Smith and take the Dora exit at the Oklahoma state line. I enter the city from Oklahoma rather than coming in on Rogers or Grand avenues. I suspect that Portis, who wrote so vividly about Indian Territory, would approve. It's exciting to think that by the fall of next year the view will include the U.S. Marshals Museum on the banks of the Arkansas River.
Having suffered the loss of thousands of manufacturing jobs in recent decades, Fort Smith has put a renewed focus on its downtown and its history. It's fair to say that the city has grit.
------------v------------
Rex Nelson is a senior editor at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Editorial on 04/29/2018