Next year will mark the 200th anniversary of William Woodruff's arrival in Arkansas and his founding of the Arkansas Gazette.
Woodruff was born on a farm on Long Island in December 1795. He was the oldest of five sons. His father died when Woodruff was 12, and his mother apprenticed him two years later to the printer in Sag Harbor, N.Y., who published the Suffolk Gazette.
"After his apprenticeship ended on his 21st birthday, Woodruff worked as a journeyman printer for book publishers in New York until 1818, when he headed west," Mary Kwas writes for the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture. "After working briefly for a paper in Louisville, Ky., Woodruff accepted a job with Thomas Bradford of The Clarion and Tennessee State Gazette in Nashville, Tenn. Bradford encouraged Woodruff to move to Arkansas after Congress approved the long-awaited act creating Arkansas Territory on March 3, 1819. The new territory offered a prime opportunity for a printer who not only would be able to serve the growing population but, as the first printer in the territory, could expect to be named government printer.
"Woodruff bought on credit a small stock of old printing materials that included four bundles of paper, type cases, ink, incidentals, type and a second-hand wooden Ramage press. He transported his equipment overland from Nashville to the Cumberland River, where he took passage on a keelboat down the Ohio River to Cairo, Ill."
From Cairo, Woodruff headed down the Mississippi River to the mouth of the White River. He then hired two men to take him and his printing equipment to Arkansas Post in a pirogue. Woodruff arrived in Arkansas Post in late October 1819 and published the first issue of the Arkansas Gazette on Nov. 20. In 1821, Woodruff published the first book to be produced in the state, Laws of the Territory of Arkansas. An agreement was signed on Nov. 22, 1821, to move the territorial capital to Little Rock. Two days later, Woodruff published the final issue of the Gazette from Arkansas Post. He moved to Little Rock and published the first issue there on Dec. 29, 1821.
At 1017 E. Eighth St. in Little Rock, the William Woodruff House has stood since 1853. Woodruff had become quite a force in Arkansas business and politics by that time.
"He sold books, stationers' supplies, garden seeds and family medicines out of his print shop," Kwas writes. "He established the first circulating library in Arkansas in 1826. Woodruff owned a ferry and a steamboat called The Little Rock. In 1823, he formed a land agency that was so successful that it brought him far more wealth than his newspapers ever did. Woodruff also held local and state public office. He was a Little Rock councilman in 1833 and was town treasurer in 1834. In 1845, he was the Little Rock postmaster. He served as state treasurer in 1836. For 23 years beginning in 1833, he served as an agent for paying military pensioners. Although he was never a candidate for major office, it was said he commanded more political influence than any territorial governor except John Pope. Woodruff was a great promoter of Arkansas and influenced the final spelling of the name. Woodruff County, formed in 1862, was named for him. He promoted agriculture and viticulture and experimented with silk culturing."
The Woodruff House in Little Rock was built in the Greek Revival style using locally grown cypress. The bricks were made on-site. The original house had 10 rooms. Local builder John Robins was hired by Woodruff to oversee work on the home, much of which was likely done by slaves.
"The house was part of a 25-acre tract, and it was the largest of several structures on the property," Shelle Stormoe writes for the Encyclopedia of Arkansas. "These structures included slave quarters, stables, pig and poultry pens, a tool shed, a carriage house and a laundry. The laundry was built over a large brick cistern, which still exists on the property. This urban farmstead also included an orchard, gardens, beehives and open pasture."
Woodruff reportedly was one of the first people to grow tomatoes in the state and one of the first to plant crape myrtles.
Woodruff supported the Confederacy during the Civil War and was expelled from Little Rock after it fell to Union troops. Union Gen. Frederick Steele used the house as a headquarters for officers. It later served as a military hospital. Woodruff was allowed to return following the war. He lived in the house until his death in 1885 at age 89. His wife continued to live there until her death in 1887. The couple's oldest child, Alden Mills Woodruff, called it home until the house was sold in 1891.
The Woodruff House later became a boarding house for women from out of town who worked in Little Rock. It was known as the Cottage Home for Girls. It remained a boarding house into the 1950s and then was used for small apartments. A fire occurred in 2005. Fortunately, the fire didn't damage the home's structural elements. Thank goodness for the Quapaw Quarter Association. The nonprofit organization stepped up in 2014 to purchase the house, stabilize it and replace the roof in order to prevent leaks. Wouldn't it be great if some entity were to use the 200th anniversary of Woodruff's arrival in Arkansas as a reason to fully restore the home and find a use for it?
The house has been on the National Register of Historic Places since March 1989. It's time for it to be occupied again.
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Senior Editor Rex Nelson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He's also the author of the Southern Fried blog at rexnelsonsouthernfried.com.
Editorial on 12/26/2018