1903: On A Slow Train Through Arkansasw is published. A collection of hillbilly and racial humor with little connection to Arkansas realities, it nevertheless contributes to popular perception of Arkansas as an eccentric, ignorant rural backwater. Although there are only fifty automobiles in the entire state, their owners form the Arkansas Good Roads Association to promote route construction, repair and maintenance.
1907: Arkansas coal mines produce more than 2,750,000 tons.
1915: Arkansas’ General Assembly passes a statewide prohibition of liquor sales and manufacture. The state Capitol is completed.
1917: Arkansans muster in for service during the First World War; approximately 72,000, including African-Americans and women, will serve. Some 2,000 will die, most from disease and accidents.
1925: The state Supreme Court rules in Brickhouse v.Hill that Amendments 7, 8 and 9 (initiative and referendum, woman suffrage and an enlarged Supreme Court) are all in effect.
1928: Arkansas has over 8,700 miles of roads, one-fourth of them paved. Forty-six counties feature some paved roads; two counties have no improved roads at all.
1931: By the end of this year, nearly half the Arkansas businesses operating in 1929 are closed, including 192 banks.
1932: Mrs. Hattie Caraway, named in 1931 to fill out the Senate term of her deceased husband, wins a term on her own in November, the first woman elected to the United States Senate.
1941: After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Arkansans flock to recruiting stations to join the war effort. Some 200,000 Arkansans will serve; 4611 will die in service.
1980: Arkansas is ranked in the top five states in percentage of population over the age of 65, due to the “Retiree Movement.” In May, the Federal government informs Governor Clinton that Camp Chaffee will house 120,000 Cuban “Freedom flotilla” refugees. Bill Clinton is defeated by Frank White, once a Democrat, in his bid for a second term as governor.
1982: Arkansas’ “creation science” law is overturned in Federal District Court; Bill Clinton is re-elected governor.
1990: Governor Clinton wins a fifth term as governor. Latinos are Arkansas’ the fastest-growing minority population. Tyson Foods of Springdale is the largest broiler chicken processor in the nation.
1991: On October 3, Governor Clinton announces he will run for the presidency of the United States. Lt. Governor Jim Guy Tucker becomes acting Governor in Clinton’s absence. October 18 sees the last issue of the Arkansas Gazette, the “oldest newspaper west of the Mississippi.”
1992: Bill Clinton is elected the 42nd President of the United States. Lieutenant Governor Jim Guy Tucker becomes governor.
1994: Jim Guy Tucker is elected governor; Sharon Priest is the first woman elected to the office of Arkansas Secretary of State.
1996: Republican Tim Hutchinson is elected to the U.S. Senate, the first of his party in over 100 years to represent the state in Washington. Governor Tucker resigns his office in July and is succeeded by Republican Lieutenant Governor Mike Huckabee. In November, Bill Clinton wins re-election to the Presidency.
2000: Arkansas returns a Republican majority in the Presidential vote.
