Charles, I happened upon your website in a google search for Logtown Hill. My mother was born in Van Buren in 1914, and lived on what she has always referred to as Logtown Hill outside of Van Buren. I have always been fascinated by her stories of life on the hill. Just wondering if you know of Logtown Hill.
Mother's family moved to Seminole OK when she was a teenager. After marriage to my dad in 1931, I was born in Seminole in 1934. Our family came to Phoenix in 1939 and I still live here. We came out here in a Model A with TWO mattresses on top! WE were RICH grapes of wrath Okies!
Would appreciate any knowledge you might have of Logtown Hill. Thanks, Bill Chilcoat, June 2003
It is always nice to hear from people who have found my web pages. Here is an edited version of my reply.
Bill, Logtown Hill is still mostly unchanged. You would enjoy visiting. At Van Buren you would take the Highway 59 exit south from I-40. Log Town Hill is about a mile south of the interstate.
Highway 59 on both sides of the interstate is now a major road, but in the early 1900's this was a narrow dirt road out in the country. As you travel south on Highway 59, you will see a sign that says "no trucks" at the top of logtown hill. You will have a brief view of the Arkansas River to the right.
As the road becomes a straight steep downhill stretch, you will pass an old cemetery on the left followed by about 3 blocks of old houses on both sides of the street. Most of the houses there were probably built in the late 1800s to early 1900s. If you turn either direction on the side streets you will find more old houses. The house your mother lived in might still be there. At the time these houses were built, this was the rich part of town with nicer bigger houses than the rest of the town. Most of the houses are fairly well preserved and look much the same as when they were first built.
At the bottom of the hill just past the railroad tracks, turn right on Knox Street (the main street of old downtown Van Buren). Many of the stores and shops in that area were built after your mother left, but they look like they are from an earlier time. In 1982 the CBS Minseries "The Blue and the Gray" was filmed there. They redid the store fronts to make it look like the Civil War era. They even put dirt on the street. The dirt only stayed for the movie, but the stores still look old.
When your mother was there, much of the town was along the Arkansas River - right to the river bank. Now there is a levee along the river. There is a small park between the river and the levee.
Logtown Hill is north of downtown Van Buren, but has been inside the city limits for a long time. I am surprised it was not inside the city when your mother lived there. The old Log Town was probably farther out from the town.
My Dad was born in 1913 in Fort Smith - just across the river from Van Buren. He knew a lot about the history of Fort Smith and Van Buren. You can read his life story. here;