Mount Magazine History

1722
Bernard de la Harpe made the first recorded journey up the Arkansas River. He was possibly the first European to see Mount Magazine.

1817
The first garrison was established at Fort Smith.

1819
Thomas Nuttall explored the Arkansas River, illustrating Pinnacle Mountain, Mount Nebo, and Arkansas plants and wildlife, and describing the Europeans and Native Americans he encountered. He left us an excellent description of territorial Arkansas. Nuttall drew a map of the area and labeled what we now call Mount Magazine as "Cassette".

1853
An act of Congress granted right-of-way land to a railroad company which included Mount Magazine.

1861
1861-1865 During the Civil War men living in the Petit Jean River Valley occasionally hid out on Snake Knob, on the southern side of Mount Magazine, from bushwhackers and Union troops.

1878
T.M.C. Birmingham settled on the western part of the mountain near what is now called Dripping Springs.

1880
Benjamin H. Benefield was granted land on the southeastern leg of the mountain.

1885
Friedrich August Morsbach received his homestead certificate, signed by President Grover Cleveland, for land on the northeastern leg of the mountain.

1886
Charles C. Brown was granted land near what is now called Brown Spring. Albert Morsbach purchased 80 acres on what is now Mossback Ridge from a railroad company for $2.50 per acre.

1893
Will P. Greenfield and his mother establish a home at what is now the Greenfield Picnic Area.

1895
Albert Morsbach, 40, and Serena Walker, 30, were married. Wilhelmina Ida Morsbach, Albert’s sister, 35, was married to A.B. Lozier, 38. Friedrich Morsbach’s wife, Anna Barbara, died.

1896
Friedrich Morsbach, 69, married Rebecca Kuykendall, 49. Serena Morsbach died during child birth.

1897
Albert Morsbach married Susannah Wilson Houston.

1900
O.M. Ellsworth registered a plot for the Town of Mount Magazine on the western end of the mountain. The Skycrest Inn and a dance pavilion were constructed.

1907
Friedrich Morsbach moved off the mountaintop to Corley, five miles north. He died later that year.

1912
Chalmers Ferguson settled just off the western end of Mount Magazine. P.W. Clark bought the Skycrest Inn from J.F. Holden.

1916
Gertrude Greenfield was married to Tony Brown.

1917
Manda Corder, mother of Mrs. Will P. Greenfield, was buried near Serena Morsbach on the northern slope of Mossback Ridge.

1920
Tony Brown was the teacher of the Summer Home School when it burned.

1923
Eleven children attended school in a cabin east of the present day Visitor Center.

1925
T.B. Buckman settled near McGuire Spring.

1926
Albert Morsbach moved away from Mount Magazine.

1928
Five children attended school.

1929
Erma Greenfield taught the last term of the Summer Home School before it consolidated with Magazine District 15.

1934
Logan Anglin was killed by lightening.

1934
The U.S. Resettlement Administration began buying land considered submarginal for farming.

1936
The last family on the mountaintop, the Greenfields, was forced to move off the mountain by the Resettlement Administration.

1936
Crews from the Works Progress Administration started building a road from Havana to Paris.

1938
President Franklin D. Roosevelt transferred the Magazine Project from the Farm Security Administration to the Ouachita National Forest.

4/28/1938
On April 28th a large celebration was held near what was the Benefield homestead to pay homage to the government work projects which provided much needed jobs in the area. Approximately 5,000 people in 850 automobiles ascended the recently completed road from Havana to Paris.

1939
At least seven of 18 cabins were completed by this year.

5/1939
Construction on the lodge started in May.

6/29/1940
Works Progress Administration (WPA) Lodge dedicated at Mount Magazine

1941
The Magazine Mountain Project became part of the Ozark National Forest.

10/1945
In October a plane crashed at the eastern end of the mountain killing two men.

11/17/1947
On November 17th a B-25 bomber crashed at the eastern end of Mount Magazine, within yards of the 1945 crash, killing six men.

1950
An Air Force air traffic control tower was moved to the western tip of the mountain for use in transmission programs by KFSA TV-5 of Fort Smith.

1952
Blacktopping of the Mount Magazine road was completed.

1967
Cameron Bluff Overlook Drive was opened.

2/3/1971
The Mount Magazine Lodge burned on February 3rd.

1976
A feasibility study was done to see if the mountaintop should be a state park.

1977
Representative Willems wrote a resolution to put the mountain in the state park system.

1983
The Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism began negotiations with the U.S. Forest Service to lease the top of the mountain.

3/28/1983
Act 884 signed to create the park.

1989
A Special Use Permit was issued by the U.S. Forest Service to the Department of Parks and Tourism

1993
An Environmental Impact Statement was completed and is used as guidelines on park development.

1995
The state legislature gives Parks & Tourism money for water improvements.

1996
A revised Special Use Permit is issued by the U.S. Forest Service.

1997
Improvements were started to supply the mountaintop with a reliable water supply.

7/31/1997
The first Mount Magazine International Butterfly Festival was held on July 31st – August 2nd.

1/25/1998
David Flugrad becomes first superintendent at Mount Magazine State Park.

3/4/1998
Initial land acquired for the park, lands leased from USDA Forest Service.

3/4/1998
The Special Use Permit was signed on March 4 by Lynn C. Neff, Forest Supervisor for the Ozark-St. Francis National Forests.

4/25/1998
Richard Davies, Executive Director of the Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism, and Greg Butts, Director of Arkansas State Parks, signed the special use permit making Mount Magazine an official Arkansas State Park.

1999
Construction started on new roads, utilities, picnic facilities, campgrounds, maintenance facilities, and Visitor Center.

2001
An act to amend the Arkansas code to provide for the construction and financing of a lodge and cabin complex was passed.

5/28/2001
The remodeled campground opened on Memorial Day weekend.

8/2001
The new Visitor Center opened

10/2001
Exhibits were installed in the visitor center.

5/16/2002
Governor Mike Huckabee officially dedicated Mount Magazine State Park.

2/2004
Construction on the new lodge started in February.

4/9/2004
Governor Mike Huckabee presided over a groundbreaking ceremony for the new lodge and cabins.

5/1/2006
The new Lodge at Mount Magazine State Park officially opened.

5/18/2006
Governor Mike Huckabee presided over the dedication ceremony for the new lodge and cabins.

7/1/2006
Mark Stump launched his hang glider from Mount Magazine and flew 178 miles to Bolivar, Missouri setting a distance record for hang gliders in Arkansas.