Down on the Farm at the 2018 Dallas County Fair

The theme for the 2018 Dallas County Fair in Fordyce, Arkansas, was “Cows, Plows, and Oh, Wows!” Using that as our inspiration, we displayed historical facts and objects related to the agricultural history of Dallas County. “Down on the Farm” was a fun exhibit to create, and we appreciate everyone who loaned us materials to make it diverse and interesting.

Dallas County has a long history of farming, from vegetables to cotton; from cattle to timber

The first settlers arrived in the 1840’s in Dallas County where they could buy land at $1.25 an acre! Many of these settlers wrote to their families in the eastern states, where farmers had planted the same crops in the same soil year after year. This caused the soil to become poor from over farming due to them not knowing how to do crop rotation.

The promise of fertile soil convinced these Eastern farmers to move west to Arkansas to buy cheap land to farm. After clearing it of virgin timber, the land was cultivated and corn, cotton, peas, and other vegetables were grown, mainly for the farmer’s own use. By 1850, the county population was 6,877.

By the 1930’s, the county population had reached 14,671, the highest it would ever be. Reforestation efforts began, and in 1974, more than 90% of the original survey area was now woodland for pulpwood and sawlogs; only 9% of Dallas County remained in farms. By the 2012 census of agriculture by the USDA, 0% of the county was used to grow corn, sorghum, wheat, soybean, cotton, or rice.

(Information taken from Soil Survey of Calhoun and Dallas Counties, Arkansas, 1974 and Old South Frontier: Cotton Plantations and the Formation of Arkansas Society Donald P. McNeilly, University of Arkansas Press, 2000)

Exhibit photos

Here are some of the photographs that were displayed in the exhibit. We thank everyone who contributed!

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