30 replies to this topic

[Mith242]

I mainly started this topic for a place to put some pictures but I want to also mention some things about the city before I start posting any pics.  I always thought Stuttgart was a bit of an odd place.  I think it's the only decent-sized city (by Arkansas standards) that was named after another city.  It's also the only German founded town that did well and became a city.  Although it's lost most of it's German influence.  The early settlers were German but afterwards much of the growth came from non German settlers.  So unlike some other German founded cities in the south you won't see hardly any German influence other than the name.  It's also managed to have a rather steady population for the last several decades.  Which is a bit of an accomplishment considering how most of eastern Arkansas has been losing population.  But also a bit odd that it really hasn't grown much either.  I always thought it had weird mixture of people.  There seems to be a number of rather wealthy rice farmers along with quite a few poor people as well.  It's mainly a farming community.  As I mentioned earlier rice is the big thing.  Although a lot of rice is know grown further north into northeast Arkansas but Stuttgart is still mainly known for it.  Riceland is headquartered there.  That and farming are the main employers there.  Arkansas is by far the leading rice producing state in the country.  Stuttgart is also known for duck hunting around this time of year.  The wetlands and flooded rice fields attract a lot of birds migrating south.  It's also known for it's Wings Over the Prairie Festival and Duck Calling Contest.  This year's was the 71st and it claims to be the longest currently running festival in the South.  I also found out the winner of the Duck Calling Contest receives $40,000.  I thought that was a rather large amount for a festival in a city it's size.  Anyway I'll get around to posting some pics now and post a little more info later on.

[Mith242]

These first two I've already posted in the Arkansas Picture of the Day topic.  But I'm not sure how many people check it out so I'll post them over here as well.  It's a bit odd if you don't know much about Stuttgart and you're driving near the area.  It's very flat there in the Grand Prairie and when you get somewhat close you can see what almost seems to be office buildings.  It gives you the impression you're driving up on a much larger city.  But all the buildings are actually mills.

[Mith242]

Here are some more pics taken all around the city, some downtown some further out.

[Mith242]

Here's some pics more related to the Wings of the Prairie Festival and the Duck Calling Contest.  It was a bit slow the morning I took the pics, I think many people were out duck hunting and enjoying the unseasonably warm weather.  The Fesitval takes place all along Main St, they shut it down during the week of the Festival.  The last pic was fun to get.  I rode one of the rides and took pics going up.  I didn't think they were going to let me take my camera along but they did.  They just told me they weren't responsible if I dropped it.  

[Mith242]

Here's some pics I took of older pics of the Fesitval at Museum of the Arkansas Grand Prairie.








I'll post some more pics later today or in the upcoming days when I get the chance.

[mcheiss]

I had no idea about all the mills, quite interesting. It would be cool to see a night shot of them, then we could compare them to Little Rock's skyline to see who has the best in the state.  

[Aporkalypse]

mcheiss, on Nov 29 2006, 11:29 AM, said:

I had no idea about all the mills, quite interesting. It would be cool to see a night shot of them, then we could compare them to Little Rock's skyline to see who has the best in the state.  

I was in Ponca City, OK (about 50k population) once and I came up on what I thought was a huge skyline.  Turns out it was the Conoco refinery lit up at night.  Those can be really dramatic and impressive as well.

[mcheiss]

Aporkalypse, on Nov 29 2006, 02:50 PM, said:

I was in Ponca City, OK (about 50k population) once and I came up on what I thought was a huge skyline.  Turns out it was the Conoco refinery lit up at night.  Those can be really dramatic and impressive as well.

It's like that a bit in Wichita too. They have some big mills by the Interstate, which is right by the downtown area. You get fooled quite a bit.

[Mith242]

I guess Stuttgart has been the only city I've come across like that.  For just mainly being a 'farm community' it's not too bad of a place.  They tend to have things you might not expect.  Rogers just got a Belk a few years ago but Stuttgart has had one for decades.  I also saw a Thai restaurant years before I ever saw one up here in NWA.

[Mith242]

Okay I posted a few old pics already from the Museum of the Arkansas Grand Prairie.  Thought I'd show a little more of it off.  Certainly not too bad of a museum for a city of 10,000.  In some of the later pics you can also see a reproduction of the original Emanuel Lutheran Church.  Ironically it was built in 1879 and Stuttgart came afterwards in 1880.  A bit odd, usually it works the other way around.  

[Mith242]

I already mentioned a bit of the history in the previous post.  Adam Buerkle who was originally from the Stuttgart Germany area came to Arkansas via Ohio and bought a large plantation that was for sell.  He helped build Emaunel Lutheran Church with some other German immigrants from that area of Germany.  He also helped build the Post Office and then decided to name the community after his old home.  I know a bit about the history because some of my ancestors married into the Buerkle family.  Although my German ancestors came over a little later than the Buerkles and also came a little further out from Stuttgart Germany but still in that general region of the country.  While I spent most of my early life in Pine Bluff I was actually born in Stuttgart.  Anyway I'll post some more pics a little later.

[Mith242]

Okay just a few more pics.  These might not mean a lot to most but I thought I'd post some just for the fact of Stuttgart's German heritage.  While they're certainly not too uncommon up here in NWA Lutheran churches aren't too common in the south.  The first five are of the current Emanuel Lutheran Church.  The same church that basically helped get the town of Stuttgart going.  Then the last three are of St Johns Lutheran Church, another Lutheran church in the city.

[Arkansawyer]

Thanks for sharing these photos of Stuttgart, Mith. It's nice to see different places in Arkansas as well as the metro areas.

Mith242, on Nov 29 2006, 05:33 AM, said:

These first two I've already posted in the Arkansas Picture of the Day topic.  But I'm not sure how many people check it out so I'll post them over here as well.  It's a bit odd if you don't know much about Stuttgart and you're driving near the area.  It's very flat there in the Grand Prairie and when you get somewhat close you can see what almost seems to be office buildings.  It gives you the impression you're driving up on a much larger city.  But all the buildings are actually mills.

I'm sure the imposing mills give many people the impression of a large city. I remember being struck by their size the last time I came to Stuttgart. It was shortly before dawn, so all I saw was their silhouette against the sky.

Mith242, on Nov 29 2006, 07:21 PM, said:

Great shots of the churches! Was someone there to let you inside the first one? Also, do you know what year St. John's Lutheran Church was built? It looks pretty old as well.

[Mith242]

Arkansawyer, on Dec 2 2006, 12:58 AM, said:

Thanks for sharing these photos of Stuttgart, Mith. It's nice to see different places in Arkansas as well as the metro areas.

Well I'm glad at least some people enjoy seeing some of the other places in Arkansas.  

[Mith242]

Arkansawyer, on Dec 2 2006, 12:58 AM, said:

Great shots of the churches! Was someone there to let you inside the first one?

Yeah I've got some ties to Emanuel so getting in wasn't a problem.  I'd been meaning to get over and take some pics of it for a while now.  But I felt I better go ahead because I don't think the church is doing too well and there could be a chance of it closing sometime in the future.  Might not happen for a while but it unfortunately seems to be slowly fading away.  Seems like outside NWA, Arkansas is more of a Missouri Synod place than an ELCA.  I believe I remember you mentioning a long time ago that you are or had been Lutheran so I'm assuming you know what I mean.

[Mith242]

Arkansawyer, on Dec 2 2006, 12:58 AM, said:

Great shots of the churches! Was someone there to let you inside the first one? Also, do you know what year St. John's Lutheran Church was built? It looks pretty old as well.

St John's was established as a church in 1882.  Although just as with Emanuel, this isn't their original church.  I don't know as much about St John's, my relatives were always a part of Emanuel.  I'm not positive but I think both the current churches were built around the same time.  I think they were built in the 30's or 40's.  I always thought St John's looked very nice.  A bit ironic because until recent times it was always second fiddle to Emanuel.  But times have changed now and St Johns is easily the most dominant Lutheran church in Stuttgart today.

[idlewild]

It's so cool how those factories and stuff look so much like a city skyline! Cool pics!

[Mith242]

idlewild, on Dec 6 2006, 08:58 AM, said:

It's so cool how those factories and stuff look so much like a city skyline! Cool pics!

Thanks.  Yeah I guess I haven't seen too many 'farm cities' or one that had so many mills to compare it to.  There is some pretty good farm land around there.

[alias007]

The kitchen at Our Place was apparantly consumed in a fire.  The rest of it has water damage from when the firemen put the fires out.  You can't tell anything from the outside, but it's certainly a real bummer.  If anyone hears what the owners plan to do, please post!

[Mith242]

alias007, on Mar 28 2007, 08:38 AM, said:

The kitchen at Our Place was apparantly consumed in a fire.  The rest of it has water damage from when the firemen put the fires out.  You can't tell anything from the outside, but it's certainly a real bummer.  If anyone hears what the owners plan to do, please post!

Thanks for the update.  I don't think we have anyone on the forum from Stuttgart.  I have some relatives there and visit occasionally.