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Pictures of Pine Bluff


Mith242

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Well it certainly is interesting to see some pictures of PB. I've only been there twice, once passing through and the other time just around the Interstate and downtown. It doesn't look like anything has changed downtown.

Wow, a response. Seriously, thanks for responding. I was wondering if anyone was paying attention anymore. I realize I posted quite a few pics but after some initial interest before I went down for Thanksgiving there hasn't been a lot of responses so far except at the very begining. Maybe I need to consider a topic where I post like a dozen 'highlights' pics of a given area. Believe it or not despite the large amount of pics I do post I do skip quite a few to post. But I can see where maybe it's a lot more than what people were wanting. Anyway back to your comments, overall there's not a lot going on. And there's not much going on around the downtown area. Although I did notice one building to be renovated in the future and another building being built near the downtown area. But most of what is going on down there is happening more around the east side of town where the mall is or around the south part of town near the bypass.

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Wow, a response. Seriously, thanks for responding. I was wondering if anyone was paying attention anymore. I realize I posted quite a few pics but after some initial interest before I went down for Thanksgiving there hasn't been a lot of responses so far except at the very begining. Maybe I need to consider a topic where I post like a dozen 'highlights' pics of a given area. Believe it or not despite the large amount of pics I do post I do skip quite a few to post. But I can see where maybe it's a lot more than what people were wanting. Anyway back to your comments, overall there's not a lot going on. And there's not much going on around the downtown area. Although I did notice one building to be renovated in the future and another building being built near the downtown area. But most of what is going on down there is happening more around the east side of town where the mall is or around the south part of town near the bypass.

First let me say what at outstanding collection of photos of Pine Bluff you've made. This is the best job of showcasing a particular city that I've seen on Urban Planet. It really captures the feel of Pine Bluff.

I thought about responding earlier, but I decided to let you finish posting all the pictures first. I'd have something to say about one thing, and then some more interesting pictures would come. I like the fact that you've been so thorough. When I have time, I'd like to go through and make comments or ask questions about the pictures. Again, excellent job! :thumbsup:

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First let me say what at outstanding collection of photos of Pine Bluff you've made. This is the best job of showcasing a particular city that I've seen on Urban Planet. It really captures the feel of Pine Bluff.

I thought about responding earlier, but I decided to let you finish posting all the pictures first. I'd have something to say about one thing, and then some more interesting pictures would come. I like the fact that you've been so thorough. When I have time, I'd like to go through and make comments or ask questions about the pictures. Again, excellent job! :thumbsup:

Cool, thanks for the comments and the positive feedback. I didn't so this for a pat of the back but I was worried when I didn't see many comments especially when people seemed to express interest before I posted any pics. I was hoping that maybe people would eventually catch up to all the pics I posted in a relatively short amount of time. I think I may have even more pics posted in my Pics of Fayetteville topic. I think what really helps this topic is the history. Fayetteville is a wonderful beautiful city but it doesn't have the history that Pine Bluff does. I think it also helps I spent part of my life in Pine Bluff so I sometimes knew about some of the history or knew some areas that might appear as nothing special unless you knew the history behind some of it. I do have family in the area and will be going back to visit. If anyone knows of any areas they'd like to see around Pine Bluff let me know and I will try to get some pics next time I'm down. And as always any comments or questions are welcome. I'd be happy to try to answer any questions or if anyone knows some info that I don't know or haven't posted feel free to post.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've done a little research and found a few interesting things I thought I'd post. I found out the Bayou Bartholomew is the longest bayou in the world. It starts off just northwest of Pine Bluff. I had also been wondering where the term bayou was used. I know that it's usually associated with Lousiana. It apparently is of French origin derived from a Choctaw word bayuk. It's basically a slow moving stream. The term is used mainly along the Gulf Coast from Houston over to Mobile Alabama. I've also been trying to see how far north the term is used also. There's actually a bayou in the Ozarks of all places. Frog Bayou was named where it meets the Arknasas River east of Ft Smith. However when you go north towards the Ozarks it certainly isn't very bayou-like. You drive over it on I-40 just west of Alma and the I-540 North exit. It starts in the Boston Mtns and it appears to be what Lake Ft Smith is on. Further north the term tends to be used around the Mississippi River. Although the one I've seen the furthest north is actually on the Ohio River. Hess Bayou in southern Illinois, southeast of Cape Giradeau Missouri. Here's a few reposts of pics of Bayou Bartholomew I took in Pine Bluff.

img48307ep.jpg

img48297mv.jpg

img48288dc.jpg

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I've done a little research and found a few interesting things I thought I'd post. I found out the Bayou Bartholomew is the longest bayou in the world. It starts off just northwest of Pine Bluff. I had also been wondering where the term bayou was used. I know that it's usually associated with Lousiana. It apparently is of French origin derived from a Choctaw word bayuk. It's basically a slow moving stream. The term is used mainly along the Gulf Coast from Houston over to Mobile Alabama. I've also been trying to see how far north the term is used also. There's actually a bayou in the Ozarks of all places. Frog Bayou was named where it meets the Arknasas River east of Ft Smith. However when you go north towards the Ozarks it certainly isn't very bayou-like. You drive over it on I-40 just west of Alma and the I-540 North exit. It starts in the Boston Mtns and it appears to be what Lake Ft Smith is on. Further north the term tends to be used around the Mississippi River. Although the one I've seen the furthest north is actually on the Ohio River. Hess Bayou in southern Illinois, southeast of Cape Giradeau Missouri. Here's a few reposts of pics of Bayou Bartholomew I took in Pine Bluff.

img48307ep.jpg

img48297mv.jpg

img48288dc.jpg

Mith, thanks for the comprehensive look at Pine Bluff. A lot of people hear all of the bad things

about Pine Bluff, but most really have no idea what it looks like, nor do they know the history it

has. I grew up about 35 minutes from Pine Bluff, so it was the "big city" that my family went

to to shop, go to the dr, etc. Parts of it are very nice, but a lot of it is urban decay and ghetto-ish.

With it having the history that it does, it could be so much better if there were people there that cared

about cleaning up the city. There's a push to clean up its image...but I doubt they will actually clean

up the city itself. It has potential, but until people actually clean that city up, it will continue to decay.

An interesting thing I learned a while back is that tbe McDonald's on Main st there was the first one in

Arkansas, back in the 50's...not long after the chain was started. It also still has its original single

arch sign out front. A few good things are happening in PB...the mall is pretty nice, and there is a lot

happening on Olive St (Hwy. 63) around the new wal-mart supercenter. They are getting a Chili's this

spring...that is something for PB, that's the first national full service restaurant there in quite some time.

The only other things even close to that, are Garfield's, Red Lobster, and Bonanza. Anway, thanks for

posting the pics, all cities need to be represented here.

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Mith, thanks for the comprehensive look at Pine Bluff. A lot of people hear all of the bad things

about Pine Bluff, but most really have no idea what it looks like, nor do they know the history it

has. I grew up about 35 minutes from Pine Bluff, so it was the "big city" that my family went

to to shop, go to the dr, etc. Parts of it are very nice, but a lot of it is urban decay and ghetto-ish.

With it having the history that it does, it could be so much better if there were people there that cared

about cleaning up the city. There's a push to clean up its image...but I doubt they will actually clean

up the city itself. It has potential, but until people actually clean that city up, it will continue to decay.

An interesting thing I learned a while back is that tbe McDonald's on Main st there was the first one in

Arkansas, back in the 50's...not long after the chain was started. It also still has its original single

arch sign out front. A few good things are happening in PB...the mall is pretty nice, and there is a lot

happening on Olive St (Hwy. 63) around the new wal-mart supercenter. They are getting a Chili's this

spring...that is something for PB, that's the first national full service restaurant there in quite some time.

The only other things even close to that, are Garfield's, Red Lobster, and Bonanza. Anway, thanks for

posting the pics, all cities need to be represented here.

Oh yeah I forgot to mention some of the news I had heard about Pine Bluff. Yeah Chili's will be opening near the new Supercenter. There are rumors of a Target and a Home Depot I think opening across the street from the Supercenter. Although I have to think these are mainly just rumors, at least with the Target. No offense to Pine Bluff but I just have a hard time seeing the city getting a Target the way it is now. The Pines Mall was pretty nice but after Wal-mart left that area it's been going downhill. I've heard they've been having a hard time keeping stores there. Now they're opening a hotel that will either be right next to the mall or maybe even connected to the mall. Sort of an odd idea. Pine Bluff does have it's problems, but it's not as bad as what most people make it out to be. It's got some great history, I didn't know that about the McDonald's on Main. Hopefully it will stay open, lots of other places including Burger King have closed up on Main. I have heard they are making another big effort to try to clean up the city, in particular it's negative image. But I think it's going to be hard for the city to get itself out of the hole it's in. The city has tried to do things, clean up areas of the city, improve other areas. And to be honest it really hasn't helped. They've had some nice ideas but so far it's just not working. I guess the city just has to keep trying and hopefully eventually something will work and help turn the city around.

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Yeah, I'd have a hard time seeing a target in Pine Bluff.

Didn't they just get a new supercenter not too long ago?

Yeah, now that did surprise me that it took so long for them to get a Supercenter. But I think that just shows that most places are rather reluctant to open or expand in Pine Bluff.

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Why have I been avoiding this thread for so long? Great pictures mith. The downtown was really impressive and multidimensional.....impressive in its depth and its history. It has loads of potential. Loads. From these pics I'd argue it has more potential than many of the other up an coming cities (Conway, Jonesboro, etc.), if only there were a good handful of leaders to lead it in the right direction.

The eagle and fish photos (especially the eagle) were first class. The eagle seemed to have an aura around it and glowed around its edges. Was it a stuffed eagle, or real?

The history was interesting.

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Why have I been avoiding this thread for so long? Great pictures mith. The downtown was really impressive and multidimensional.....impressive in its depth and its history. It has loads of potential. Loads. From these pics I'd argue it has more potential than many of the other up an coming cities (Conway, Jonesboro, etc.), if only there were a good handful of leaders to lead it in the right direction.

The eagle and fish photos (especially the eagle) were first class. The eagle seemed to have an aura around it and glowed around its edges. Was it a stuffed eagle, or real?

The history was interesting.

Thanks Johnny, I had hoped more people would take a look. A number of people had seemed interested then I wasn't sure if they had noticed or not. Although I'm sure many looked and simply didn't post anything. I thought maybe I scared people off with too many pics again. :D But yes it really does have a lot of potential. There has to be some way to turn things around there. I believe they are trying to start a new program to try to get rid of the negative image the city has. That would be a big help, Pine Bluff does have it's negatives but it's not as bad as what most people seem to think or have heard about. By the way the eagle was real, there are two of them at the nature center there. I had taken more but they didn't come out very well. Both I believe are permanantly disabled so it's doubtful they'll ever be realeased into the wild again. The nature center there really is nice. Ft Smith and Little Rock should really look forward to getting one in the future. I really wish they'd consider opening some more in other cities around the state. If the city ever is able to turn things around what a great downtown are they'll be able to have.

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Why have I been avoiding this thread for so long? Great pictures mith. The downtown was really impressive and multidimensional.....impressive in its depth and its history. It has loads of potential. Loads. From these pics I'd argue it has more potential than many of the other up an coming cities (Conway, Jonesboro, etc.), if only there were a good handful of leaders to lead it in the right direction.

I agree with johnny, Pine Bluff's downtown is impressive for its size and history. One can easily see what a great past Pine Bluff had, and that's sad. I believe I've mentioned this before, but at one time Pine Bluff was second only to Memphis in the amount of cotton shipped. During its heydays Pine Bluff's economy was second only to Little Rock's in Arkansas. Unfortunately, the city never adjusted its economy away from agriculture and failed to attract enough industry. The rest is history, and Pine Bluff continues to suffer from a horrible public image, high crime, shrinking population, etc. One thing that is sort of a positive is the low cost of housing. As Mith's pictures show, there used to be some grand homes there, which can now be purchased at a small cost, but they're in disrepair. Many have already been destroyed.

If Pine Bluff is ever able to make a recovery, it will take a long time. Hopefully the old structures can be saved for the future and restored, but until there is growth, don't look for it to happen. I don't know what it will take to, but Pine Bluff needs some aggressive and innovative leadership to attract industry, and then work from there. Some positives are its infrastructure, proximity to Little Rock, a port, and the cheap real estate.

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Why have I been avoiding this thread for so long? Great pictures mith. The downtown was really impressive and multidimensional.....impressive in its depth and its history. It has loads of potential.

Good to hear from you Johnny!!

I agree that the downtown has potential and is certainly beautiful.

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I agree with johnny, Pine Bluff's downtown is impressive for its size and history. One can easily see what a great past Pine Bluff had, and that's sad. I believe I've mentioned this before, but at one time Pine Bluff was second only to Memphis in the amount of cotton shipped. During its heydays Pine Bluff's economy was second only to Little Rock's in Arkansas. Unfortunately, the city never adjusted its economy away from agriculture and failed to attract enough industry. The rest is history, and Pine Bluff continues to suffer from a horrible public image, high crime, shrinking population, etc. One thing that is sort of a positive is the low cost of housing. As Mith's pictures show, there used to be some grand homes there, which can now be purchased at a small cost, but they're in disrepair. Many have already been destroyed.

If Pine Bluff is ever able to make a recovery, it will take a long time. Hopefully the old structures can be saved for the future and restored, but until there is growth, don't look for it to happen. I don't know what it will take to, but Pine Bluff needs some aggressive and innovative leadership to attract industry, and then work from there. Some positives are its infrastructure, proximity to Little Rock, a port, and the cheap real estate.

True, and much of the industry Pine Bluff did attract eventually would either fold up or leave. Pine Bluff eventually relied a lot on the railroad industry in particular the Cotton Belt which used to have it's headquarters there. It left town in the early 80's I believe and I think that hit the already declining city very hard. The NCTR isn't far away but I don't think hardly anyone who works there lives in Pine Bluff. Simmons Bank and the two paper mills are the only major industries left. I also hear one of those paper mills aren't doing too well either. Things could actually get worse before they get better. Pine Bluff and the state for that matter should try to set up a supersite like what was done near Marion. The disadvantage I can think of is the road situation. But eventually I-530 will be extended out towards the future I-69 giving it more than one direction away from the city. Unfortunately those roads will take a while to be built.

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IS there a chance the Pines Hotel might be renovated soon? Looks like a nice solid building.

It is a nice building. I suppose there's always a chance but I really don't know how likely it will happen. They were trying to find someone to renovate it when I was still living there and that was 12 years ago. At least there's no talk of tearing it down or anything. I've seen a few shots from the inside long ago, from what I remembered it still looked nice. At least in some areas. I think the biggest problem is that there's not really any demand to stay in downtown Pine Bluff. There's just not a lot to do there, many stores are still vacant. If they could just get a few things going for them there I think there would be more interest in restoring the hotel. But for now I think the city is focusing more on just trying to keep what jobs are left and trying to keep people from leaving the city. There's been worries the city could possibly drop below 50,000 and if that happens they get a lot less money and such.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Since we already have been discussing Ft Smith and Pine Bluff in another topic it reminded me of something I heard while I was down there around Christmas. Unlike the rumors around Thanksgiving these rumors aren't too good. Supposedly Sears is looking to leave the Pines Mall and go to one of the former Wal-mart stores. Maybe not so bad for the city but certainly bad for the mall which is already struggling. But there's also rumors of Dillard's closing down. That location hasn't been doing so great the past couple of years. Pine Bluff does draw in people around southeast Arkansas but I think more people are just simply willing to drive another hour to go to Little Rock instead and have better shopping options. Not only is the city losing population it's losing what affluent population it had.

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Since we already have been discussing Ft Smith and Pine Bluff in another topic it reminded me of something I heard while I was down there around Christmas. Unlike the rumors around Thanksgiving these rumors aren't too good. Supposedly Sears is looking to leave the Pines Mall and go to one of the former Wal-mart stores. Maybe not so bad for the city but certainly bad for the mall which is already struggling. But there's also rumors of Dillard's closing down. That location hasn't been doing so great the past couple of years. Pine Bluff does draw in people around southeast Arkansas but I think more people are just simply willing to drive another hour to go to Little Rock instead and have better shopping options. Not only is the city losing population it's losing what affluent population it had.

That may be a harbinger for the city but it also could be interpreted as the slow decline of aging malls as we discussed before. Sears leaving for an old Wal-Mart shell seems a little odd.

If Dillard's leaves PB that will make me feel more comfortable that a new West LR Dillard's won't prevent them from keeping the Park Plaza stores open.

Dillard's is restructuring and closing shop at its nonproductive stores in older malls. They did the same down here in Richardson, which is a pretty nice community but had a ho-hum aging mall.

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That may be a harbinger for the city but it also could be interpreted as the slow decline of aging malls as we discussed before. Sears leaving for an old Wal-Mart shell seems a little odd.

If Dillard's leaves PB that will make me feel more comfortable that a new West LR Dillard's won't prevent them from keeping the Park Plaza stores open.

Dillard's is restructuring and closing shop at its nonproductive stores in older malls. They did the same down here in Richardson, which is a pretty nice community but had a ho-hum aging mall.

Ironically the Pines Mall is one of the newest malls in the state as far as I know. I don't think it's really having problems because of it's age I think it's more a problem with the city. That and the fact that Wal-mart left the mall and opened a Supercenter in another area of the city. That area of the city had been one of the brighter spots in the city. Now that area has really died and all the growth is around the new Supercenter.

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Ironically the Pines Mall is one of the newest malls in the state as far as I know. I don't think it's really having problems because of it's age I think it's more a problem with the city. That and the fact that Wal-mart left the mall and opened a Supercenter in another area of the city. That area of the city had been one of the brighter spots in the city. Now that area has really died and all the growth is around the new Supercenter.

You can't really count on Wal-Mart as an anchor. Few Wal-Marts seem to stay for a decade or more.

One thing I always strongly disliked about NWA was the way there was so many scattered ex-Wal-marts around. Many of them are still occupied as Wal-Mart offices or warehouse space but are about the biggest eyesores you can have. This happens everywhere, I know, and there is at least one I can think of in LR on Asher, it's just that since they are constantly building newer, bigger Supercenters up there it seems like the old structures litter the arterials.

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You can't really count on Wal-Mart as an anchor. Few Wal-Marts seem to stay for a decade or more.

One thing I always strongly disliked about NWA was the way there was so many scattered ex-Wal-marts around. Many of them are still occupied as Wal-Mart offices or warehouse space but are about the biggest eyesores you can have. This happens everywhere, I know, and there is at least one I can think of in LR on Asher, it's just that since they are constantly building newer, bigger Supercenters up there it seems like the old structures litter the arterials.

Yeah that's a complaint I've certainly heard in a number of places about Wal-mart. And once a Wal-mart leaves an area of town that area tends to die off.

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