Walter “Wiley” Jones (1848-1904)

Walter “Wiley” Jones was born a slave in Madison County, Georgia, July 14, 1848. At five years-old Jones moved to Jefferson County, Arkansas. His family was sold to General James Yell and Jones became a camp servant for Yell’s son during the Civil War. After the war, Jones eventually ended up in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, where he worked at a local saloon, as a barber and a hotel waiter. Jones loaned his savings for interest and in 1876 bought his own saloon. He also built a harness-racing horse track. In 1886, he was one of the first African Americans in the United States to own and operate a mule-drawn streetcar line, a forerunner of today’s Pine Bluff Transit. At the time of his death in 1904 he was the richest African American in Arkansas. I’m John Kirk of the UALR History Department and this has been an Arkansas moment