Turkey hunters across the United States owe a vote of thanks to a nineteenth-century Arkansas inventor.
Henry C. Gibson was born on Sept. 18, 1848, near Dardanelle. A farmer and owner of the Western Arkansas Hedge and Wire Fence Company, he created the Gibson Turkey Box, which was granted a patent on January 5, 1897 – the first patent awarded for a box-style turkey call. He shared the patent with John Boddie of Arkadelphia, who likely financed operations and helped market the device.
The one-piece turkey call was ten inches long, one-and-a-quarter inches wide, and two-and-a-half inches deep, with a lid attached by a pivot screw that allowed it to be scraped along the main box.
The Gibson Turkey Box was produced well into the twentieth century, with advertisements appearing as late as 1921. Gibson’s innovative design is still followed by modern turkey hunters and turkey-call makers.
Henry Gibson died on May 4, 1930, and is buried in Little Rock’s Roselawn Memorial Park. To learn more, you can read the entire Encyclopedia of Arkansas entry at encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/henry-c-gibson-128.