KUAR Arkansas’s Amazing Place Names # 37 DeQueen
What does a nineteenth-century Dutch financier have to do with Arkansas place names? Quite a lot, as it turns out.
In the late nineteenth century, as Arthur Stilwell was constructing his Kansas City, Pittsburg, and Gulf Railroad, a Dutchman named Jan deGoeijen was his primary financial sponsor, and deGoeijen’s money helped the railroad expand through western Arkansas. For his financial backing, Stillwell decreed that a station in Sevier County would be named in the Dutchman’s honor, although the locals had just a terrible time trying to pronounce let alone spell deGoeijen. The closest they could come was DeQueen, and with that name, the town quickly prospered and became the seat of Sevier County. The newspaper, DeQueen Bee, is arguably the best name of American newspapers. As for Jan deGoeijen, it is said that he did not appreciate the good intentions that led to the misspelling of his name.
Daniel Boice
University of Arkansas at Monticello