For Little Rock Public Radio, this is Dan Boice, with Naming Arkansas and Robert E. Lee Wilson
The Mississippi County town of Wilson is currently enjoying a renaissance thanks to a new hotel and glowing reviews. The town is named for Robert E. Lee Wilson, a wealthy cotton farmer who around 1900 was the largest landowner in the state and a powerful political force in Northeast Arkansas. So vast were Wilson’s estates that he built a number of towns to serve the thousands of sharecroppers who farmed his fields. These, along with some existing towns, he named or renamed for himself, his family, and his friends, including:
Victoria, named for his sister;
Marie, his youngest daughter;
Evadale, for his niece, Eva Davies;
Keiser, for his friend John Keiser;
And in a splendid flourish, the town of Armorel, which is spelled AR for Arkansas, MO for Missouri, and Wilson’s initials REL.
While Wilson’s estate is gone, his influence remains on the map of Arkansas.
For the University of Arkansas at Monticello, this is Dan Boice.