For Little Rock Public Radio, this is Dan Boice, with Naming Arkansas.
In late nineteenth-century Arkansas, as towns grew up along railroads, finding unique names became a challenge. The U.S. Postal Service regularly refused applications because of already existing towns, and this often frustrated town leaders. Occasionally, this frustration led to interesting – if inadvertent – names for the town!
After several rejections in 1887, a resident of one Craighead County town exclaimed that it seemed like no matter what the people suggested, it would be the postal service that “would be apt to name it.” The other townspeople seized onto and submitted that idea, and for twenty years, the town of Apt was a going concern.
Some miles to the west, the postmaster of a town in Independence County felt that he had run out of ideas, and simply asked the postal service to “pick a name at your convenience.” And so was named the town of Convenience, whose post office closed in 1904.
From the department of being careful what you wish for, and for the University of Arkansas at Monticello, this is Dan Boice