Hector

For Little Rock Public Radio, this is Dan Boice, with Naming Arkansas.
While there is no contest for the most interesting place name story, if there were, the Pope County town of Hector could make a strong case.
The town was originally called The Plain, but in 1888, postmaster Henry Jefferson Mayo requested that the new post office be named Avondale, in honor of his Indiana hometown.This annoyed the townspeople who didn’t much appreciate not being asked, so they petitioned Washington for another name for their town, Snider, and when that was denied, Wheeler, Wootenville, and Grindersville all for early settlers. Finally, the townsfolk agreed on Greenville, but by now the national postal authorities were tired of the bickering, and according to the story they simply asked President Grover Cleveland for a name. He was playing with his bulldog puppy named Hector, so that’s the name he picked and that became the name of the town. All of which upset postmaster Mayo so much that he packed his bags and left town, so everyone was happy.
For the University of Arkansas at Monticello this is Dan Boice.