Turkey Neck / Gassville

For Little Rock Public Radio, this is Dan Boice, with Naming Arkansas.
The town of Turkey Neck in Baxter County was established in the mid-nineteenth century and so named for a narrow bend in the White River. In 1878, the town got its post office and a new name of Gassville, launching a veritable cottage industry of etymology. According to an oft-repeated local legend, the town was named for the first postmaster, Pinkney A. Cox, whose verbosity made him famous as a “gasser.” Ernie Deane recounts two other tales, one having railroad workers “gassing” around the campfire one night. A more lively story that Deane repeats is that Cox claimed that natural gas had been discovered nearby. “Pinky” had poured some gasoline into a cistern and proved his claim that there was gas by tossing down a burning rag. Just how a postmaster known for talking too much and for practical jokes would motivate his neighbors to name their town in his honor remains a matter for speculation certainly and, well, further gassing.
For the University of Arkansas at Monticello this is Dan Boice.