Page 18 - Arkansas Timberland Travel

FERGUSON-BEALL HOUISE is a historic house at 902 East 4th Street in Pine Bluff. It is a two-story wood frame structure, with a hip roof and clapboard siding. It has a variety of projecting gable sections, dormers, and porches typical of the Queen Anne style. It was built in 1896 by local builder, Calvin Ferguson. The home remained in the family with daughter Arie and her husband, George, a cotton broker. Here is where their only child, Martha, was born. She eventually married John N. Mitchell, attor- ney general under Richard Nixon. Martha became a key figure in expos- ing the Watergate Scandal. Martha Beall Mitchell’s birthplace and child- hood home was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
GRIDER FIELD is the original name for the Pine Bluff Regional Airport. In 1941, the Pine Bluff School of Aviation was established at this location by the U. S. Army Air Corps, and named in honor of World War I pilot John McGavock Grider, an Arkansas native. Here, over 9000 pilots were trained for service in World War II. When the war ended, the Civilian Aeronautics Authority returned the airfield to the City of Pine Bluff. Today, Grider Field is home to a terminal, restaurant, a Federal Aviation Admin- istration (FAA) weather monitoring station, private corporate jet hangars, fire station, T-hangars and a fledgling aviation museum. See restored aircraft hangars, barracks, monument memorabilia and World War II aircraft. Located just off of U.S. Highway 65S at 705 Hangar Row.
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