Monticello Live

With Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs opening Saturday, this seems like a time relevant topic for this week’s “memory”.

I had heard for years about a race track that formerly existed in Drew County. The late Walter Moffatt spoke of family outings there in his boyhood. Most folks knew about its existence but had neither seen the racetrack nor knew where it was located. It was lost in antiquity. However, through GIS and aerial photography, I recently saw the old racetrack clearly from the skies and lying on the southwestern edge of Monticello.

Consider its story. Monticello’s racetrack was the brainchild of a Colonel John F. Barbee who came to Monticello in October, 1912, from Millersburg, Kentucky. Barbee came in search of a suitable site to locate a thoroughbred horse and mule farm. (His reason for choosing to relocate in Monticello remains a mystery.)

That first visit was so successful that he returned on Christmas Day, 1912, with five railroad cars filled with 90 head of horses, mules and other stock. Most were stabled on a farm about a half-mile west of Monticello on a 425 acre farm purchased from H. H. Wells.

Barbee soon had the Chamber of Commerce on track to revive the then- defunct Southeast Arkansas Fair. He encouraged the local chamber to organize a fair and lease 45 acres from him on which to construct two stables, a grandstand, a half-mile race track and other buildings as needed at the new fairgrounds.

In July of 1913 the half-mile track was surveyed and graded and the grandstand, floral hall and other exhibition buildings were constructed. The new Southeast Arkansas Fair was held October 7-10 and it was a grand affair indeed! It included a circus, 15 different shows and midway rides, a miniature Panama Canal exhibit, an aerial exhibition, stock and exhibit judging and, of course, plenty of horse racing!

A short time later Barbee took 18 head of stock to Hot Springs to compete in the racing and show events at the Arkansas State Fair. From there he took his horses to the Louisiana State Fair in Shreveport. While there, he became acquainted with the Black River Stock Farm of Jonesville, Louisiana, and purchased an interest in the farm.

When he returned home to Monticello in December, Barbee immediately put all his Monticello holdings up for sale. Unable to liquidate his property, Barbee returned to Drew County in 1916 in time for the local and state fairs.

The Southeast Arkansas Fair continued through 1921 when financial difficulties led to its closure. Changing times, and Barbee’s life style, led to his bankruptcy in 1923.

Local races were undoubtedly run on the track occasionally and I have heard that sulky harness races were held there later. Over time the site has been largely abandoned, forgotten and hidden amidst the surrounding timberland. Yet, long after the flying hooves were silenced, the well worn track remains sitting firmly and silently in the quiet landscape.

Now, thanks to GIS photography, the long-closed oval can be seen clearly from the air resting silently among the forests and pastureland between Annswood, the senior living complex, and the Missouri Pacific railroad tracks, a scant half-mile from “town”.

Could the failure of the Southeast Arkansas Fair and its racetrack been another “opportunity lost” for Drew County? Could our racetrack have paced, or surpassed, Oaklawn Park? Who knows? With the demise of the Southeast Arkansas Fair no major fairs were held in Drew County until after WWII. A fascinating chapter in Drew County history had ended.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 16th, 2011 at 8:30 pm and is filed under Memories from the Museum. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.