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Was this building in our neighboring McRae AR? Old postcard. Searcy AR

By
Real Estate Agent with RE/MAX Advantage

McRae Progress building AR?

My friend and postcard collector, James Whitlow, has sent another picture that may be from our area.  The lettering on the card is just for his business.  He wrote this,

"Barbara, here is a scan of the McRae postcard from the date of 1907-1918.  Maybe some of your readers can inform us about this card.  The name Thompson is under the "McRae Progress" sign on the top of building.  Could this be the owner or the painter name?"
 
Our last blog regarding the Gill Hotel in Searcy (we thought) has been solved by Harold Gene Sullivan who proves that it was really in Henderson Harbor N Y.  But where ever the old pictures came from, they are still interesting and keep us thinking about the history of White County.
 
Anyone know whether this is our McRae town?
 
 
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Anonymous
Harold Gene Sullivan

From History of the Arkansas Press for Hundred Years and More, URL:

http://books.google.com/books?id=gdA3u6qwI3QC&pg=PA474&lpg=PA474&dq=%22McRae+Progress%22&source=bl&ots=u3RtMxqA16&sig=sN0a--n7N8BTVyxPoo0zesD5jXk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=x2xiVL-NH4_ToATYvYFY&ved=0CB0Q6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q=%22McRae%20Progress%22&f=false

The McRae Progress was launched in 1916 by W. L. Cloninger. It was moved to Beebe shortly afterward and its name changes to the News.

So it seems highly likely that this is a picture of the building in McRae.

Looking through this referenced book, it is amazing how many newspapers there has been in Arkansas. I'll bet it was a hard way to make a living/

Nov 11, 2014 04:30 AM
#1
Barbara S. Duncan
RE/MAX Advantage - Searcy, AR
GRI, e-PRO, Executive Broker, Searcy AR

Harold Gene, you have done it again.  You solved our mystery and this probably was the newspaper office in McRae.  All of us need to go to the link you have provided and read about the newspapers. 

Thanks for your expert research.  Did you "used to be" a newspaper reporter?

Nov 11, 2014 08:43 AM
Anonymous
Mary Dunn

Nice work, Harold Gene. I would have bet against it's being "our" McRae.

Nov 11, 2014 11:40 PM
#3
Barbara S. Duncan
RE/MAX Advantage - Searcy, AR
GRI, e-PRO, Executive Broker, Searcy AR

Mary, didn't he do a great job!

Nov 12, 2014 03:59 AM
Don Thompson
Donthomp Associates - Sunnyvale, CA

Another referencee to the McRae Progress.

 By 1916  the McRae Progress newspaper estimated the town would produce enough strawberries to fill almost one hundred boxcars for distribution across the country by the end of the season.

It's refering to  Bald Knob, Arkansas, “The Strawberry Capital of the World!”

 

 

Nov 12, 2014 08:04 AM
Barbara S. Duncan
RE/MAX Advantage - Searcy, AR
GRI, e-PRO, Executive Broker, Searcy AR

Don, isn't it funny that we had never heard of this McRae Progress and now we have a picture of the building!  We do have pictures of people working in strawberries in McRae.  In Rodger's mom's diary she wrote about going down there to pick strawberries and evidently stayed overnight with some folks along with her girlfriend.  She said they got fired and had to take the bus back to Searcy.  That was in 1937.

Nov 12, 2014 10:10 AM
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