Hal Cooper Douglas Circa 1960
Hal Cooper Douglas (1906 - 1988)
Hal Douglas was a longtime newspaper publisher and prominent businessman who was instrumental in helping integrate Fayetteville High School and the creation of Beaver Lake.
Born in 1906 to Marion and Emma Douglas, Hal was a descendant of Thomas Hopkins Douglas, a Benton County pioneer who emigrated from Tennessee prior to the Civil War. (1,2)
Hal grew up in Bentonville and attended the University of Arkansas in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Hal was a model student at the U of A. He was active in several campus organizations and juggled academics while playing for the baseball team. He graduated in 1932 with a law degree and earned the university’s most-valuable-student award. (3)
Hal briefly practiced law in Fayetteville until 1934, when he was appointed a special agent to the FBI, known then as the Division of Investigation. He was dispatched to Washington, D.C., for training. He returned in the summer to marry Helen Fulbright, and the pair wed on the steps of her mother’s majestic home at Mount Nord in Fayetteville. The couple departed soon after departed for Atlanta, Ga., as FBI policy barred Hal from serving in his home territory. (4,5)
The couple returned to Fayetteville in 1937 at the urging of Helen’s mother, Roberta, who was battling health issues. Roberta, who was also the mother of U.S. Sen. J. William Fulbright, tapped Hal to “act as her surrogate in all matters.” He took over as general manager at the Northwest Arkansas Times, which had been in the Fulbright family since 1911. Hal was also entrusted to manage the Fulbright Investment Co., a holding company created to oversee the family's vast business portfolio. (4, 6, 7, 8, 9)
Hal and Helen had their first child, Douglas, a year later. His birth drew a congratulatory telegram from FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, who wrote that it was his “sincere hope that both mother and child are coming along nicely.” A daughter, Ann, followed. (10, 11)
Now firmly settled in Fayetteville, Hal began an unheralded stretch of public service that spanned the next four decades. Some of his more notable posts included serving on the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees; as president of the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce; and on the boards of several local institutions, including the First National Bank of Fayetteville and the Regional Airport Committee. (7, 12)
Hal’s tireless efforts to strengthen his community still resonate today, thanks to his service on the Fayetteville School Board and the Beaver Water District Board of Directors.
In 1953, Hal ran unopposed and was elected — with just fewer than 200 votes — to the Fayetteville School Board. Little more than a year into his first term, he helped guide the board through integration, making Fayetteville High School one of the first schools in the South to voluntarily integrate. The board’s vote, which was unanimous, came less than a week after the landmark Supreme Court decision Brown v. Topeka Board of Education, in which the court ruled that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. (13, 14, 15, 16).
Reflecting years later on their decision, board members “all agreed with Hal Douglas when he stated the Court had spoken and Fayetteville would follow its instructions.” The high school integrated peacefully in the fall, and Fayetteville’s junior high school followed over the next three years. (14)
Hal’s leadership was also sought after as officials moved forward on building Beaver Lake. Hal, along with a group of local businessmen and politicians had “battled for the dam and lake,” but the project had languished since the late 1940s. (17, 18)
Thanks to groundbreaking legislation allowing the formation of regional water distribution districts, Northwest Arkansas officials were able to form a board to oversee the logistics of building and operating water intake, water treatment, and water storage facilities. In 1959, Hal was appointed, along with five others to, the Beaver Water District, which began to negotiate contracts with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for water rights. The district also created agreements with the region’s four major cities — Bentonville, Fayetteville, Rogers, Springdale — to supply drinking water. (18, 19)
Steve Clark, former Arkansas Attorney General and president of the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce since 2008, cited the district’s foresight as the impetus behind Northwest Arkansas’ rapid growth. (20, 21, 22)
“If the founders of the Beaver Water District — Joe Steele, Clayton Little, Hardy Croston, W.R. Vaugn, J. McRoy and Hal Douglas — had not had the vision to see the need for a long-term supply of clean, safe water for Northwest Arkansas 50-plus years ago, then the Northwest Arkansas we enjoy today would not exist.” (22)
Hal’s career in government, albeit brief, and dedication to several civic causes, reflect a streak of public service that runs throughout the Douglas lineage.
Hal’s father, Marion, held various public offices in Bentonville in the early 1900s, including county collector and county clerk. Hal’s older brother, Fred, was a charter member of the Bentonville Kiwanis Club and chairman of the Benton County Board of Education. Hal’s younger brother, Dan, also was an FBI agent. In 1962, Dan was appointed by President Kennedy to serve as U.S. Marshal for the Western District of Arkansas. (23, 24, 25)
Hal remained as Times publisher until the mid 1970s. He spent nearly 40 years at the paper, and oversaw the paper’s move “into its modern, expansive home” at 212 N. East Ave., where it still operates today as the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. (26, 27, 28)
Shortly before his death, Hal was recognized by the Arkansas Sesquicentennial Commission for 50 years of work in the local business community and his steadfast public service. (7)
The commission, established by Gov. Frank White to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Arkansas’ admittance to the Union in 1836, sanctioned biographies to run daily in the Arkansas Democrat starting in January 1986. (29)
Titled "Project Pride," the initiative sought to “highlight accomplishments of 150 Arkansans who have made meaningful contributions to their community, state, or nation.” (7)
Hal’s biography ran in April 1986, about two years before he passed away at age 81. Helen preceded him in death. He was survived by his wife, Jaqueline Sterner Douglas; son Doug Douglas; daughter Ann Kelly; three brothers, Doke, Dan and Charles; and six grandchildren. He is buried at Fairview Memorial Gardens in Fayetteville. (7, 11, 30, 31)
Works Cited
Hal Douglas was a longtime newspaper publisher and prominent businessman who was instrumental in helping integrate Fayetteville High School and the creation of Beaver Lake.
Born in 1906 to Marion and Emma Douglas, Hal was a descendant of Thomas Hopkins Douglas, a Benton County pioneer who emigrated from Tennessee prior to the Civil War. (1,2)
Hal grew up in Bentonville and attended the University of Arkansas in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Hal was a model student at the U of A. He was active in several campus organizations and juggled academics while playing for the baseball team. He graduated in 1932 with a law degree and earned the university’s most-valuable-student award. (3)
Hal briefly practiced law in Fayetteville until 1934, when he was appointed a special agent to the FBI, known then as the Division of Investigation. He was dispatched to Washington, D.C., for training. He returned in the summer to marry Helen Fulbright, and the pair wed on the steps of her mother’s majestic home at Mount Nord in Fayetteville. The couple departed soon after departed for Atlanta, Ga., as FBI policy barred Hal from serving in his home territory. (4,5)
The couple returned to Fayetteville in 1937 at the urging of Helen’s mother, Roberta, who was battling health issues. Roberta, who was also the mother of U.S. Sen. J. William Fulbright, tapped Hal to “act as her surrogate in all matters.” He took over as general manager at the Northwest Arkansas Times, which had been in the Fulbright family since 1911. Hal was also entrusted to manage the Fulbright Investment Co., a holding company created to oversee the family's vast business portfolio. (4, 6, 7, 8, 9)
Hal and Helen had their first child, Douglas, a year later. His birth drew a congratulatory telegram from FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, who wrote that it was his “sincere hope that both mother and child are coming along nicely.” A daughter, Ann, followed. (10, 11)
Now firmly settled in Fayetteville, Hal began an unheralded stretch of public service that spanned the next four decades. Some of his more notable posts included serving on the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees; as president of the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce; and on the boards of several local institutions, including the First National Bank of Fayetteville and the Regional Airport Committee. (7, 12)
Hal’s tireless efforts to strengthen his community still resonate today, thanks to his service on the Fayetteville School Board and the Beaver Water District Board of Directors.
In 1953, Hal ran unopposed and was elected — with just fewer than 200 votes — to the Fayetteville School Board. Little more than a year into his first term, he helped guide the board through integration, making Fayetteville High School one of the first schools in the South to voluntarily integrate. The board’s vote, which was unanimous, came less than a week after the landmark Supreme Court decision Brown v. Topeka Board of Education, in which the court ruled that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. (13, 14, 15, 16).
Reflecting years later on their decision, board members “all agreed with Hal Douglas when he stated the Court had spoken and Fayetteville would follow its instructions.” The high school integrated peacefully in the fall, and Fayetteville’s junior high school followed over the next three years. (14)
Hal’s leadership was also sought after as officials moved forward on building Beaver Lake. Hal, along with a group of local businessmen and politicians had “battled for the dam and lake,” but the project had languished since the late 1940s. (17, 18)
Thanks to groundbreaking legislation allowing the formation of regional water distribution districts, Northwest Arkansas officials were able to form a board to oversee the logistics of building and operating water intake, water treatment, and water storage facilities. In 1959, Hal was appointed, along with five others to, the Beaver Water District, which began to negotiate contracts with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for water rights. The district also created agreements with the region’s four major cities — Bentonville, Fayetteville, Rogers, Springdale — to supply drinking water. (18, 19)
Steve Clark, former Arkansas Attorney General and president of the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce since 2008, cited the district’s foresight as the impetus behind Northwest Arkansas’ rapid growth. (20, 21, 22)
“If the founders of the Beaver Water District — Joe Steele, Clayton Little, Hardy Croston, W.R. Vaugn, J. McRoy and Hal Douglas — had not had the vision to see the need for a long-term supply of clean, safe water for Northwest Arkansas 50-plus years ago, then the Northwest Arkansas we enjoy today would not exist.” (22)
Hal’s career in government, albeit brief, and dedication to several civic causes, reflect a streak of public service that runs throughout the Douglas lineage.
Hal’s father, Marion, held various public offices in Bentonville in the early 1900s, including county collector and county clerk. Hal’s older brother, Fred, was a charter member of the Bentonville Kiwanis Club and chairman of the Benton County Board of Education. Hal’s younger brother, Dan, also was an FBI agent. In 1962, Dan was appointed by President Kennedy to serve as U.S. Marshal for the Western District of Arkansas. (23, 24, 25)
Hal remained as Times publisher until the mid 1970s. He spent nearly 40 years at the paper, and oversaw the paper’s move “into its modern, expansive home” at 212 N. East Ave., where it still operates today as the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. (26, 27, 28)
Shortly before his death, Hal was recognized by the Arkansas Sesquicentennial Commission for 50 years of work in the local business community and his steadfast public service. (7)
The commission, established by Gov. Frank White to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Arkansas’ admittance to the Union in 1836, sanctioned biographies to run daily in the Arkansas Democrat starting in January 1986. (29)
Titled "Project Pride," the initiative sought to “highlight accomplishments of 150 Arkansans who have made meaningful contributions to their community, state, or nation.” (7)
Hal’s biography ran in April 1986, about two years before he passed away at age 81. Helen preceded him in death. He was survived by his wife, Jaqueline Sterner Douglas; son Doug Douglas; daughter Ann Kelly; three brothers, Doke, Dan and Charles; and six grandchildren. He is buried at Fairview Memorial Gardens in Fayetteville. (7, 11, 30, 31)
Works Cited
- "United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GR69-8KJ?cc=1488411&wc=QZJG-FHV%3A1036470101%2C1036624101%2C1038033401%2C1589332402: 9 Sep. 2019), Arkansas > Benton > Bentonville > ED 31 > image 1 of 50; citing NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.). Accessed 26 Dec. 2020.
- “Thomas Hopkins Douglas Obituary.” Benton County Democrat, 30 Jan. 1908. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/39864327/thomas-hopkin-douglas. Accessed 29 Dec. 2020.
- “The University of Arkansas Yearbooks. Special Collections. University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville. November 2019. https://digitalcollections.uark.edu/digital/collection/Razorbacks/id/35/rec/35. Accessed 28 Dec. 2020.
- Stuck, Dorothy. Roberta: A Most Remarkable Fulbright. E-book, University of Arkansas Press, 1997, pp. 58, 118-119.
- “Fayetteville Attorney to Get Federal Position.” Arkansas Gazette, 30 Jan. 1934: 2.
- Woods, Randall Bennett. Fulbright: A Biography. E-book, Cambridge University Press, 1995, p. 144.
- “Civic Leader Began Career as FBI Official.” Arkansas Democrat, 28 April 1986: 1C.
- “The Masthead Tells the Story.” Northwest Arkansas Times, 17 June 1949: 11.
- Snow, Nan, and Dorothy Stuck. “The Formidable Roberta Fulbright.” The Arkansas Historical Quarterly, vol. 57, no. 1, 1998, pp. 35-37.
- “Round About Town Talk.” Northwest Arkansas Times, 10 March 1938.
- “Helen Fulbright Douglas Obituary.” Northwest Arkansas Times, 24 June 1965: 1.
- “Hal Douglas joins board of SWEPCO.” Northwest Arkansas Times, 11 Apr. 1967: 1.
- “Official Returns Show School Tax Wins; Communities Name Board Members.” Northwest Arkansas Times, 24 March 1953: 1A.
- Brill, Andrew. “‘Brown’ in Fayetteville: Peaceful Southern School Desegregation in 1954.” The Arkansas Historical Quarterly, vol. 65, no. 4, 2006, pp. 340, 346.
- Joenks, Laurinda. “Fayetteville High School Among First in South to Integrate.” Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 11 Feb. 2016: 1E.
- “Brown v. Board of Education.” History, https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/brown-v-board-of-education-of-topeka. Accessed 5 Jan. 2021.
- Hales, James F. “History of Beaver Lake Recalled by Residents.” Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette 14 Sep. 2017: 6E.
- “History.” Beaver Water District, https://www.bwdh2o.org/about/history/. Accessed 7 Jan. 2021.
- “Rogers Man Heads Dam Water District.” Arkansas Democrat, 12 Dec. 1959: 2.
- Dumas, Ernest. “John Steven (Steve) Clark.” Encyclopedia of Arkansas, https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/john-steven-7943/. Accessed 4 Jan. 2021.
- “Meet the Chamber Team.” Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce, https://www.fayettevillear.com/chamber-team.html. Accessed 4 Jan. 2021.
- Hightower, Laura Jo. “Alan Fortenberry: Clearing the Water.” Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 31 March 2019: 1D.
- Hempstead, Fay. Historical Review of Arkansas: Its Commerce, Industry and Modern Affairs, vol. 3, Lewis Publishing Company, 1911, p. 1124.
- “Douglas, Fred.” Vintage Bentonville, https://www.vintagebentonville.com/douglas-fred.html. Accessed 8 Jan. 2021.
- “Daniel Morrison Douglas.” Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI. 2nd ed. 1998. E-book.
- “Fulbright’s Debt, Including Loan, Set at $273,520.” Arkansas Gazette, 24 May 1974: 32A.
- “Consolidation of Newspapers Announced at Fayetteville.” Arkansas Gazette, 4 Aug. 1937: 10.
- Gilbert, Alan. “The Man of the Year.” Northwest Arkansas Times, 12 Jan. 1968: 3.
- Nutt, Timothy G. “Sesquicentennial Celebration.” Encyclopedia of Arkansas, https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/sesquicentennial-celebration-2685/. Accessed 12 Jan. 2021.
- “Publisher, Civic Leader Dies at 81.” Arkansas Gazette, 17 June 1988.
- Stanley, Gerry. “Hal Cooper Douglas.” Find A Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/141726648/hal-cooper-douglas#source. Accessed 17 Dec. 2020.