This is a photo of the northwest corner of the Bentonville Square. Apparently there was some event going on in this image. You can see a tall pole just right of center. About three quarters of the way up that pole is a person. The large structure in the middle of this photo is the old Bentonville courthouse that was built in 1872. This was located where Midtown Square is today.
This is a photo of the north side of the northwest corner of the Bentonville square. Today these buildings house Cripps Law Firm, Overstreet's Jewelry, and Arvest Bank. At that time it was J. R. Laughlin Dry Goods, Warner & Jefferson Groceries and Journal Printing Co. In the 1880s, the whole north side of the square burned down except for the J. R. Laughlin Building, so at the time of this photo these were pretty new buildings.
This again would be an image of the north side of the square. What was in the last photo as Warner & Jefferson Groceries is now Bates & Meador Groceries. The Journal Printing Office has become the Democrat newspaper office. The last building houses the Carnahan & Co. dry goods store. The bunting on the Democrat Office is to show their support for the re-election of Grover Cleveland for president. The date written on the photo is 1884.
It's uncertain which building this is but it is noted on the print that it is on the northeast corner of the square. It's believed that the people in photo are: G. E. Hildebrandt, Geo Willis, Bonnie (?) Hamilton, Gene Hamilton.
This photo is where the Arvest Bank now sits on the northeast corner of the square. This was the Bentonville Opera House at this time. The groups in the front of the building are Stevenson Hose Company (fire department) and Alex Black's First Regiment Band.
This image is from around 1890. It is of trade (sale) day in Bentonville which went on at the square a lot of Saturdays. People would bring livestock to town to sell. This photo is looking northeast across the square. The open area to the right in this photo is where the courthouse is located today.
This is a photo of 108 E. Central where Table Mesa restaurant is located on the south side of the square. This building was built in 1890 by Dr. Taliaferro. The upstairs at this time was used for processing tobacco.
Here is an aerial look at the south side of the Bentonville square from the 1880s. Notice that at this time there were two small wooden buildings located in the middle of the block.
This is looking north along South Main Street toward the downtown section of town.
Looking at the southwest corner of the Bentonville Square (1897). At that time the building on the corner was the People's Bank. This photo was taken several years after the Henry Starr gang robbed this bank.
This is looking west on Spring Street (known today as West Central.)
This is looking at the southwest corner of the square where the Terry Block building is now located. At this time the building was a wooden structure. The building was taken apart and moved behind where the Terry Block building is now located. The Peel & Clark Drug store appears to have been moved to S. Main St. as seen in a previous photo. This photo would have been before 1888.
In this photo you can see the old Terry drygoods building sitting behind the new building. The Terry Block building was built in 1888 and was at that time the tallest building in town. The corner of the building was Benton County National Bank.
This is a look at the inside of the Benton County Bank on the southwest corner of the square. The gentleman in the cage is cashier George Cotton. Mr. William Terry was the president of the bank.
This is an image of the interior of the Terry Block building when it was a drygoods store. The gentleman sitting is Mr. William Terry, the owner of the business.
This is a photo believed to be from the 1893 Confederate Civil War Reunion held in Bentonville. In the front of the photo is Black's Military Band. There were an estimated 10,000 people who attended this reunion.
This is photo of the same parade shown in the previous photo. In the front is Stevenson Hose Company, followed by new farming equipment of that day.
The west side of the Bentonville square is in the background of this image. The old wooden Terry dry goods store may be located right behind the people in the buggy.
This building at 109 N. Main St., is currently vacant but recently had an art gallery on the premises.
We don't know the location where this store was but believe this was a dry goods store that was located in Bentonville. The photo gives a good idea of what a typical store looked like back then. We hope you have enjoyed this trip back to the yesteryears of Bentonville.