Springtown is a town in Benton County, Arkansas. Named for a natural spring, the source of Flint Creek, the town of Springtown has maintained a population of around 100 since its incorporation in 1909. In 1889, Springtown had a grocery and hardware store, a drugstore, a hotel, a steam grist mill and sawmill, two blacksmiths, two shoemakers, three doctors, and three churches. During the 1880s, Springtown was regarded as a boom town, but its prospects failed when the Kansas City Southern Railroad was built three miles to the west. Many businesses and residents relocated, creating the community called Orchard, which is now the city of Gentry. However, a new larger steam mill was built in Springtown around 1900. The community was heavily damaged by a fire on October 16, 1908. The next year, it incorporated as a town. The bank closed by 1915, at which time the town still had four general stores and a drugstore. Historian J. Dickson Black wrote that, by 1936, “the town just kept getting smaller ’til there was just a store or two and the post office” (Teske, 2018).
Citation
Teske, Steven. (2018, Jul. 18). Springtown (Benton County). Retrieved from encyclopediaofarkansas.net.
How it all Began 