"From the Past"
July 30, 2002

By Crystal Shell, Commissioner of State Lands Office

Immigration to Arkansas started with the Louisiana Purchase. In 1803,
President Thomas Jefferson purchased land from France, doubling the size of the United States. In 1815 the surveying of this new land began. The starting points of the survey were at the corners of Lee, Phillips and Monroe Counties in Arkansas. The purpose of the survey was twofold: to increase the size of the United States while at the same time compensating the veterans of the War of 1812 with a surveyed parcel of land.

This survey also allowed the land to be bought and settled by pioneers.
However, in 1836 when President Andrew Jackson signed the bill admitting
Arkansas into the Union, there was still a vast amount of land available for settlement. While settlers continued to move into Arkansas for the next few decades, Arkansas still had a need for more citizens to help in developing the state to its full potential. Because of this need, a concentrated effort was soon made to lure emigrants to settle in Arkansas.

So starts An Act to Encourage Immigration to the State of Arkansas:
"Whereas, the time has arrived when the subject of immigration should receive the immediate services and unremitted attention of every well-meaning citizen of Arkansas, in order to settle our sparsely populated state by the introduction of a people recommended by their loyalty, their industry and intelligence; and Whereas, That, in order to secure this end, every inducement should be offered that class of immigrants, come from what portion of the civilized world they may, and the development of our agricultural and mineral resources should be encouraged."

Many people do not realize the historical role the land commissioner played out in Arkansas's early efforts to encourage immigration. Beginning in the 1860's an effort was made to lure immigrants to Arkansas targeting the foreign born and Northerners. This endeavor resulted in the creation of the Commission of Immigration and State Lands, and Massachusetts native James M. Lewis was appointed to head the commission in 1868. The commission sent out surveys to every county in Arkansas to collect information on the resources in the State. After receiving the completed surveys from around the state, information was compiled and an advertisement for cheap land was sent out.

Another effort, by a group of planters, organized the Arkansas River Valley
Immigration Company in 1869. Spurred by labor shortages, 189 Chinese laborers were brought in to work in the cotton fields. Because of resentment from other groups the company collapsed, but the Delta Chinese remained and most became grocery store owners. In 1872 James Henry compiled even more information and published Resources of the State of Arkansas. With Description of Counties, Railroads, Mines, and the City of Little Rock, the Commercial, Manufacturing, Political and Railroad Center of the State. Henry had circulated fifteen thousand copies of this pamphlet in the United States and Europe; four thousand five hundred had been at his own expense. However, on April 29, 1873, the funds were appropriated, and he was paid by the state for even more copies to be distributed.

As a result from these efforts there was a flood of German emigrants to Arkansas. Initially, the Germans settled in Little Rock, establishing the German National Bank, which was one of Arkansas's leading financial institutions for nearly fifty years. After awhile Subiaco, a Benedictine monastery located in Logan County, became the leading rural center for the Arkansas's German Catholics.

The immigration efforts that were enacted have infused the state of Arkansas with a history rich in ethnic diversity that we all benefit from today.