Timeline
1839 Religion
Unfortunately, less than adequate transportation helped keep Arkansas in the "backwoods" of the nation. In its chartering of two private railroad companies, the General Assembly hoped the state would soon be tied to a national transportation system. The two proposed lines would connect Little Rock with the Mississippi River at Helena and Napolean, but Arkansas would have to wait more than 18 years for its first train ride.
Religion was scarce on the frontier, as Baptist, Methodist and Cumberland Presbyterian circuit riders occasionally served the scattered settlements. Following the Baptists, the Cumberland Presbyterians built their first church in Little Rock in 1828. By 1833, the Methodists were constructing a brick church and citizens could claim that religion was beginning to civilize the frontier. As evidence of another denomination's commitment to the west, the first missionary bishop of the Episcopal Church in Arkansas arrived in Little Rock in 1839. The Right Reverend Leonidas Polk preached his first sermon in Little Rock's Presbyterian Church on March 10.
To the surprise of many old residents, the ownership of real estate in Little Rock was apparently still unsettled. In action sustained by federal court, Roswell Beebe claimed title to the entire town to secure, for the present owners, indisputable title. Beebe had found the original preemption claims to the property were not as strong as earlier supposed and, for a small fee from each property owner, he settled the titles once and for all.
But the state's economic situation was worsening. The State Bank and the Real Estate Bank suspended payments in specie for their bank notes. The bank directors claimed the action was taken to keep specie from leaving Arkansas, but issued its own paper money-corporation notes-in small denominations for the convenience of citizens who wanted to buy less than five dollars worth of a commodity or service. They were to be issued as exchange for bank notes. Almost 20 years later, the General Assembly would outlaw such low denomination paper money.
When it became obvious that James Conway would not seek a second term, Archibald Yell declared his candidacy for governor as a Democrat. The state of the economy would provide the next governor with a major challenge.
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