A New American Town - Bentonville, Arkansas

A Walk Through Time with Bentonville History Museum

• Visit Bentonville • Season 7 • Episode 21

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Step into a journey of Bentonville's past and future with our special guest, Rebecca Lopez, the Executive Director of the Bentonville History Museum. Rebecca sheds light on the town's evolution—from an Osage settlement to the birthplace of global retail giant—Walmart. Along the way, you'll hear tales like the early zip line stunts at the Benton County Fair and get insider tips for a perfect day of exploration, featuring landmarks such as the Massey Hotel and the historic train depot. Learn more  at Bentonville History Museum | Preserve History, Live History

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Join the museum's monthly historic walking tour for a guided history through the town. (Kids are free and the tour ends on the square at the Farmer's Market)  Bentonville History Museum | Walking History Tours

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Beth Bobbitt:

Welcome to A New American Town, a podcast proudly presented by Visit Bentonville. I'm your host, Beth Bobbitt, broadcasting from Haxton Road Studios near the beautiful downtown Bentonville Square Studios near the beautiful downtown Bentonville Square. Join us as we share stories, insights and happenings from our city, connecting you with the locals who make this town worth visiting. And I'm excited to welcome Rebekah Lopez to the podcast. She's the Executive Director of Bentonville History Museum. Thanks so much for being here, Rebekah. Thank you for having me. Yes, and for those who don't know, the museum is located on Main Street in the old train depot, has a collection, a program, offerings, tours, more. Before we jump in and learn about that, tell us about what led you to your role as the director at the museum. Were you a historian all your life? Are you from the area?

Rebekah Lopez:

Sure, yeah, so I'm not from NWA, but I did grow up in Arkansas. I grew up on a farm in the River Valley, which is about one or two hours south of here. I always loved history. It was by far my favorite subject in school. I really wanted to be Indiana Jones when I was a kid Pretty close, yeah. But I grew up, you know, a really poor rural farm kid, so there wasn't a lot of opportunity or resources to even go to college. But I was extremely lucky. I was a 4-H kid, so I got a lot of opportunity, ended up going to DC in high school and went to the Smithsonian, fell in love. Yeah, there was no turning back.

Rebekah Lopez:

After that I knew I wanted to work in museums. I knew I wanted to exist among the stories, so went to school at the University of Arkansas, got my degrees in history, anthropology and international relations. I worked for the university for a few years. When this position at the museum came up, I knew immediately this was the opportunity to make that Indiana Jones dream a reality. So and here we are yeah, about two years. We're almost at two years later.

Beth Bobbitt:

Okay, well, congrats. Bentonville has such a rich history, from the Osage settlement to the birthplace of the world's largest retailer. Because of all this growth, are you finding there's a heightened interest in history from residents and tourists and beyond.

Rebekah Lopez:

Absolutely, you know, we are seeing a major influx of not just visitors but people moving into Bentonville, which brings with it a renewed interest in building community and the desire to understand the roots of the place. We have people coming into the museum almost daily asking about why roads are named this or that. You know why biking trails are named, you know Slaughter Pen? And then there's also just individuals wanting to know the history of the home they just purchased you know and without a museum it makes it extremely difficult to preserve that information.

Rebekah Lopez:

I'm really happy and proud that people can learn so much about Bentonville and truly make it their home through history, and Bentonville is really wonderful about preserving that story.

Beth Bobbitt:

Yeah, so you've teased a few. Can you tell us any of these untold stories or anything that's inspired you about the history of Bentonville you can share?

Rebekah Lopez:

Sure. So there's actually one of my favorite things I've learned since taking this role is that Bentonville has always been a place to gather. It's always been a place for people to come and just commune and promote innovation and creativity, while hosting some really awesome events. So one of my favorite quirky tales is actually relating to the Benton County Fair. Before it was at the fairgrounds, the fair was actually held every year on the town square critters and all so.

Rebekah Lopez:

But there was a particular story. In 1938 there was a local, a local individual. Her name was Dorothy Haxton um, and she would fly along a wire stretching from the balcony of the old people's bank, which is now um tacos and tamales, to the very middle of the square People's Bank, which is now Tacos and Tamales to the very middle of the square. It was like the very first zip line that ever happened in Benton County and it was for the fair of all things. It brought in huge crowds of people and for the time that was an incredibly dangerous stunt, but it just shows that people have been bringing large crowds to Bentonville for some pretty innovation, innovative things, for decades right.

Beth Bobbitt:

Oh, that is so much fun. There are so many little stories like that, I'm sure, in landmarks you know from Massey Hotel, Butterfield Trail. I'm curious what a dream day in Bentonville looks like for a historian or a history buff like you. What's on that must-see-or-do list?

Rebekah Lopez:

for you? Sure, absolutely. Well, like you said, the Massey Hotel is an absolute must. It was built in 1910 after the Eagle Hotel, which had been on the same site as the Massey since 1840. It was burned down during the Civil War and the Massey was built in its place. It's an incredible piece of architectural history, but there's also a little bit of a hidden history telling. There's a lesson on the walls in the back, directly behind Fat Tire. And, of course, Bentonville isn't complete without its incredible amount of museums, right? So our museum is located in the historic train depot and it was built in the 1920s. If you find the big red caboose, you found us. Yeah, um, we have the Peel Mansion just on the wall on, just on Walton. Um, and of course, you've got Crystal Bridges in the Momentary. You've got the Walmart Museum. They're just down the street from us, they're our neighbors, we love them. Um, the museum of Native American history. The incredible thing about Bentonville and its museums there's a hidden history of our community in all of them and you just kind of got a high. There's like a hide and seek of trying to find that history throughout. So, um, there's also just incredible buildings. Going down central avenue is a must for old house lovers. Um also, every September, the Benton county historical society actually offers historic home tours. Sign me up. Yeah, absolutely, it's so fun. Residents actually allow visitors to come in and tour their homes.

Beth Bobbitt:

So it's wonderful. Yeah, well, tell us a little bit about what's going on this summer. Any you know family-friendly events we should put on the calendar.

Rebekah Lopez:

Sure, absolutely. So. We do have one of it in June. It's on June 29th. It's co-hosted by the Bentonville Brewing Company. It's our speakeasy soiree. It's one of our fundraising events for the museum. You can learn more about it on our website and our social media pages. We also have our historic walking tours. The next one will be July 20th. These are $15 per person. Kiddos are free. Those are a guided history through the town. They change up every month too, so you might have a different story each month. So they're fun to go to and just kind of engage in that story. But it's also on a Saturday morning, so you can do that. We'll end at the square and you can do your farmer's market.

Rebekah Lopez:

Yeah, we also do Pickin at the Pump House, so we collaborate with Airship and Signature Bank. Our next one will be July 12th. We do this monthly. It's great for the whole family. There's music, we bring board games. It's fun for everybody. Also, every Saturday we've kind of switched things up a little bit at the museum. We will have activities and games at the museum for kiddos. So if you go to the library story time on Saturday, then you head over to the museum. We'll do some fun activities and things like that. We've also set up a kids station at the museum, set up in the back. It's available every day. We've also made several of our exhibits very tactile. So we're one of the only history museums where we actually encourage you to touch some of the artifacts. So we try to make it engaging for the entire family.

Beth Bobbitt:

That's amazing. For parents looking for things to do this summer. That's incredible. I'm definitely going to be a part of the walking tour. It sounds awesome. So, other than the programs and events, what other ways can people get involved? Can they volunteer? Are you accepting donations?

Rebekah Lopez:

Yeah, absolutely so. We are a 501c3 nonprofit, so this museum is truly for the people, by the people. We exist entirely through community support and fundraising. We strongly encourage volunteers to apply online. There will be an application portal on our website as well as on our social medias. You can also call or email us. Our museum is free entrance. However, donations are greatly appreciated and needed. We have all of our donation portals set up on our social media and websites, and you can also donate in person, okay great.

Beth Bobbitt:

So I've read a little bit about the new cultural center being planned. What can you share about the future of the museum?

Rebekah Lopez:

Yeah. So for most of us, when we think about a history museum, we envision a space talking about 100 plus years ago. Right, While that is true, we are also creating history today. So it is our hope to create a space that engages what's happening today and preserve the story and narrative of what's going on in our community. Now we aren't trying to be your regular history museum. That isn't Bentonville. We want to be a space that is community driven, powered by the community and what the community wants and needs. We strive to be not just a museum but a community cultural center.

Rebekah Lopez:

Bentonville is a rapidly growing community, so it's crucial for us to carve out a space to captivate audiences on our unique history, not just through the past, but as history is being made today. But as history is being made today, there's a pressing need for the representation of our history to encompass diverse narratives and promote relevant current stories intertwined with the past. This ensures that our space can engage all audiences and continue to do so amidst an evolving landscape of our city's ever-growing ecosystem. So that's our hope is not just to be a museum space, but that cultural center. So we, you know, while the museum is there and it exists and it's telling our story. We're also actively preserving the story that's happening today and we want to be directly involved in that. So, whether it's you know, you want to have an event at the museum, you just want to have a coffee chat, a talking hour, let's do it. So we really want to be involved in the community and create that space.

Beth Bobbitt:

I love that Thank you for sharing and thank you for all that you're doing to preserve our history and our culture. So much to look forward to you're doing to preserve our history and our culture so much to look forward to. We can learn more at BentonvilleHistoryMuseum. org and on Instagram, facebook and LinkedIn, Rebekah. Anything else to add?

Rebekah Lopez:

I can't think of anything. We just really hope that you guys come and visit us. Like I said, we're there Tuesday through Friday from 10 to 4, and Saturdays 10 to 2. And we're more than happy to open the museum. If you just give us a call and you want to schedule a tour or something like that, we're more than happy to do that after hours as well.

Beth Bobbitt:

Amazing. Well, thank you so much for being here. Thank you, we hope you have a chance to visit Bentonville History Museum this summer. Don't forget, Visit Bentonville is here to help you navigate things to do, where to eat and stay and what's going on in our new American town. Give us a follow on social media, sign up for the newsletter and check out our website at visitbentonvillecom. Thanks for listening.