Lost History

Ripley County is saturated with history, although some of it is forgotten. We are familiar with place names in the county but most don’t know their origins.

Budapest is an area off K Highway that was settled around 1910 by Austrians, Czechoslovakians, Poles, and Russians from New York and Chicago who purchased land from the Missouri Lumber and Mining Company and developed a thriving community. The name was in honor of the capital of Hungary.

Currentview was established around 1895. There was much steamboat travel there in the early days and it became a busy little village in the late 1880s. Prior to that, it was a trading post known as Buck Skull as early as 1804. It was originally a Native American settlement known as Donawali, possibly Cherokee.

Father John Hogan of St. Louis traveled with several immigrants and began a settlement near Bardley. By 1859, 40 families had settled on land purchased at 12-1/2 cents an acre. Poor Irish Catholics settled there, many were displaced railroad workers, some had fled religious persecution in Ireland. During the Civil War it is believed that marauding bands destroyed the settlement, killed some of the people, and the survivors fled. What actually happened to the settlers in the Irish Wilderness still remains a mystery.

Military Road off of T Highway is part of the famous Natchitoches Path, named for the Natchez Indians. It became a military and wagon road used by immigrants moving into Arkansas. It was a part of the long road used to move over 16,000 members of the Cherokee Nation from several states to Oklahoma, which became known as the Trail of Tears.

Fairdealing was established in 1871. The name’s legend says that a drifter stole a horse but left the saddle and it was said he dealt fairly, as far as thieves go. Fairdealing Academy was established in 1880 and was a very influential private school into the early 20th century.

I’ve found a few other interesting names of Ripley County places from years past. There’s Buffalo Wallow, Drunkard’s Spring, Barkadaro, Cherokee Bay Road, Graveyard Hollow, Fernnook, Race Track Hollow, and King Bee to name a few.