Fayetteville Daily Democrat, March 16, 1922

Fayetteville has been chosen as the site of the Methodist Southwestern General Assembly. This decision of the commissioners representing Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and Missouri, reached at Forth Smith last evening between 11:30 o'clock and midnight was telephoned here immediately and by midnight the entire town had been made aware of it by the ringing of the bells, which rivaled the Armistice signing celebration.

A Jubilee celebration will be held tonight on the square at 7 o'clock.

The vote for Fayetteville was unanimous on first ballot and came at the close of a session which lasted from 9 a.m. Mena was second choice and if for any unforeseen reason Fayetteville is unable to meet her obligation the Assembly will go to Mena, which, it is understood, already has her bonus secured.

Fayetteville will have to raise between $85,000 and $100,000 in cash and steps to secure this amount will be taken at once by the local committee which was scheduled to hold a meeting this afternoon to launch the subscription campaign.

The Fayetteville offer includes the gift of 400 acres of land, including the top of East Mountain, $35,000 cash, a road from 1/4 to 1/2 mile in length to be built from the intersection of Maple Street and Jefferson Highway to the north entrance of the proposed Assembly grounds, and a water main piped from the city water supply and electric light connections to the top of the mountain. The several additions to the original offer were made at Mena just before all bids were finally closed and were agreed to by the local delegation upon authority from the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce to "go the limit" in making all concessions necessary. The Fayetteville Gas and Electric Company has agreed to donate the light and power connections and the city water commission has agreed to lay necessary pipes.

The executive committee of the Commission will meet in Fayetteville April 6th, when contracts will be entered into and agreements signed and details concluded. All options held on East Mountain lands must be closed within 90 days.

The location of the Assembly grounds has been the important feature of church work of the Methodist conference of five states for several months.

When it became apparent that the Methodist Assembly located at Lake Junaluska, N.C., was too distant for the conferences of the church west of the Mississippi river, plans were made for establishing an Assembly ground more centrally located.

Two delegates from the 12 conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, of the states of Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, Louisiana and Arkansas were appointed on the Commission to Locate the site.

The Assembly ground is really a big playground for Methodist - a summer resort where vacationists go for rest and recreation. The grounds at Lake Junaluska, N.C., comprise several hundred acres. There are several modern and commodious hotels, a huge auditorium, a large lake which provides facilities for bathing, fishing and swimming, and all the other accessories of a modern summer recreation place. Members of the church who wish to do so are allowed to build their own summer homes there. A church institute, Chautauqua, training schools and a series of lectures by international speakers, form one continuous program of instruction and entertainment.

While the Lake Junaluska Assembly grounds are only kept open during the summer months, it is the plan for the new assembly for the conference west of the Mississippi to be kept open the year round. The board of missions maintains an elementary training school at the Assembly. Returned missionaries who come to the States to spend leaves of absence go to Lake Junaluska to spend their vacations.

When it became known that a new Assembly was to be located, numbers of towns and cities in the five states offered sites and cash bonuses. Mt. Vista, five miles from Fort Smith, was spoken of as a possible location, but was never seriously considered by the board of commissioners because of too low an altitude, and because an artificial lake would have to be provided.

Various places were considered at the first two conferences. Last month, when a meeting of the commissioners was held at Mena, all but five places were eliminated. Those were: Mena, Fayetteville, Rogers, Mt. Magazine and Neosho, Mo.

All these offered sites ranging from 100 to 500 acres and cash bonuses of varying amounts.

Tuesday, G.C. Hardin and F.S.H. Johnson visited Mt. Magazine. Other members of the commission visited Rogers and made their reports at the conference at Fort Smith Wednesday.

Rogers was considered Fayetteville's most formidable rival and the selection of Mena as second choice came as a surprise to northwest Arkansas.

G.C. Hardin of Fort Smith and F.S.H. Johnson represent the North Arkansas Conference. Dr. A.C. Millar, editor of the Arkansas Methodist, of Little Rock, and C.E. Hayes of Little Rock represented the Southern Arkansas conference. Six delegates came from the Missouri conference, four from Oklahoma, four from Texas and six from Louisiana.

The executive committee who will meet in Fayetteville on the 6th of next month are A.C. Millar of Little Rock, president; E.B. Sexton of Shreveport, La., vice-president; C.O. Ransford of St. Louis, secretary; L.D. Marla of Marshall, Mo.; A.R. Abernathy of Tulsa, Okla; W.J. Johnson of Dallas and G.C. Hardin of Fort Smith. The Commissioners agreed that they will present the plans for Fayetteville to the Methodist General conference which meets at Hot Springs in May, for their approval for the people of the territory west of the Mississippi river, after which work on the Assembly grounds will be begun at once and contracts let for the erection of the auditorium and several hotels. In the meantime the Commission expects to enter upon an extensive campaign to advertise Fayetteville as the General Assembly site.

Fayetteville's delegation to Fort Smith included Tom Hart, chairman, Dr. Bradford Knapp, dean of the University of Arkansas, College of Agriculture, Rev. J.A. Womak, pastor of the local Methodist church, C.C. Yarrington, Judge B.F. Campbell and Major B.R. Davidson.

Financial plans of the local committee will be announced soon, probably tomorrow, by Mr. Hart.