Graysonia, Arkansas

[citation needed] In 1902 businessmen William Grayson and Nelson McCleod became principal shareholders in the "Arkadelphia Lumber Company".

They made the decision to move their operations along the Antoine River due to their previous location no longer having the resources they needed to be productive.

The high lumber demands brought on by World War I made the mill in Graysonia one of the most productive in the south.

Within a decade there were several hundred houses, a hillside restaurant and some small cafés, three hotels and a number of large mill buildings.

Soon the town had its own movie theater, three hotels, a school and a church, along with a running water system and electricity.

For a time starting in 1930, residents were encouraged to stay in Graysonia due to there being employment in the cinnabar mines south of Amity during the Quicksilver Rush.

[1] Logging towns like Graysonia were common in Arkansas in this period, due to an abundance of virgin timber and the desire by companies to cut it.