[3] In September 1945, Sam and Helen Walton opened a Ben Franklin "five and dime", their first retail store, in Newport, Arkansas.

[4] The center is now called the Helen R. Walton Children's Enrichment Center and has the goal of educating children from 6 weeks old through pre-kindergarten and assisting other child care providers to improve the quality of child care in Arkansas.

Helen also established a scholarship program called the “Walton Scholars,” which helps 150 students annually and helped create a program meant to move students from Central America to the U.S. to learn about democracy and free enterprise.

The construction was completed in 5 years and the goals of bringing art and artists to the community that would not experience it otherwise and educating young generations could be realized.

[9][circular reference] In 1989, Helen Walton, after meeting with Wilhelmina (Billie) Holladay,[10] was inspired to form an Arkansan committee for the National Museum of Women in the Arts or ACNMWA.

[11] After discussing their trips to Europe, Walton and Holladay expressed their want to establish a committee that would display the women artists of Arkansas.

Texas, Ohio, New York, North Carolina, and Colorado had already held galleries that displayed their women artists by this time.

ACNMWA held their first national exhibit in 1992, A Personal Statement: Arkansas Women Artists.

[11] In 1991, a museum show was dedicated to children's literature, prominently displaying African-American characters and authors.