Go back in time to the 1930s.
1940
The federal census shows Fayetteville’s population to be 8,212, an 11 percent increase from the 1930 population. Washington County’s total population was 41,114.
1943
The “White Hangar,” as it came to be known, is built at Drake Field to provide a home for the University of Arkansas’s College Training Detachment during World War II. War-time shortages of metal forced Fayetteville officials to think of a way to build a hangar using only wood. Henry George, an assistant city engineer came up with a design and construction began on May 1. The building later served as headquarters for Scheduled Skyways and then became the Arkansas Air Museum in 1986.
1945
The Fayetteville City Council adopts its first master plan for development of the city. The plan recommended zoning of land use as the least expensive way to improve the city.
1946
The state’s first commuter air service began on August 10. South Central Air Transport flew flights between Fayetteville and Little Rock.
Veterans who served during World War II began streaming into Fayetteville to attend the University of Arkansas on the “GI Bill.” The university and city made use of temporary former military barracks to help house the swollen number of new residents.
1947
Washington County Judge Witt Carter appointed a county hospital commission to study the possibility of building a second hospital in Fayetteville to relieve overcrowding at City Hospital.
W.F. Sonneman built the UARK Bowl on West Dickson Street across from the UARK Theatre. The bowling alley was removed in 1978 when the space was converted into shops and called the Boardwalk. Among the shops were the Boardwalk Jeans and Boardwalk Cafe. The entire building was remodeled in 2000 to include condominiums on the upper floors and a large meeting hall on the main floor plus space for small shops.
Fayetteville’s municipal airport, Drake Field, was named in honor of Dr. Noah F. Drake, the person most responsible for acquiring land for Fayetteville’s first airport.
1948
Silas Herbert Hunt, a decorated veteran of World War II, successfully seeks admission to the University of Arkansas School of Law, breaking the color barrier in the South for the first time since Reconstruction.
Continue on to the 1950s.