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Newspaper The Arkansas Farmer and Mechanic (Benton, Ark.) 1886-1886

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About The Arkansas Farmer and Mechanic (Benton, Ark.) 1886-1886

Benton is the Saline County seat in central Arkansas. It is about thirty miles southwest of Little Rock, the state capital and Pulaski County seat. The St. Louis, Iron Mountain, and Southern Railroad established a railroad in the state in the 1870s, passing through Little Rock and Benton. Benton was in an agricultural and lumbering area, with mills and potteries in the town. In the late 1800s, Benton was a small town with a population of about 450. In comparison, Little Rock had a population of more than 13,000.

On January 1, 1886, Hiram Douglas Layman founded the Arkansas Farmer and Mechanic in Benton. It was a four-page newspaper published semi-monthly, on the first and fifteenth of each month. Layman ran the paper alone as editor and publisher. The Mechanic advertised that it was the only paper of its kind in the Southwest, devoted to the "development of Husbandry and Mechanism" for all industries in the state, including agriculture, horticulture, manufacturing, stock growing, and mining. The year prior to founding the Mechanic, in 1885, Layman purchased and published the Saline Courier (1882-1897) in Benton. After starting the Mechanic, he published the papers concurrently. The Courier was a Democratic paper that he ran with his brother, John S. Layman, as editor.

In March 1887, the Mechanic moved to Little Rock and became the paper of the Arkansas Real Estate and Live Stock Association. The association owned a stock farm of several hundred acres where they bred thoroughbred horses. It also managed real estate in Arkansas, Kansas, and New York, with branch offices around Arkansas. The association was listed as the publisher of the Mechanic, with Hiram Layman the manager and editor. He was briefly joined by Will L. Harding as associate editor. Layman's other brother, Thomas Harvey Layman, was the secretary of the association and solicitor for the Mechanic. The paper was enlarged to eight-page issues. The publishers advertised that the purpose of the Mechanic was to promote Arkansas by showing its resources and real estate to readers outside the state. For locals, the Mechanic reported agricultural, mechanical, and livestock news. Later that year the paper grew to sixteen-page issues.

In August 1887, the Laymans sold the Courier. By April 1888, Leonidas Colwell Balch took over the Mechanic and renamed it the Arkansas Farmer and Stockman. Balch was a Confederate veteran who moved to Little Rock in 1881, where he worked as a judge.

In January 1889, Balch sold the Stockman to Louis Bailey Audigier, who consolidated it with the National Wheel-Enterprise in Little Rock (formerly the State Wheel=Enterprise (188?-188?) in Searcy) to establish the Enterprise Farmer and Stockman. The Wheel=Enterprise had been the official organ of the Agricultural Wheel of Arkansas. The Wheel was a local farmers' union that was founded in Arkansas in 1882. In 1886, it became a national organization. Their mission was to protect the rights of farmers, largely focused on changing financial laws and practices that hurt farming operations. The Enterprise Farmer and Stockman ran until 1889, when it was absorbed into the Arkansas Press (1889-1895), along with several other small newspapers in Little Rock.

Provided By: Arkansas State Archives

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Arkansas Farmer and Mechanic (Benton, Ark.) 1886-1886

Dates of Publication

  • 1886-1886

Created / Published

  • Benton, Ark. : H.D. Layman

Headings

  • -  Agriculture--Arkansas--Newspapers
  • -  Agriculture
  • -  Arkansas
  • -  United States--Arkansas--Saline--Benton

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Semimonthly
  • -  Began Jan. 1, 1886; ceased in 1886?
  • -  Title statement based on incomplete issue of Mar. 1, 1886; title from publisher's statement.

Medium

  • v.

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn91050121

OCLC Number

  • 24169838

Additional Metadata Formats

Availability

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

The Arkansas Farmer and Mechanic Benton, Ark. (Benton, AR), Jan. 1 1886. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn91050121/.

APA citation style:

(1886, January 1) The Arkansas Farmer and Mechanic Benton, Ark. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn91050121/.

MLA citation style:

The Arkansas Farmer and Mechanic Benton, Ark. (Benton, AR) 1 Jan. 1886. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, aj.sunback.homes/item/sn91050121/.