Located at the edge of the Ozark Mountains in the Arkansas River Valley lies the city of Alma. The Crawford County city is situated at the intersection of Interstates 40 and 49 and is about 15 miles southeast of Fort Smith.
The land where Alma now sits is on land purchased from the federal government by Armstead Smoot on August 3, 1836—less than two months after Arkansas became a state. Smoot used the land mostly for farming until he sold it in 1872 to Col. Mathias Locke in 1872. Locke built a home and a cotton gin on the property. Others began settling the area during this time as well.
The community was originally known as Gum Town due to its abundance of gum trees. The primary industry of Gum Town was timber. Gum Town’s name would soon be changed to Alma and the town was incorporated on January 7, 1874. It is not certain where the name Alma originated, although one legend says that it was the name of the local postmaster’s girlfriend. W. P. Brown (no relation) served as Alma’s first mayor.
By the time Alma officially became a town, it had a general store, a saloon, a cotton gin and a steam mill. A town hall was built and served as a church, school and a Masonic lodge. Alma’s first church was a Baptist church and was soon followed by congregations of Methodists and Presbyterians.
Locke built Alma’s first hotel, the King Hotel, in October 1877, but it burned in December 1884. The fire also caused the destruction of seven other businesses in the area.
While the timber industry was Alma’s initial agricultural force, cotton soon became king. Timber, however, did remain a substantial industry for Alma for many years. In August 1888, the Alma Canning and Evaporating Company was opened at a cost of $25,000 raised by thirty stockholders. The company brought the fruit trade in as a new industry for the area.
On June 23, 1933, the infamous duo of Bonnie and Clyde, part of the outlaw Barrow Gang, killed Alma’s town marshal, Henry D. Humphrey, after being caught for robbing a grocery store in Fayetteville (Washington County). A memorial plaque honoring Humphrey was placed at Alma’s city hall.
In 1961, the Alma canning operation was purchased by the Allen Canning Co. which was headquartered in Siloam Springs (Benton County). The Allen company canned over half of the spinach eaten in the United States and soon became the leading industry in Alma. By the mid- 1980s, Alma was known as the “Spinach Capital of the World.” The city placed a statue of Allen’s mascot and famed cartoon character and spinach lover, Popeye the Sailor Man, in front of the chamber of commerce office. Alma also began holding an annual event called the Spinach Festival. The city’s water tower was painted to resemble a can of spinach.
More infamous characters came to Alma in 1974, when Tony and Susan Alamo established a religious compound in the nearby town of Dyer. Their organization, the Alamo Foundation, began buying numerous businesses in Alma and used their followers to staff them. The Alamo Western Wear Store, which featured sequined and airbrushed denim jackets, was quite popular, as was Alamo’s restaurant. The restaurant featured top name entertainment, including names such as Dolly Parton and Roy Orbison.
Through their gain of massive wealth, the Alamos wielded a great deal of influence over business and political leaders in the city. In 1991, federal agents raided the Alamo compound in Dyer and arrested Tony Alamo on tax-evasion charges. The Alamo Foundation left Dyer and established a new compound in Fouke (Miller County) near Texarkana. Susan Alamo died in April 1982 under mysterious circumstances and Tony later died in a federal prison in Texarkana in 2017.
From Bonnie and Clyde to Popeye to the Alamos, Alma has had an assortment of characters throughout its history, but remains today as an important and prosperous city in the Arkansas River Valley.
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