The village of Maysville, one of the oldest in the county, is situated on the Arkansas State and Indian Territory line, twenty-one miles west and one and a-half miles north of Bentonville. An Englishman by the name of Tigret opened the first store in Maysville, in 1839. His most profitable trade was selling whisky to the Indians. He continued in business about ten years, and then returned to his native country, where he died. The second merchant in the place was a Jew, who did business about three years. Early in the forties Maysville contained six or seven stores, all of which did a thriving business, getting much of their trade from the Indians. The place continued to have this number of stores most of the time until the Civil War broke out. Then business was nearly wholly suspended or destroyed, and it has never regained its former magnitude. The Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, built through the Indian Nation, has cut off much of the trade formerly given to Maysville. It is claimed by old settlers that in 1846 Maysville was larger than Bentonville. The village lies entirely on the east side of the line, and all the business houses face toward the “Nation.” The “line” is the main street, with the business on one side of it only.
Northwestern Lodge No. 36, A. F. & A. M., was organized at Maysville about the year 1850, prospered for many years, and suspended about ten years ago.
Directory of Maysville
Dry goods, Freeman & Dumas, Henry Coats, Mrs. E. J. Tinnin (these also kept groceries); groceries and hardware, Thomas Keith; groceries, Samuel Ward, M. Harmon; harness and saddler, Isaac Harrouff; hotel, Line House, by Alex. McDonald; grist-mill, Spencer & Taylor; postoffice, Mrs. Mary Linch; physicians, C. F. Baker, E. N. Freeman, J. L. Larue, A. B. Bills. The town has a Union Church and a public school-house. Maysville is surrounded with a good country, and should it get a railroad, as contemplated, it will make an important trading point.
Back to: Benton County, Arkansas History
Source: History of Benton, Washington, Carroll, Madison, Crawford, Franklin, and Sebastian Counties, Arkansas. Chicago, IL, USA: Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1889.