Dyess celebrates 75 years of history

Dyess mayor Larry Simms said the town has big plans for their homecoming celebration. (Photo by Nan Snider)

The City of Dyess will celebrate its 75th birthday at 6 p.m. Friday, May 22 with a homecoming on the circle downtown and a commemorative ceremony at the founder's memorial.

Dyess Colony was founded on May 22, 1934, as part of the Roosevelt administration's Depression-era New Deal project. The goal of the administration was to give poor farm families a chance to make a fresh start with homes and land that they could work towards owning.

Dyess Colony consisted of 15,144 acres located in the southern portion of Mississippi County. The town grew to a couple thousand residents and stayed within that range for a couple of decades. The businesses and public services were cooperatively owned and operated by the people in the community. The original community included a school, hospital, churches, cotton gin, cannery, feed mill, icehouse, theatre, and many other businesses.

"When we realized that this month would be our town's 75th birthday, we just couldn't let it pass with having a big birthday party," said Dyess Mayor Larry Sims. "We will have a birthday cake, ice cream, hot dogs and all the trimmings. The public is invited to attend. We have invited several special guests to attend the celebration."

"Dyess Colony was named after W. R. Dyess, the first director," Sims said "We have a memorial on the circle downtown to pay tribute to Mr. Dyess, and to commemorate the colony's founding.

Sims said the town invited the children of W. R. Dyess to attend. They include Robert W. Dyess, 82, of San Diego, CA, and his sister. Sims said he wasn't sure if they would all be able to attend due to distance and age. The city also invited state representatives, members of the Johnny Cash family, the Gene Williams family and former Dyess Colony residents.

"The Echols family was one of the first families to come to Dyess Colony," Sims said. "Bob Echols, 90, lives in San Angelo, TX and Tommy Echols lives in Canal Fulton, Ohio."

A view of the circle in Dyess. (Photo Nan Snider)

The City of Dyess has used every means possible to get the word out about Dyess Colony and the famous musicians who called this home.

An annual Dyess Homecoming is celebrated the second Saturday in July each year, at the renovated Dyess School and community building. Rounds of the ongoing Dyess Days Talent Search are held every two weeks at the community building, with the over-all winner to be chosen on Dyess Days July 11.

"We have updated our city website, with the help of East Arkansas Planning and Development," Sims said. "It has news, events, videos, photos and history."

The city's website is located at www.dyessday.com.

City and community leaders started the Dyess-Johnny Cash Memorial Fund to purchase and renovate the old Dyess Colony Administration Building downtown. Dyess City Hall will be moved there when work on the building is completed, along with space for a library, gift shop and special showrooms for hometown musicians Johnny Cash and Gene Williams.

"We are thankful for our help from Beth Wiedower with the Arkansas State Historical Preservation Society, in Helena, Linda Hinton from the Southern Tenant Farmers Museum in Tyronza, and Ruth Hawkins with Delta Heritage Initiatives at ASU, Jonesboro," He said. "A lot of people want us to succeed in our efforts to preserve the history of our town and its people."

Former Dyess Colony resident, Everett Henson, 82, of Memphis, founded the Dyess Colony MyFamily website in 1999. It contains a rich history of the early days of the colony, along with photos and newspaper clippings.

"My family moved to Dyess Colony in March of 1936, just two years after it was founded," Henson said. "We had a new house and 19 acres to farm. We had three bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, and a bath. We thought that bathroom was grand. It had everything but running water. We carried our water to fill the big tub and went outside to use the outhouse. We got electricity in 1946 and running water after that.

"We farmed cotton, had a large garden, and raised our own animals to supply the meat," he said. "There were 480 families that moved to Dyess Colony. We came here from south of Portia. There were two families chosen from all 75 Arkansas counties, plus extras. My parents had to meet strict requirements to be eligible for colony selection. They had to be of good moral character, own a cow, have livestock, 500 jars of fruits and vegetables, farm equipment and a truck to move the family.

"Dyess had four schools in the beginning. Later on they all merged into one uptown. There were hundreds of school kids. In the summer of 1969 Dyess, Keiser, Shawnee (Joiner), and Wilson consolidated. They moved the high school to Rivercrest, junior high to Keiser, and kept the elementary. The Dyess School finally closed May 28, 2004, and the building was turned into a community building."

Henson worked for the Civil Conservation Corps at age 15, as did many of his friends. He joined the Navy after high school and came home to marry his next-door neighbor Johnnie Murphy. His fond memories of growing up at Dyess led him to become the town's most avid historian. He has written countless passages about the early years of Dyess, and he has never missed a school reunion.

"I don't know what our family would have done if it hadn't been for Dyess," Henson said. "Farming and growing up there gave us a great start on life. We made close friends that have lasted a lifetime, and have endless stories to tell our grandkids about the good old days."

Jean Ann Cannon Jennings of Blytheville was born at the Dyess Colony Hospital in 1939. Her Cunningham grandparents came from Bradley County, AR.

"My parents, Leroy and Elise (Cunningham) Cannon farmed forty acres on road #13," Jennings said. "All the roads and houses were numbered. We lived in house #577. I started school there and graduated in 1957. I have spent my lifetime in and around Dyess."

This year Mrs. Jennings has taken on a new project of transcribing old Blytheville Courier newspapers and post them on the Dyess Colony My Family website. She started with the 1934 issues and is working her way through. Dyess had a newspaper for the first three years called the "Colony Herald," but very few copies remain.

"I go to the Blytheville Library two or three times a week and thumb through the original newspapers from large bound books," she said. "The pages are brittle and delicate. When I find something about Dyess I copy it down by hand in a notebook. When I get home I type it into my computer and post it online. This is like a treasure hunt, as I read from page to page. I consider this my contribution to historical preservation."

The citizens of the former Dyess Colony refuse to let the history of their town die. They volunteer where they can, document what they find, and embrace technology for future efforts.