The hodge-podge village with never more than a couple of homes was founded about 1922 and named after Ike White. Ike had put in a window in Morrison Barnard's house and in exchange for the work Morrison gave him about an acre of land. Ike soon built a garage, dug a well and the following year another building for a general store put on the acre. The White family is buried at Oden.
Today Pencil Bluff is at the intersection of US Highway 270 and 88 but just west off Hwy 88 is the old Della Smallwood house and that is about all what remains of White Town. Before 1930 Hwy 6 ran from Mount Ida through White Town and on to Fort Smith but the road was improved and moved ¾ mile east bypassing the community and the new road named Hwy 270. The general store run by George White, a dance hall where the boys from the Mauldin would congregate on Saturday nights, a sawmill, a gristmill, a gasoline station owned by Charley Fair, and never more than a few small homes all have disappeared. A few years ago a doctor was reluctant to discharge a lady from the Montgomery County Hospital but she convinced the doctor she lived in on the main street of a town "White Town"!
This well on back porch of the abandoned Cordella Smallwood (1911-1982) house still has water in it. Della's grandson lived with her and attended the Oden School. One cold morning the windows were shut in the classroom and the heater on when Bobby walked in and soon all the windows were open. Five minutes later Bernard Rusert, the history teacher, came in and said "Its cold in here and what sinks?" Everyone looked at Bobby. "Bobby go to the back corner and everyone move forward," after ten minutes "Bobby go home, wash up and change your clothes. Class dismissed." Bobby had shot a skunk under the house but not before it had sprayed him. The only water supply the Smallwood's had was from the well so it would have been a bit chilly for him to wash up. Ever wondered what can be found down the bottom of an old well? In the 1970s Della moved to Pencil Bluff and the house has been empty ever since.
Della nee Willhite was buried at Brushy Cemetery in 1982. The gravel road to the right comes out at Brushy Road. Her parents were Mary A. Mullenix and Walter Willhite. Mary's parents were Nancy Ann Fryar and Jim T. Mullenix. Della's sisters were Nellie, Maudine Miller, Rosa Bell Mays, Jody, and the twins Dairy and Selis. Jody Delorse Elder was killed in a car accident and was buried at Brushy in 1990. Walter's parents were Lorenzo Dowel Willhite and Molly Ann Fryar.
White Town can still found on maps. Any more tales?
Montgomery County
ArkansasGenWeb Project
Page created 6 April 2001.
