Historical Marker
First Manufactory in Arkansas
Arkadelphia, Clark County · Arkansas
Erected 1936
John Hemphill acquired land near the Ouachita River in 1811 and boiled brine in iron kettles to sell salt to settlers. In 1814 he bought sugar kettles in New Orleans, some holding 200 gallons. After he died around 1818 or 1819, his widow Nancy leased the works and her son-in-law Jonathan Callaway managed them for several years. They closed in 1851, Confederate crews reopened the wells, and Steele's advance stopped production in 1864. Harvard researchers found part of a brick structure in 1939, and Bayou Sel joined the National Register in 1974.
Where it stands
34.11850, -93.05110 · Directions
Worth the stop nearby
- DeGray Lake Resort State Park — 10 miA resort park on a 13,400-acre lake made when the Caddo River was dammed, with a lodge, a golf course and a paddle trail through the islets.
- Garvan Woodland Gardens — 22 miA 210-acre botanical garden on a Lake Hamilton peninsula that one gardener built over thirty years and left to the University of Arkansas.
More markers nearby
- Confederate Manufacturing — 4.4 mi
- Military Road — 4.4 mi
- Military Road — 11 mi
- Settlement of Midway — 11 mi