Category: Photo Stories

Kathryn Birkhead

Springdale Community Garden

In 2009, Springdale resident Reuben Blood was determined to start a community garden so people who lived in apartments could grow their own food. He was able to convince enough people that it was a good idea that the city provided some unused property for that purpose, and in 2010, the garden has its gardeners. It is still in use today, although it needs some work. Pictured from July 2010 are Reuben Blood, the founder; Pedro, a gardener from El Salvador; and Jean Griesing, a gardener who lived at Mill Creek.

Kathryn Birkhead

on Carter Street in Springdale

My father (Raymond Lankford, far left, wearing a sweater) was born on Carter Street, just east of where Lee School is now. This picture is probably from 1937 or 1938, when he was 16 or 17, and I believe it is at my great aunt’s house on Carter Street, just down from where he was born. Like lots of families in the 30’s, his family had a very hard time when he was young, and he and his brothers spent time in an orphanage in Monticello. He ended up going out to California to live with an aunt and uncle when he was in his early teens. They are the couple on the right, and their children are just to the left to them in the picture. The oldest woman is his grandmother. The woman who is seated closest to him is Mary Miller, his aunt. She was a school teacher here in Springdale and was very special to him. After he was wounded on Iwo Jima in World War II, he went to live with her and her husband following his release from the hospital. It was at her house that he met my mother in October, 1945.

Anna Johnston

Beaver Lake

Life is so peaceful in our hollow on Beaver Lake. The refreshing water, beautiful bluffs, and the eagles flying high above bring us so much joy. This is our Ozark Life.