OPINION | Rex Nelson: “Blytheville looks downtown”

November 18, 2023 at 4:11 a.m.

by Rex Nelson

Original story: https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2023/nov/18/blytheville-looks-downtown/

Back in the summer of 2019, before the word "pandemic" was one we thought about on a daily basis, I wrote a column about a young couple trying to revitalize downtown Blytheville. Four years later, with the steel industry booming in Mississippi County, business and civic leaders are attempting to entice workers in the mills to move their families here.

Too many of these steelworkers drive in from other parts of Arkansas, the Missouri Bootheel, western Tennessee, western Kentucky and even southern Illinois. They share recreational vehicles, mobile homes or apartments with other workers and then return home to their families on their days off.

One key to convincing them to live in the county is quality-of-life amenities. And two of the richest areas for redevelopment are the historic downtowns of Blytheville and Osceola. The pandemic hit in March 2020 and put a halt to the redevelopment efforts I had written about. But as I walk the largely empty streets of downtown Blytheville, I can see the potential is still here.

The sun beats down on a warm fall afternoon. I visit with Steven Henderson, who has lived in Blytheville since 1992. He's the third generation of his family to work in the steel industry and serves as plant manager for Nucor Skyline Armorel.

"Each of us have the responsibility to contribute to the continuous improvement of our city and never miss an opportunity to make it better," he says.

Henderson is emblematic of a younger generation of Blytheville residents who see places like downtown as an opportunity rather than a millstone around the neck of the community. He's on the board of Main Street Blytheville and is working with other members of the organization to transform an empty lot at 208 W. Main St. into a community hub.

Henderson and his colleagues hope to bring food vendors, concerts and more to what's known as the Patio. According to a Main Street Blytheville publication: "This project will breathe life into the district that is so greatly needed and will spark inspiration for others to follow."

The open-air venue, which will have a balcony made of Mississippi County steel, also will be rented to private groups for events. There will be a stage, concession areas and restrooms as part of the $300,000 project. Henderson talks proudly about the fact that he already brings groups of Nucor employees downtown for meetings at the historic Ritz, a former theater that's just down the street.

A few minutes later, Mississippi County Judge John Alan Nelson shows me the building where the Blytheville Police Department had its headquarters for more than century before moving into a new justice complex in 2021. Nelson tells me he's inspired by Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin's plan to restore the Boyle Building in downtown Little Rock and thinks Mississippi County should do the same for the structure across from the courthouse.

Blytheville's population declined from 24,752 in the 1970 census to 13,406 in the 2020 census, but there are still some excellent anchors with which to work downtown. They include the Ritz, the Delta Gateway Museum in the Kress Building, and the old Greyhound station, which can be rented for private events.

"The Ritz, Blytheville's civic center since 1981, originated in the early 1900s and has seen several owners, fires, name changes, expansions and renovations throughout its decades on Main Street," Rigel Keffer writes for the Central Arkansas Library System's Encyclopedia of Arkansas. "A popular stop for vaudeville performers traveling from Memphis to St. Louis in the early 20th century, the Ritz later became one of the first theaters in Arkansas to present talking pictures. The Ritz was fully renovated in 1950-51 and hosted a television lounge where many Blytheville residents got their first glimpse of the new medium.

"Blytheville lies along U.S. 61 of blues music fame. Generations of blues musicians passed through Blytheville as they traveled north toward St. Louis and Chicago. The 1932 Greyhound bus station is one of the few surviving art deco Greyhound stations in the country. Entered onto the National Register of Historic Places in 1987, the station had fallen into disrepair. Purchased by community effort in 2004, Main Street Blytheville now owns the building. The Kress Building is also on the National Register of Historic Places."

Another downtown anchor is Blytheville Book Co., which is among the state's best independent bookstores. It's a successor to the famous That Bookstore in Blytheville.

"In 1976, Mary Gay Shipley opened the Book Rack, known after 1994 as That Bookstore in Blytheville," Keffer writes. "Located in a 1920s building on Main Street, TBIB put Blytheville on the American publishing map. World-renowned authors who signed books and offered programs at TBIB included John Grisham, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Emeril Lagasse, Mary Higgins Clark and Pat Conroy."

Shipley retired in 2012 and sold the store. It passed through two more owners and then closed in 2017. Mississippi County native Erin Carrington then purchased the store, changed its name and moved to larger quarters a block down Main Street.

Blytheville Book Co. is like something you would expect to find in a much bigger city. The building, which once housed a lumber company, has its original shelves. The tables once were used to grade cotton. Food and drinks are sold, as are vinyl records and even toys in the children's section.

Senior Editor Rex Nelson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He's also the author of the Southern Fried blog at rexnelsonsouthernfried.com.