Cisco, Cisco, Cisco, part 7 – Cisco, Arkansas

: 1970 USGS Aerial Photo of Cisco, AR

I’m trying to build the N scale replica of the town of Cisco, Utah circa 1970. Accordingly, it’s my routine to search “Cisco” on the web, but it goes wrong most of the times bothered by “San Francisco” or “Cisco Systems”. Sometimes, “Cisco, Texas” gets in my way. Thus, I was wondering how many “Cisco”s are there in the United States. My recent research during these Stay Home days revealed some of them. Let me introduce these places named Cisco as a sideshow for my Town of Cisco posts.


Cisco, Carroll, Arkansas: the St. Louis & North Arkansas Railroad’s Cisco station was located on the line from Seligman, MO to Little Rock, AR: eight miles to Freeman to the west and four miles to Green Forest to the east according to the 1908 Official Railway Guide.


The StL&NA was incorporated in 1899 and the line from Seligman, MO reached Harrison, AR in 1901[1]. The station was established the same year as the shipping point for the forest products including crossties[2]. The station was a flag-stop, equipped with a mail crane, but without a telegraph office[3].

The station originally had a name of Braswell Switch: a mile to the east was a community of Braswell Springs[2, 4]. The house/academy was built near the station by William Denson "professor" Crawford(1865 – 1952) in 1900. The Crawford's Academy was operated between 1901 and 1904[2].


In 1903, Isaac S. “Ike” Norton(1863 – 1925) established a post office attached to his general store at the railroad station which he named Cisco[2]. The name of the station was thus changed to Cisco the same year. It is said that Ike named the post office for a historic pioneer family of Carroll County named Cisco/Sisco[5]. The Cisco Post Office lasted until 1949[6]. The sixth and the last postmaster was Albert Dunlevy Buell(1884 - 1966) since 1914[6].

In 1920, there was a grist mill and store/post office, both ran by Buell, and his residence at the north side of the Station[5, 7, 8]. On the south side was a store managed by John William Duncan(1854 ｰ 1936)[5]. A canning factory was established by John Crittenden Hayes(1864 ｰ 1931) in 1924[5].

However, unfortunately, the St.L&NA, later the Missouri & North Arkansas Railroad, and eventually the Missouri & Arkansas Railway line through Cisco was abandoned in 1946. The 66 miles portion of the line between Harrison, AR, and Seligman, MO through Cisco was reorganized as Arkansas & Ozarks Railway, but it was also abandoned in 1961 after the 1960 washout[9].


Today, the limestone wall of the Academy remains at GPS coordinates 36.383392, -93.496983 is the only Cisco survivor[10]. The County Road 601 from Berryville east still bears the name Cisco Road.

[1] Mosenthin, H., Glenn, (2019) Missouri and North Arkansas Railroad, Encyclopedia of Arkansas;
[2] National register of Historic Places Registration Form, United States Department of Interior National Park Service;
[3] 1927 Missouri & North Arkansas Railroad timetable;
[4] USGS Feature Detail Report for: Cisco;
[5] History of Cisco, CarrollCountyAR.com;
[6] Forte, Jim, Carroll County, Arkansas Post Offices, Jim Forte Postal History;
[7] Sister---Three, (2017) Little Man To The Rescue, 3 Sisters Family History;
[8] Shiloh Museum of Ozark History web page;
[9] Muskopf, Scott, (2017) Arkansas & Ozarks Railway, Trains & Railroads of the Past;
[10] W. D. Crawford House, LandmarkHunter.com;

: Google maps, Cisco, AK
　
　
筆者がNスケールで復元しようとしているユタ州Ciscoについて調べようとインターネット検索すると、余計なページばかりよく引っ掛かる。一番邪魔なのは「San Francisco」、次に邪魔なのは「Cisco Systems」に関連するページである。テキサス州にある「Cisco」という町に関連するページも結構邪魔だ。一方、お目当てのユタ州Ciscoの町に関連するページなどほとんどない。一体何件の「Cisco」がアメリカにあるのか。古い時刻表を調べてみると、ユタ州Cisco以外に八カ所ものCisco駅があったらしい。どんなところだろう。


Cisco, Arkansas: 六カ所目のCisco駅は、St. Louis & North Arkansas Railroad沿線に1901年開業した駅である。近くで産出する枕木を含む木材を出荷するため開設された。当初はBraswell Switch駅を名乗っていたが、1903年にIsaac Nortonという人が駅前に開設した雑貨屋兼郵便局の名前をCiscoとしたため、同年駅名も改称したという。

1920年に撮影された写真にはその郵便局の他製粉所の建物などが写っている。郵便局は1949年まで営業していた。しかし、肝心の鉄道は1961年に廃線になっており、現在駅があった辺りには数軒の民家の他何もない。往時を伝える遺構は、1900年に駅の北側に建てられた私学校の廃墟のみである。