The next few years would see “Coin” Harvey’s resort grow. In 1904 Harvey brought St. Louis architect A.O. Clarke to Rogers to design another hotel Harvey named Missouri Row. Clarke designed a structure over 300 feet long, built of hewn logs with a cement floor and tile roof. Spacious porches ran down both sides of the building.

Ironically this friend of the working man had to deal with a strike by carpenters and stone masons during the building of Missouri Row. The men had formed a union, which Harvey regarded as just another type of monopoly or trust. A climax to the troubles came when Harvey had an altercation with one of the workers that ended with Harvey drawing a pistol on the other man. Both were arrested but it doesn’t appear the case ever came to trial.

Tourists relax in front of Missouri Row about 1910.

Architect A.O. Clarke remained in Rogers and went on to design some of the finest residential and commercial buildings in Northwest Arkansas. In 1908 work began on a second log hotel called Oklahoma Row. Also designed by Clarke, this hotel had a reinforced concrete tower at one end.

Above, Oklahoma Row in the 1910s. Left, building the bank at Monte Ne, 1905. This structure also was designed by A.O. Clarke.

By 1910 Monte Ne had a school, bank, newspaper, and stores. Harvey’s resort offered a choice of three hotels boasting amenities such as fireplaces in the bedrooms, elegant dining rooms, and electric lights. Tourists could enjoy swimming in the indoor pool, boating, fishing, tennis, or golf. The resort hosted fox hunts, old fiddlers’ contests, dances, and concerts.

But the resort was not the financial success Harvey had hoped for. In 1907 the railroad went bankrupt, then limped along under new ownership for a few more years.


 

Above, top, visitors to Monte Ne pose around one of the stone bridges Harvey built. Middle, a picnic at Monte Ne. Bottom, one of the bands brought to perform at the resort.

By the summer of 1908 Harvey wrote his son that he had been unable to pay all his taxes as the season had been a failure. The number of visitors improved in 1909, but the resort never seems to have met Harvey’s expectations.

 

Right, a panoramic view of Monte Ne in the 1910s. Courtesy of Barbara Rairden.