Object: Frisco Railroad PassCatalog #: 1987.12.127
Donor: Vera Key Estate
Without the Frisco, there wouldn’t have been a Rogers. Before the train came roaring through on May 10, 1881, the land with its rickety dogtrot log cabin was the farm of Benjamin F. Sikes. A few weeks later the town was officially incorporated. The coming of the railroad allowed Rogers to grow and prosper over its well-established neighbor to the northwest, Bentonville. (To see a photo of the Frisco Railroad, click here.)
The St. Louis and San Francisco Railway was formed in 1876 in St. Louis. As its name implies, the goal of the company was to connect St. Louis to the west coast. However, the planned Frisco line from Vinita, Oklahoma, to Albuquerque and on to San Francisco was never built. Instead the company became concentrated in the south central area of the country.
Eager to open up new areas to passengers and freight, the Frisco began construction in Arkansas in 1880. Depots were an important part of any railway, creating strategic operational links for its employees and bringing prosperity and future railroad business to existing towns and towns-in-the-making. A depot was planned for Benton County, with its exact location dependent upon the approval of the Frisco’s right-of-way agent and the raising of $600 to pay for its construction.
There are differing tales about why the depot wasn’t built in the county seat of Bentonville, the county’s oldest and largest town at the time. Some say it was because Bentonville residents assumed that their city would be chosen and didn’t bother to court the railroad. Others say that preliminary surveys favored a shorter, easier-to-construct route through eastern Benton County, even though the area was sparsely populated when compared to the western half of the county. Whatever the reason, several factions of folks in the soon-to-be Rogers area tried to attract the depot to their particular plot of land.
In the end the Sikes faction won out by raising the cash, donating the land, and deeding over the right of way. A town site of 15 city blocks of 12 lots each was initially surveyed and platted in March 1881. By the end of the year more property was platted, including some land owned by Sikes’ brother, J. Wade Sikes, the town’s first mayor. (To learn more about J.W. Sikes, click here.) The city was named in honor of Captain Charles Warrington (C.W.) Rogers, vice president and general manager of the Frisco. (To learn more about C.W. Rogers, click here.)
Building the railroad line and depot was no small task. Because the Frisco was forging new territory, few accommodations or amenities existed for the construction workers; the men camped out or lodged in nearby farmhouses. Lumber and other building materials were brought in by wagon over roads often made muddy by continuous cold and stormy spring weather. Entrepreneurs flocked to the area to provide services and merchandise to the workers. For Rogers’ first anniversary Major A.J. Allen wrote an account of the town’s early days:
One man [John Cox] who had waited patiently and long for good weather and lumber opened up a business house in the top of an oak tree. The huge oak had been felled to the ground and he took his wagon body off the wheels, and placed it lengthwise on the trunk of the tree. He then, like a good Southern man with Yankee principles, stuck up a sign with six letters [saloon], and spread out his goods for sale; and judging from the number of people who daily gathered about his place of business, we conclude that he did a good thriving business. He said he would open the first business house in Rogers, and he kept his word.