Tontitown

In 1900, Tontitown came into being with the establishment of a post office by John Pozza. That same year saw the erection of a new church, dedicated in honor of St. Joseph, whose painting had survived the fire that destroyed the original schoolhouse and church in 1899.

The story of Tontitown began in 1898 when some 40 families journeyed up from Sunnyside, Arkansas (now Lake Village), seeking better living conditions and a place where they could build a community. But the Tontitown settlement was not officially incorporated as a city until 1909, and Father Pietro Bandini served as the town’s first mayor beginning in 1910.

Those years in between settlement and cityhood were harsh, the winters were bitter with many families living within rough-built cabins until individual family homes could be constructed. Their work was hindered when a tornado nearly leveled Tontitown in the spring of 1898 shortly after settlement. In the late 1890s the church of St. Joseph was founded, serving as the City Hall, the school, and the place of worship. After the first church was burned down and a second destroyed in the 1934 tornado, a third was built by the men of the town out of stone. They began work in 1938, finishing it in 1942; the official dedication tool place in 1944.

Tontitown’s first mercantile was opened by John Pozza in 1900, which doubled as the Post Office. In 1910 when the Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Western Railroad came to town (with a depot being completed in 1912), a hotel named the Leon d’Oro (Golden Lion) was built to house incoming travelers. With the introduction of train transportation, the town grew in industry; farmers now could ship their produce beyond their borders, and the mercantile could import luxury goods as well as everyday necessities.

In the fall 1898 the settlers held a small informal picnic to celebrate the year’s grape harvest. This was the first annual Grape Festival, a celebration that grew each year with other communities invited to celebrate the harvest, enjoy a spaghetti dinner, and commune with neighbors. Today the Festival is held in early August with a carnival, grapes’ stomps, and the famous spaghetti dinners still made from scratch and served by descendants of the original families. Though many of the vineyards have made way for new industry, you can still find some vineyards tucked away on the back roads, still producing grapes from vines started at the town’s founding. In 1922 Welch Company built a plant local to Tontitown to process the fruits of farmers which grew to include strawberries, peaches, and apples.

In 2017 the stone church of St. Joseph’s was torn down except for the steeple which can still be viewed today on the corner of Henri De Tonti Blvd and Barrington Road. It is a marker of the hard work and time the men and women of Tontitown put into building their community.