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| Rustic cabins welcomed visitors to City View Camp |
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| Question: What information do you have on the old rustic motel that sat on top of Harrison Hill? |
| Answer: Searching for information on the City View Camp certainly brought back memories of the hill and how much it has changed through the years. In the 1930s, Frank and Fannie Lou Coffman along with Layton and Agnes Coffman built the rustic motel from logs cut on the Ben Andrews farm near Omaha. It stood as a landmark for many years, greeting travelers coming into Harrison on Highway 65 South, long before the bypass was built. |
| By 1938, the Coffman family had sold the City View to Hallie and Jean Ormond. Hallie had worked as an agent for the railroad and after working on construction projects along the Mississippi River and developing the Silica Sand Plant at Everton, he bought the City View Camp (later called Motel) for the "large" sum of $12,000, which in 1938 was quite a lot of money. |
| The "modern cabins" were furnished with comfortable beds and kitchenettes and rented for $1.50 for a single and $2.50 for a double. |
| The City View competed with the Hotel Seville and both were filled to capacity almost every night, but for a man who loved railroading, Ormond was not content to operate a motel. In 1942, he sold and went into the crosstie business at Omaha. Evidently he found his niche, for he stayed in this business for more than 40 years! |
| A postcard, dated 1946 and mailed for a penny, was sent to Miss Carolyn and Marilyn Mabrey (in Jonesboro) by their grandmother after she stayed a night at the City View Camp. The small advertising caption on the card reads: |
| "Rest and relax where it is cool, with the comfort of knowing you and your personal effects are in absolute safety. City water from a gushing Ozark spring. Mountain top location and overlooking North Arkansas' leading city. Going South, it's through the City on top of the mountain, and going North, it's on top of the mountain just before entering the City. Cooking facilities for those desiring to cook. All modern rustic log cabins. Rates reasonable. Phone 158. Owned and operated by Mr. and Mrs. W. A. Maloch." |
| Jo Miller later bought "the little cabins on the hill," remembered fondly through the years by many honeymooners and travelers. Joe developed Harrison's high rise condominium complex on the site of the City View Camp in the mid-1980s, and now those occupants share the wonderful view of Harrison that those earlier travelers enjoyed when they spent the night in the rustic log cabins on the hill. |
| For kids who grew up on and near Harrison Hill, remember the fortune teller who lived in Cabin No. 5? Not that we were afraid of her, but the fact remained, our bicycles couldn't go fast enough when we took the short cut to the movies on Saturdays! |
| Old postcards, such as the one featured in today's column, hold a wealth of information about our area. The Heritage Museum has a large collection of historical postcards, so come by for a visit and enjoy! The museum, located on the corner of South Cherry and Central Avenue, is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. |
| This column appears Fridays in the Harrison Daily Times. Mail questions to Boone County Heritage Museum, P. O. Box 1094, Harrison, AR 72601. Marilyn Breece can be contacted at bchm@windstream.net |
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