Written by David Holsted, published in the Harrison Daily Times on October 8, 2020
In the early part of the 20th century, Mrs. A.B. Wilson and her sister, Mrs. W. George Clark, witnessed the first train coming into Harrison.
More than 50 years later, they witnessed another first.
Wilson, 92, and Clark, 91, were among the estimated 4,000 people in attendance on June 29, 1957, at Harrison Municipal Airport to celebrate the inauguration of air service to the community. At 1:10 p.m., a Central Airlines DC-3 Centraliner arrived in Harrison from Little Rock.
Harrison mayor Dene O. Hester was the first to step from the plane. Jean Fowler, Miss Harrison of 1957, then cut a ribbon, officially opening the airport to air service.
Five minutes later, the first regularly scheduled Central Airlines flight arrived from St. Louis. Among the passengers was Dr. W. A. Hudson of Jasper. He had made reservations a year earlier to be the first paying customer to fly into Harrison. Hudson made the trip from Detroit, where maintained a home.
Central Airlines was founded as a “local service” air carrier by Keith Kahle in the 1940s. It served Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. It was headquartered at Meacham Field in Ft. Worth, Texas. Among its hubs was one in Fort Smith. In 1967, Central Airlines merged with Frontier Airlines.
Kahle, who also served as the airline’s president, was at the ceremony. He was presented with souvenir baseball bats that were made in Harrison.
Among the speakers that day was Winthrop Rockefeller, who was the chairman of the Arkansas Industrial Development Commission. Rockefeller had flown into Harrison from his farm atop Petit Jean Mountain. Described as a “tall man wearing a big hat and boots,” told the crowd that he had travelled more than a million miles by air.
Rockefeller emphasized the importance of air service. The commission, he went on to say, had received a number of rejections from manufacturers who liked certain cities in Arkansas, but did not come because of a lack of air service.
Lena Frances Flower Shop had the distinction of having the first paid freight shipment aboard the flight. The store received a shipment of flowers from Los Angeles. Lena Frances reported that the flowers were in extra fresh condition.