Before we had a Police Department in Pea Ridge, I remember Al Koenke as our local constable. My memories of him are from the 1950s, so I am not sure exactly when he became our constable. He had served in the Navy prior to coming to Pea Ridge.
He was born in 1901, so he would have been 40 to 45 years old at the time of the U.S. participation in World War II. Al was married to Nelma Price, and all the time I knew them they lived in a house owned by Charlie and Dovie Crabtree, located a short distance from downtown on what is now called Green Street. Nelma grew up in a long-time Pea Ridge family. I think at one time early on there had been a grain mill located at the site oftheir house. The house had an unusual appearance, and I think it had been converted to a house after being something else first.
I suppose there may have been other constables for the Pea Ridge area before Al Koenke, but I don’t know who they were, if any. Whether strictly correct or not, I always thought of Al as our original lawman. Perhaps he was not our first constable, but he did originate the Pea Ridge City Police Department, a one-man force at the time.
Al’s work to bringprofessional law enforcement to the community must have been a challenge. During his time, Pea Ridge was still quite a small town, and almost everyone knew one another and their children and grandchildren. I have always enjoyed the old Andy Griffin TV show, Mayberry RFD, which depicted Sheriff Andy and Deputy Barney Fife contending with the common life and eccentricites of a small rural town. Sometimes when everyone in a community knows you like family, it can be tough to establish a professional authoritative relationship.
Al Koenke was neither a Sheriff Andy nor a Deputy Fife, but I think he handled the challenge of being a law enforcement officer ina small rural community right well.
I can’t recall any really serious crimes in the community during Al Koenke’s time as policeman - no murders, no bank robberies, no driveby shootings. I take that back, there was a bank robbery in the 1960s.
But there were always numerous driving violations to contend with, street and highway drag racing, public drunkenness, disturbances of the peace, instances of fisticuffs that originated locally and some that were brought on by toughs who dropped in from Washburn, Mo.
To me, one of the larger challenges of being an early Pea Ridge law officer would have been trying to know what to do with the local pranksters - thosewho occasionally decided to pull off some mischief just to see what the lawman would do, like setting a nighttime bonfire in the middle of the downtown street intersection.
We have a small Al Koenke display at the Pea Ridge Museum on North Curtis Ave. But the display would be improved if we had pictures of Al and of Al and Nelma. It would also be great to have pictures of him in uniform, to go with and add to the official badges and other uniform insignia that we have on display. I’m trying to remember details of the police car he drove during the mid-1950s, but my memory is pretty fuzzy on that. I want to think it was a Dodge or Plymouth. Does someone have pictures ofAl and his police car?
Al Koenke passed away in 1973. He and Nelma are laid to rest near the north entry of the Pea Ridge Cemetery. As a pioneering law officer in our community, I’m sure he dealt with numerous challenges and frustrations. But he was one of those durable, honorable people whose life work made considerable contribution to the shaping of our town of Pea Ridge as a desirable place to live and work.
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Editor’s note: Jerry Nichols, a native of Pea Ridge, is a retired Methodist minister with a passion for history.
He is vice president of the Pea Ridge Historical Society. He can be contacted by e-mail at [email protected], or call 621-1621.
Community, Pages 5 on 02/15/2012