The Cannonball is coming back to Pea Ridge

I’m hearing that the Cannonball is coming back to Pea Ridge, and will be opening soon in the downtown eastside. I’m pretty happy about it, and will try to do my part in the welcoming home and in eating there with some regularity. Darla Nix is planning to open the Cannonball Barbecue Restaurant at the old Dairy Park location at Davis and Pickens Streets, across from the Intermediate School in downtown Pea Ridge. Driving by, we see building renovations underway, a new sign out, and I am looking forward to the opening day.

After leaving the Battlefield Mall a few years ago, the Cannonball has been located near the intersection of Arkansas Hwy. 72 and U.S. Hwy. 62 east of Pea Ridge. We have continued to eat there on occasion, and the Cannonball has catered some events for the Alumni Association. But it will be great to have the Cannonball back in town.

When I was growing up, of course the town of Pea Ridge was basically the old downtown area. The south end of town was at the Pea Ridge Canning Plant across from today’s Collier Drug Store, and the east end of town was at what we call Davis Street today. We even thought of the site of the old Dairy Park (where the new Cannonball is shaping up) as just outside of town. In the early days of Pea Ridge, that part of town was a busy, rather upscale area. A three-story hotel catering to college students stood across the street on the grounds of today’s Park Motel, and the Pea Ridge Masonic College stood across on the hill on the schoolgrounds on the north side. All the village churches in the early days were on what we now call Davis Street.

It is great to see in the last few months some encouraging signs of renewal in downtown Pea Ridge.

With the opening of the T.H. Rogers Hardware and Lumber, we no longer have to go to Rogers or Bentonville to buy boards or nails or tools or carpentry supplies. The Upholstery Shop is looking good, and Webb’s Feed and Seed keeps right on keeping our farms and gardens and pets supplied.

The redevelopment of the old school lunchroom as the Pea Ridge School Heritage Building has provided a new asset to the community. The new Intermediate School is an amazing facility. We still have some building vacancies, but with nice developments at the motel and with the Cannonball coming back home, things are looking upin the downtown.

It is amazing and fascinating to me to think of the numerous businesses that have operated over the years in downtown Pea Ridge. In my earliest memory, the corner across from the new Cannonball Restaurant was a mill for grinding grain. It later became the Lasater Brother’s Garage and Station. Farther west was the Webb’s Hatchery, which played an important part in the development of the poultry industry in our area. Across the alley farther west was the Tetrick Building which houses today’s City Hall.

At one time it had been a car dealership. Later it was a produce store. In the 1930s and early 1940s, the upstairs was Dr. Greene’s o◊ce. The next door part of the building, where the mayor’s o◊ce and city court are now, has housed several restaurants through the years, including the Dean’s Malt Shop & Cafe, Florence’s Cafe and the Taylor’s Cafe of the late 1950s and 1960s. Then came Webb’s Feed and Seed, which in earlier timess was double the size, occupying not only today’s store area but also the part occupied by Bob Schooley’s Cabinet Shop.

Then, continuing up the street west, we had the City Drugstore (which to me was the ice cream store), then the Bank of Pea Ridge, and then Johnny Buttry’s Hardware and Implement (a Case Tractor dealership, later Western Auto). Across the street to the west, in the new red brick 1928 building, was Luther Martin’s Grocery and Feed, the Barber Shop (Mike Edwards), the Post O◊ce, and, in 1946, Eva Patterson’s Dry Goods Store. On the north side of the street, across from Martin’s Grocery, we had Floyd Hall’s Esso Station (later Texaco), then C.H.

Mount’s Grocery and Feed (today’s Upholstery Shop), then Kelly Armstrong’s Cafe, and the Richardson’s Grocery.

I’m eager to see the new Cannonball, and to sitting down to a nice dinner there. Welcome back to town, Darla and all the Cannonball crew!

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Editor’s note: Jerry Nichols, a native of Pea Ridge, is an award-winning columnist, 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.

Opinion, Pages 5 on 08/07/2013