Visitors Guide to Turrell, Arkansas
Wapanocca National Wildlife Refuge
Turrell is small community located along I-55 in northern Crittenden County. The construction of the Springfield and Memphis Railroad line through the area in 1883 sparked the formation of the community around the around timber-cutting operations owned by Fletcher E. Turrell, for whom the town is named. Turrell ran the Turrell-Lily Lumber Company, among other local business ventures, and also served as the first postmaster. Turrell was incorporated in 1926 and the community began to develop infrastructure and municipal services. The first service was a volunteer fire department that was in place by 1938 when a two-wheel cart with a reel of hose was acquired. At about the same time a water system, well, and 50,000-gallon water tower was built, partially funded by the Public Works Administration.
Turrell’s most famous citizen was Texas-born James G. Tarver who retired in Turrell after performing as the “Texas Giant” with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus from 1909 to 1935. Tarver is alleged to have been 8'6" tall and weighed 435 pounds. In 1944, a prisoner-of-war camp was established in Turrell to house German troops captured in North Africa. The camp was one of four established in Crittenden County and housed approximately 500 prisoners. The prisoners provided manual labor on farms across eastern Arkansas supplying needed agricultural manpower during the war.
This Quonset Hut was one Turrell’s City Hall
Installing of infrastructure continued after the war. A new water well was drilled in 1953, a sewer system was completed in 1954, natural gas became available in 1956, and street lights were installed in 1957. During this era it was decided to construct a city hall. The type of building chosen was a Quonset hut because it not only house city offices but provide space for the city’s fire truck. The Quonset house was made famous during World War II as the all purpose portable building used primarily the U.S. Navy. During the 1950s the Quonset hut was promoted as a high-tech, progressive, flexible, and efficient building. Turrell’s Quonset hut city hall was built circa 1955 and served as site of the community’s government until it was replaced in 1968. It was added to the National Register of Historic Place in 2007 and currently is used as a city maintenance facility.
The wilderness and river bottomlands around Turrell provide an abundance of recreational opportunity. In 1880s a group of Memphis businessmen purchased the lands surrounding Wapanocca Lake for use as recreational hunting grounds and established the Wapanocca Outing Club. The club grew to become nationally prestigious but encountered tax problems beginning in the 1920s. Finally in 1962 the land was purchased by the federal government which established the Wapanocca National Wildlife Refuge. This refuge is renowned for excellent fishing, small-game hunting, and wildlife viewing and features a new interpretive center.
