In 2007, Calico Rock Organization for Revitalization Efforts (CORE) opened East Calico ghost town as a tourist attraction. I’d like to add to that-a town whose only occupant is Mother Nature. When new buildings were constructed, developers built on higher ground west of Calico Creek.Īuthor Lambert Florin, who penned several books about ghost towns of the West, defined a ghost town as “a shadowy semblance of a former self”. Buildings deteriorated in hot sun, heavy snow and rain.
Other businesses closed for various reasons and never reopened. Farmers shifted from cotton to livestock, and the once thriving cotton gin closed. So how does a once prosperous albeit colorful section of town become abandoned? Although the history is hazy, a number of events appear to have led to the area’s demise-everything from fire, flood and basic economic supply and demand. Knife and gunfights were common, likely spurred on by the bootleggers who sold moonshine (peppersauce) in the alley behind Main Street (aka Peppersauce Alley). But with growth came growing pains, and East Calico developed the reputation as a wild and tough frontier town.
In the 1900s, East Calico was a bona fide boomtown, an important rail and river hub for area zinc mining, timber and cotton farming. – Photo courtesy of The Butler Center for Arkansas Studies If history is your thing, the oldest section of town, known as East Calico, is worth a special trip to Izard County.Ĭalico Rock is the only town in America that boasts an authentic ghost town within its city limits. Calico Rock, overlooking beautiful White River, is one of my favorite places to while away the time antiquing, hiking, and exploring the history of our earliest Ozark settlers.
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