Celebrating the rich heritage of Tontitown, Arkansas

The founding and early years of Tontitown, Arkansas, an Italian settlement in the Arkansas Ozarks, is the focus of So Big, This Little Place: The Founding of Tontitown, Arkansas, 1898-1917, a new book published by the Tontitown Historical Museum. Written by Susan Young, outreach coordinator at the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History in Springdale, Arkansas, the book features more than 100 historic images from the Tontitown Museum archives and includes a genealogical register of Tontitown’s early Italian families by independent researcher Jan McQuade-Sturm of Golden, Colorado.   Tontitown is a unique story in Arkansas, and national, history. Founded in 1898 by Father Pietro Bandini, an Italian Catholic priest, and some 40 Italian families who had been working on a plantation in south Arkansas, Tontitown began garnering local, state, and national attention within a few years of its establishment. The town’s idyllic rural setting was in direct contrast to the crowded tenements of East Coast cities where so many Italians settled upon their arrival in America. Father Bandini envisioned Tontitown as a "model of successful Italian immigration," a model that could be duplicated in other parts of the country. The hard-working Italian families who settled in Tontitown made Bandini’s dream a reality.   Cost including tax is $30.  Add $4 for mailing.  All proceeds from the book sales will go to support the Tontitown Historical Museum. To order a copy, or for more information, email tontitownmuseum@gmail.com. Listen to Jacqueline Froelich's KUAF radio interview with Susan Young and Tontitown Historical Museum board president Denise Pellin.