* On Aug. 10, 1776, news reaches London that the Americans had drafted the Declaration of Independence. Until the Declaration of Independence formally transformed the 13 British colonies into states, the conflict centered in Massachusetts was seen as a local uprising.
Ham Moses grew up in a time when Arkansas was still mostly farms untouched by the modern world. Because of his ambition both behind the scenes and in public, he helped usher in the modern age of industrialization for the state.
* On Aug. 4, 1753, George Washington, a young Virginia planter, becomes a Master Mason, the highest basic rank in Freemasonry. The ceremony was held at the Masonic Lodge No. 4 in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Washington was 21 years old and would soon command his first military operation. Freemasons trace the origins of masonry back to the erecting of King Solomon's Temple in biblical times.
“A public office is a public trust,” President Grover Cleveland once declared. Though it is often the opposite that usually gains attention, many men and women have served in various offices with dignity, integrity, and competence. Arkansas has had several such figures. One such figure was Kaneaster Hodges, Jr., a U. S. Senator for Arkansas for just 13 months in the late 1970s.
* On July 31, 1715, a hurricane strikes the East Coast of Florida, sinking 10 Spanish treasure ships carrying tons of gold and silver coins and killing nearly 1,000 people. About 80% of the treasures had been recovered by April 1716, but the rest remained lost until the 1960s.
Mailing Address:
PO Box 1183
Hampton, AR 71744
Phone: (870)798-3786
Fax: (870)798-2800