# Rye, Hurricane Township, Cleveland County, Arkansas in the 1910s

> A small cotton-and-timber settlement lived by farms, post, unpaved roads, and the county-seat railroad towns beyond it.

- Place: Rye, Hurricane Township, Cleveland County, Arkansas (33.746, -91.998)
- Years: 1910 to 1919
- Page: https://yorehistory.com/place/rye-cleveland-county-arkansas/1910s
- Step into it (interactive): https://yorehistory.com/?step=Rye%2C%20Hurricane%20Township%2C%20Cleveland%20County%2C%20Arkansas%2C%20United%20States&at=33.7462,-91.9979&year=1915

## Looking around

You stand in Rye, a populated place in Hurricane Township[1], not an incorporated town. The ground lies low, about 187 feet above sea level[1], in a county described as generally level or slightly undulating[2] and drained by the Saline River and its tributaries[2]. Around the settlement are farms more numerous than sawmill jobs[3], with cotton the cash crop and corn and food crops in the fields. A post office has been here since 1904[4], so letters and papers have a local stop even though the county’s railroad runs through Rison and Kingsland, not Rye[2]. County power is up at Rison, the county seat[3], where a brick courthouse was built in 1911[3]. The world feels thinly settled: Hurricane Township counted only about 578 people in 1910[5], and by 1920 fewer still. Beyond the farms, timber work and the county’s sawmill settlements pull men and wagons toward cutover woods.

## Work: Cotton, corn, timber

Cotton was the main cash crop[3], but fields also held Indian corn and food crops[3]. Timber mattered too: by 1900 the county had more than 350 timber-related employees[3], though farmers continued to outnumber sawmill workers[3].

## Roads & news: Post, paper, railroad

Rye had its own post office from 1904[4], but the railroad connection was elsewhere: Rison and Kingsland lay on the St. Louis Southwestern Railroad[2]. County news could come through the Cleveland County Herald at Rison[6], published since 1888.

## Law & power: Rison held county power

County business led to Rison, the county seat[3], where the brick courthouse was built in 1911[3]. For Black residents, Arkansas’s 1910s political order meant disfranchisement, segregation, and racial violence.

## Money: $14 land, $1,864 farms

The best statewide yardstick is agricultural: across Arkansas in 1910, the average farm land value was $14.13 per acre[7]. The average farm, including equipment, was valued at $1,864[7], with farms averaging 81.1 acres[7].

## Who lived here: Thinly settled township

Hurricane Township had about 578 residents in 1910[5], in a county of 13,481 people[5]. By 1920, both the township and county had fallen in population, to about 407[5] and 12,260[5].

## What people feared: War reached the farms

The war arrived through registration lists and committees: by early June 1917, 1,070 Cleveland County men aged twenty-one to thirty-one had registered for the draft[3]. The county tried to organize a National Guard company at Rison[3], though no formed unit is recorded.

## Home & table: Homes remain indistinct

The landscape can be described better than the houses: Cleveland County was level or slightly undulating[2], fertile, and drained by the Saline River and its tributaries[2]. But no online source found here describes Rye’s house types, stores, churches, or schoolhouse in this decade.

## Year by year

- **1911** (nearby): The timber-frame courthouse at Rison was replaced by a brick courthouse.[3]
- **1914** (the world): World War I began in Europe, a distant war that became local business after the United States entered it.
- **1917** (the country): The United States entered World War I, and Cleveland County men began draft registration that June.[3]
- **1917** (nearby): Cleveland County began trying to organize a National Guard company at Rison.[3]
- **1918** (nearby): A separate Cleveland County unit for World War I service was proposed by state senator George F. Brown.[3]
- **1918** (the country): The influenza pandemic spread across the United States and would have been feared in rural Arkansas as elsewhere.
- **1920** (here): Hurricane Township’s counted population had fallen to about 407.[5]

## What the sources say

- Rye was a populated place in Hurricane Township, Cleveland County, at about 33.746° north and 91.998° west. (from the sources)[1]
- Modern gazetteer data give Rye’s elevation as about 187 feet, or 57 meters. (from the sources)[1]
- A county history described Cleveland County as having a generally level or slightly undulating surface, fertile soil, and drainage by the Saline River and its tributaries. (from the sources)[2]
- The Encyclopedia of Arkansas says cotton was the county’s original main cash crop, with large amounts of Indian corn and other food crops also raised. (from the sources)[3]
- Rye had a post office from 1904 until 1953, so it was already a postal point throughout the 1910s. (from the sources)[4]
- Rison and Kingsland lay on the St. Louis Southwestern Railroad, described in 1947 as the only railroad in Cleveland County. (from the sources)[2]
- Rison became the county seat after contested elections and an Arkansas Supreme Court decision on April 11, 1891. (from the sources)[3]
- The original timber-frame county courthouse at Rison was replaced by a brick courthouse in 1911. (from the sources)[3]
- Hurricane Township had about 578 residents in 1910 and about 407 in 1920, according to the federal population bulletin’s township table. (from the sources)[5]
- Cleveland County as a whole had 13,481 residents in 1910 and 12,260 in 1920. (from the sources)[5]
- The 1880 census, the first after the county was formed, found the county’s settlers mainly farmers, and farmers continued to outnumber sawmill workers after 1900. (from the sources)[3]
- The 1900 census listed more than 350 timber-related employees in Cleveland County, and several sawmill settlements grew in the area through the 1930s. (from the sources)[3]
- The Cleveland County Herald, published at Rison from 1888 onward, served a county seat where cotton and lumber moved down the railroad line. (from the sources)[6]
- Across Arkansas in 1910, bottom-land cleared fields were described by the Census Bureau as being used for cotton and corn. (from the sources)[7]
- Across Arkansas in 1910, average farm size had fallen to 81.1 acres, and the average farm, including equipment, was valued at $1,864. (from the sources)[7]
- Across Arkansas in 1910, the average value of farm land was $14.13 per acre. (from the sources)[7]
- In April 1917, Cleveland County began organizing a National Guard company to be stationed at Rison, but no record of such a unit actually forming has been found. (from the sources)[3]
- By early June 1917, 1,070 Cleveland County men aged twenty-one to thirty-one had registered for the World War I draft, and Red Cross committees were being formed. (from the sources)[3]
- Arkansas law and custom in the 1910s sharply limited Black political power through disfranchisement, segregation, and the threat of racial violence. (inferred)
- No online source found in this quick search describes Rye’s stores, church buildings, schoolhouse, or house types in the 1910s. (not known)
- No online source found here names the postmaster, merchants, teachers, or ministers serving Rye during the 1910s. (not known)

## Sources

1. Rye, Township of Hurricane, Cleveland County, Arkansas, United States. Mindat.org. https://www.mindat.org/feature-4129429.html
2. County Organization and Early History of Cleveland County, Arkansas. Genealogy Trails, 1947. https://www.genealogytrails.com/ark/cleve/history1.html
3. Cleveland County. Encyclopedia of Arkansas. https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/cleveland-county-757/
4. Post Offices in Cleveland County, Arkansas. Genealogy Trails. https://genealogytrails.com/ark/cleve/postoffices.html
5. Population: Arkansas, Number of Inhabitants, by Counties and Minor Civil Divisions. U.S. Census Bureau, 1920. https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1920/bulletins/demographics/population-ar-number-of-inhabitants.pdf
6. Cleveland County Herald (Rison, Ark.) 1888-Current. Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn90050296/
7. 1910 Abstract of the Thirteenth Census: Supplement for Arkansas. U.S. Census Bureau, 1913. https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1910/abstract/supplement-arkansas.pdf

## The same place in other decades

- [Rye in the 1930s](https://yorehistory.com/place/rye-cleveland-arkansas/1930s/md)

## Nearby, about the same time

- [Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas in the 1930s](https://yorehistory.com/place/little-rock-pulaski-county-arkansas/1930s/md) (114 km)
- [Stamps, Arkansas in the 1900s](https://yorehistory.com/place/stamps-arkansas/1900s/md) (145 km)

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Researched by Yore's AI historian (gpt-5.5) on 2026-10-25 from the sources listed. It is about the place and the time, not about any person. Statements marked "inferred" are conclusions, not records. Cite as: Yore, "Rye, Hurricane Township, Cleveland County, Arkansas in the 1910s", https://yorehistory.com/place/rye-cleveland-county-arkansas/1910s