Arkansas was not always ‘the Natural State’, here were the state’s other nicknames

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — Arkansas is known as “the Natural State” but that hasn’t always been the case.

In the state’s earlier days, Arkansas had unofficial nicknames but did not get an official one until the 20th century.

Here were some of the early unofficial nicknames:

• The “Bear State”: The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said pre-settlement estimates showed there were more than 50,000 bears in the state. Most of the bears were Louisiana black bears, one of 16 species native to the United States. By the 1930s, the bears in the state were almost hunted out completely.
• The “Toothpick State”: Early Arkansans kept large sheath or belt knives on their person. Some were double-edged knives called “dirks”. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas said in 1837 one state representative dispatched of another with a knife “[cementing]the new state’s renown as a violent place.
• “Rackensack”: No one knows exactly where this nickname came from but CALS said by the end of the 1840s, it was used as an exaggerated definition for the rural and hilly western parts of Arkansas.

The “Wonder State”

In 1923, Arkansas officially got a nickname when the legislative assembly recognized the Arkansas Advancement Association’s activities. The AAA was a group of businessmen looking to attract economic investment to the state and improve its image.

Former governor Charles H. Brough was an advocate for AAA and traveled around the south earlier in the decade praising the natural resources the state had to offer.

A resolution from January 1923 said, “It is an admitted fact that the State of Arkansas excels all others in natural resources, its store of mineral wealth being practically inexhaustible, its vast forests supplying pine and hardwoods in quantities sufficient to place the state in the forefront, and its agricultural and horticultural prowess recognized not only in the United States; but in foreign countries.”

The resolution claimed the “Bear State” nickname was a misnomer and led to a false impression while the “Wonder State” is accurate and deserves special recognition.

“Though official, the nickname did little to change popular perceptions of Arkansas as an underdeveloped, even backward, state,” the Encyclopedia of Arkansas said.

“Land of Opportunity”

Since the nickname did little to improve the state’s image, a second group of businessmen called the “Committee of 100” looked to come up with a new nickname.

Looking to improve economic development in Arkansas, the group decided on the “Land of Opportunity”.

Although not official at the time, the nickname was added to license plates in the 1940s and was printed on various promotional materials, according to CALS.

In 1953, the Arkansas General Assembly passed a resolution by dropping the “Wonder State” and replacing it with the “Land of Opportunity.”

The “Natural State”

In the back half of the 20th century, tourism in the state started to grow. In the 1980s, the Arkansas parks system adopted the “Natural State” nickname to help highlight the state’s natural landscape, the Encyclopedia of Arkansas said.

State Representative Dennis Young introduced a legislation in 1995 wanting to change the nickname to the “Natural State” as it proved to be more popular than the previous one.

Young cited the “unsurpassed scenery, clear lakes, free-flowing streams, magnificent rivers, meandering bayous, delta bottomlands, forested mountains and abundant fish and wildlife” Arkansas has to offer.

His bill became Act 1352 later that year and the nickname has stuck ever since.