The Russellville Democrat., 1883-08-30

ness-''it is the BEST town on the Little Rock and Fort Smith railway 7
 between terminal points, and the DEMOCRAT quotes the utterance with no small degree of pride.
 Russellville is situated on the above named railway, seventy.fiye miles from Little Rock and ninety three miles from Fort Smith, in the southern part of the county It is built on an almost level tract of land with just enough slope in different directions to afford ample natural drainage, and is attractively, though somewhat irregularly, laid out, the irregularity being due to the fact that the survey of the original town was not run on the section lines. However this defect is no detriment to the town.
 The mercantile and industrial in- terests of the place may be summar- ized as follows: Genera. merchan- disc, eight establishments; hard
 ware, two; family groceries, five; dry goods, clothing, boots and shoes, etc, two, drugs, three; furniture, two; jewelry, two; boot and shoe makers, two; blacksmith, two; mil linery. one; wagon and blow factory, one; four mill, one; cotton mill, one; machine shop, one; barbers, two; hotels, two, restaurant and billiard hall, one; livery stable, one; making total of thirty nine. Besides the foregoing, there are a number of carpenters, bricklayers, painters, and other tradesmen, and a fair supply of the legal and medical fraternity. All branches of mercantile business and the several trades are in charge of men of intelligence. enterprise and snap" who push their business and give to the town it's widespread rep usation ag place of activity in all departments. Only lack of space prevents us mentioning each busi- ness in detail
 The Melrose Cotton Mill is the finest establishment of the kind and size in the Southwest and is grand monument to the business sagacity and enterprise of our citizens who constitute the company. The Mill turns out rope and twine, and the demand for the goods is so great that its full productive capacity is taxed to the utmost to supply the same. Goods manufactured at Mel rose are shipped by the carload to all the principal eastern, northern and western cities-even to far-off San Francisco. These goods have the reputation of being among the VERY BEST made in the United States, anc are, at least, second to none in quality.
 Another enterprise of which the citizens of Russellville are justly proud, is the wagon and blow facto- ry of Luker, Settle & Co. The firm is composed of frst-class men and Al mechanics. The product of this factory, both blows and wagons, is inferior to none in the land; in fact, the wagons are pronounced by com petent judges to be superior to those made at the most noted factories in the West and Southwest. This firm also does general blacksmithing.
 There are five organized congre gations in the town, viz: Cumber- land, Methodist Episcopal, Meth odist Episcopal (South), Missionary Baptist and Disciples, all in pros porous condition and occupying neat and commodious houses of worship, except the last named, which wor ships in the Masonic hall. The re- ligious and moral tone of the place is at a high standard, and this fact  alone has tended to give it an envia- ble reputation at home and abroad.
 No town in the State gives more attention to the cause of public edu- cation than does Russellyille, the vo- ters of this special school district each year voting to tax themselves the maximum levy authorized by law, five mills. This amount, with the fund received from the general school revenue of the State, enables the directors to employ the best of teachers and maintain a school off high order. The school building is ! an imposing edifice erected about three years ago at q cost of over S7000, and contains six large rooms most admirably furnished and eauip ped with all appliances necessary.
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