Pine Ridge

Pine Ridge

Pine Ridge is located in Montgomery County. The town was originally called Waters but the name was changed in 1936 as a nod to Lum and Abner, a popular radio show set in the fictional town of Pine Ridge, which was largely based on life in Waters. As to the town's history, Henry M. Waters, a local businessman who also operated a sawmill and a gin, established a post office in his small store in 1886 and named the farming and logging community Waters. From the 1880s to the early 1900s, the town's school and church operated in the same building. In 1904, A. A. McKinzie built a general store. In 1909, James Richard (Dick) Huddleston built the Huddleston General Store, which housed the post office in the early 1920s and again became the town's post office in 1983.

In the 1930s, Chester Lauck and Norris Goff (from Mena) created the Lum and Abner characters for a variety show. The pair developed the characters into a radio show that first broadcast from Hot Springs and eventually was broadcast nationally. In the broadcasts, Lum and Abner were the storekeepers at the Jot'em Down Store in Pine Ridge. The Jot'em Down Store was a re-creation of the McKinzie store. The McKinzie store became the Lum and Abner Museum in 1971 and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. The Huddleston Store, which was also placed on the National Register of Historic Places on the same day. This information is care of Kathryn Moore Stucker of the Lum and Abner Museum.