Gilbert a Utopian Experiment

By John Heuston

We know this magic place in Searcy County as Gilbert on the Buffalo River, population 43, and Calico Rock's annual winter challenger for the "coldest spot" in Arkansas. We restock our canoeing supplies at its general store in summer, hover around its wood stove in our hiking boots come winter, and consume the heavenly produce of the Riverside Cafe whenever we can. We go there for respite from the mind-numbing pressures of uptight urban America and its noise, stink, confusion and fear. But we are not the first to do so.

Most of today's visitors to Gilbert have never heard of John A. Battenfield and his followers in the Incoming Kingdom Missionary Unit. They've never thumbed the pages of the Unit's weekly newspaper,'the Kingdom Harbinger, in contemplative spiritual bliss. The bikini-clads who now anoint themselves with suntan oil each summer on a Gilbert gravel bar are unaware that they stand where people once prepared themselves to make a last stand for God in the aftermath of an anticipated world-wide war between Catholics and Protestants that would destroy civilization as we know it. The IKMU was poised to be the "Saving Remnant " of Isaiah - charged with the task of building a better world from the ruined Babylon that would lay beyond the blue-green hills and sparkling waters of the Buffalo.

Escaping an urban Babylon is a seductive concept that still lures people to the Ozark hills. And for several glorious years in the early 1920s, this utopian religious community on the banks of the Buffalo was a model of hard work, enterprise, conviction, and devotion to those ideals today's pundits call, "family values." We could still learn a lot from the hardy settlers of Gilbert.

The IKMU of Gilbert was a millennialist group, similar to other adventist ministries that date back to the early 1800s. Their religious beliefs are too complicated to detail here stemming from their interpretations of the 20 and 21st chapters of Revelation- as articulated by their spiritual leader - Christian Minister John A. Battenfield of Illinois. Battenfield was described by contemporaries as an educated, affable, charismatic orator, superb singer, and born leader who believed that he had found the "key" to the prophesies of Daniel and Revelation. Therefore, in his 1913 book, The Great Demonstration, he calculated that the destruction of Roman Catholicism would occur in 1926 as the result of a worldwide war between Protestants and Catholics. That didn't leave much time to prepare his followers for their mission.

In 1920, C. E. Jordan of Allendale, Illinois, described by chroniclers as "an oil-rich farmer and millennialist," made seven scouting trips to Gilbert for Battenfield before picking it as the site of the colony. He bought the land for the community, divided it into lots of from 2-to-3 acres, and charitably sold the lots to incoming colonists at cost. The first delegation of seven families arrived in April 1921, and by December 1922 approximately 200 IKMU true believers had settled at Gilbert.

Gilbert rapidly developed into a happy, prosperous hard-working community. However, like other communal attempts elsewhere in the U.S., Battenfield's dream of communal ownership of factories, shops and mills -where "shirkers" would be evicted never took root. The newcomers retained a strong streak of individualism. As one resident caustically put it, "Communalists are inclined to want a share in what possessions others have, but keep to themselves their own possessions."

The colonists erected a sturdy building of smooth brown stones you drive by it on the way to the Gilbert Store) that was both a meeting house and print shop for their four-page weekly newspaper, the Kingdom Harbinger, edited by John's brother, Ben Battenfield. Today the building is owned by Gilbert resident Ray Jordan, now in his early 80s, who is the son of C. E. Jordan. Ozark Society members may get a chance to visit with Mr. Jordan during a "historical tour of Gilbert" planned for the Saturday afternoon of the spring meeting.

The colonists at Gilbert one of three similar "units" scattered around the U. S. - also spread their ministry to the receptive residents of Bruno, St. Joe, Witts Springs and other Ozark communities. In the Ozarks, historians say unit followers were sometimes referred to as "Campbellites," a term my Ozark grandmother used long before I was old enough to know what it meant.

The colony drew the attention of a reporter for the Joplin, MO, "Globe," who in September 1921 wrote: "The spot ... is located along the Buffalo River, a typical mountain stream. On the opposite side of the river from the town a great bluff rises sheer from the water's edge, many feet in height. Under the town is an immense unexplored cave into which Dry Creek, a stream of considerable size, disappears about a half mile above the town, and pours out below the town."

Gilbert was spiritually ready for the 1926   "Holocaust." However, the anticipated date for the global Catholic-Protestant warfare came and went without incident - just as it did in Europe in the year 1,000. The citizens of Gilbert, content with their lot, didn't seem too terribly upset that the war didn't happen on schedule, but poor John Battenfield apparently suffered a nervous breakdown. He become morose and somewhat erratic in his behavior. In February 1925, a desperate Battenfield promised his flock that he would bring back to life a member of the unit who had died. (Some local residents say it was a little girl who had fallen from nearby Red Bluff.) However, after three public attempts, he failed in his attempts at resurrection.

Broken in spirit, the frustrated Battenfield retreated to the "Star Mountains (?)" to rest for a few days - then departed for Washington DC. on another unexplained "mission." He apparently never returned to Gilbert. Publication of the Kingdom Harbinger was suspended immediately. The colonists began to trickle away. By 1955, only a few of the original colonists remained. Today, the brown stone headquarters of the Kingdom Harbinger, reportedly still containing the printing press, and the vivid memories of the colonist's descendants, are all that remain to remind us of this experiment with Utopian living in the Ozark Mountains.

Actually, the history of Gilbert dates back even earlier than the IKMU colonization. Gilbert originated as a child of the Missouri & North Arkansas Railroad (M&NA) in 1902 when a railroad construction camp was built on the north bank of the Buffalo River. The railroad missed the small community of Duff by half a mile. Having an eye for business - Duff entrepreneur William Mays promptly moved his store and post office to the Gilbert construction camp in 1906. Others residents of Duff soon followed him.

The camp was named Gilbert in honor of Charles W. Gilbert, secretary-treasurer of Allegheny Supply Company, the construction company then building the railroad. Gilbert later became president of the M&NA, which began at Seligman, MO and rambled for 303 tortuous miles to Helena, AR on the Mississippi River. The colorful M&NA made a lasting impression on many Ozark communities.

Today, Gilbert's economy is enjoying a resurgence based primarily on eco-tourism generated by the nationwide popularity of the adjacent Buffalo National River America's first. The Buffalo never loses its magic. We come with pack and paddle for much the same reasons the colonists say they did: "The greatest desire in the minds of all here is to produce the things we need and to live off each other's good, and cut loose from Babylon as soon as possible ... ."

Amen. And they didn't have to drive for three hours or more to do it.

(Editor's note: Here are sources for additional reading on Gilbert: "History of an Ozark Utopia," by Doris Thompson, Newport, AR., Vol. 14, pages 359-373 Arkansas Historical Quarterly ( a 1955 Stebbins' Contest paper)

"The Missouri & North Arkansas Railroad," Volume 3 3, Pages 275 and 285-286., Arkansas Historical Quarterly.)