Hi. My name is Dale Stevens. I live in Long Beach, CA, but lived in Mansfield and Hartford for a few years back in the late fifties. I would like to share a little history about Mansfield as I remember it back then.
Well, back in the late fifties, my father and mother, Doyle and Ina Stevens, had a little hamburger stand there in Mansfield. I can’t remember the name because it’s been so long ago, but it was on the east side of the road just across the creek as you come in to town. I remember on the weekends, we would get to stay in town with my parents while they served burgers.
It was just a little place, not big enough for us four boys to hang around in, so my father would give us each a quarter, and we would take off to the Dixie Theater. Back then, all you needed was a quarter--ten cents to get in, five cents a piece for popcorn, candy, and a soda.
After the show was over, Mom and Pop was still running the burger stand, so we would get to wandering around town. It wouldn’t take long before old Sheriff Tyson, who was the sheriff back then, would be giving us all kinds of trouble. Not too many people liked Sheriff Tyson back then, and he especially didn’t like me and my brothers because we would run the streets at night and find his bottles. You see, he had a drinking problem not too many people knew about, but me and my brothers knew all about him.
We ended up moving back to California in 1961, so my uncle took over the burger stand. His name was Clyde Earl Stevens. He did everybody in town’s taxes, everybody knew him.
Well, he got this idea after visiting us in California. He went back to Mansfield, knocked down the burger stand, and built one of the first miniature gold courses in Arkansas. He had some problems with his family, so he had to give it up. Shortly afterwards, he passed away. I don’t know what happened to the golf course.
I sure would like to come back and see Mansfield, but probably won’t be able to. It was probably the best time of my life back there.