Massard Community Reunion

From: Rick Ruth (Formerly of Massard, Arkansas)
Fort Smith, AR 72903
Cell Phone 479-629-3852
[email protected]

Re: Massard Community Reunion

You may remember the old rock Massard Methodist Church, or the 2 room schoolhouse and the gas station and grocery store at the corner of Highway 22 and Massard Road. Perhaps you recall Moody Dairy or the Highway 22 Drive-In Theatre where K-Mart is now located. Massard may be a street in Fort Smith now, but there was a time when a “trip to Fort Smith” occurred only weekly or monthly for the residents of the Massard community. We ask for your help in bringing Massard back to life once again on a day when our history can be passed on to today’s generation.

There will be an “old-timers” reunion of the MASSARD COMMUNITY on Saturday, May 9 from 11:00 am – 4:00 pm in the CHAFFIN JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL CAFETERIA (not connected with the Chaffin Jr. High open house on May 8). Featured will be several hundred old photos of Massard School, Church and Massard Families. Buddy Patterson, formerly of Massard has also researched and prepared a true history of Massard Prairie for distribution.

We also have school group photo’s, featuring not only Mr. Chaffin, for whom the school was named, but also of his son, Harold Chaffin, and daughter Arvilla (Chaffin) Dooley, both of whom taught at Massard School. Harold was a pilot at Pearl Harbor, and was later lost in the Pacific War.

One of the featured pictures is a 1904 group photo at the original Massard School. The schoolchildren are holding a handmade sign that reads “Massaeret School ‘04”. Massaeret is a French variation of the surname Massard, for which the prairie was originally named.

Everyone is cordially invited to attend. Whether you have ties to Massard or historical interest in the area, stop in to visit and have some refreshments with us and reminisce. We would also ask everyone that has any photo’s of the community, properties and families to bring them with you to share. We will have a scanner set up to copy photo’s so that later a compilation of the pictures can be included on a CD that will be made available for everyone.