Big Companies In A Small Town

Editor’s note: This article first appeared in the latest magazine edition of Talk Business & Politics.

After oil was discovered in the 1920’s, El Dorado was known as Arkansas’ Original Boomtown. As with many towns during the oil boom, over the years its economy gradually waned.

But with continual backing and support from its corporate community, including three large publicly traded companies that call the town home – Deltic Timber Corp., Murphy Oil Corp. and Murphy USA, Inc. – El Dorado is booming again.

The growth stems from noteworthy investments into its economic development and education of its children. Things began to transform in the 1980’s when Main Street El Dorado was incorporated. Since then, the city has seen a major uptick in its economic development, education and the arts, and the impact of Deltic, Murphy Oil and Murphy USA can be seen throughout the town of a little more than 18,000 residents.

EDUCATION PROGRAM
As with many small South Arkansas towns, El Dorado has laid out a strategic plan for economic development. One of its five goals includes education. Working hand-in-hand with Murphy Oil, the El Dorado Promise Scholarship Program has made history.

Allison Parker, general manager of global communications at Murphy Oil, said her company believes it is part of its corporate responsibility to give back to the communities in which it operates.

Because one of the city’s most precious resources is its children, ensuring a good education seemed a logical focus.

The El Dorado Promise is a scholarship program established and funded by Murphy Oil Corp. The program provides students who graduate from El Dorado High School scholarships that cover tuition and fees to any accredited two- or four-year public or private college in the United States. The scholarship’s maximum amount would equal the highest annual resident tuition to a public university in Arkansas. Since its launch on Jan. 22, 2007, more than 1,500 students have received Promise scholarship funding.

El Dorado Mayor Frank Hash said there is absolutely nothing exactly like the Promise in any other city.

“There is only one other city in our entire nation that has such a generous higher-education program: Kalamazoo, Mich.,” Hash said. “[The Promise] is a $50 million endowment and growing.”

Murphy also offers a gift-matching program to its employees and retirees and is able to direct a large portion of the donations to the organizations of the employees’ choice, Parker said.

“I don’t know of any other community that has done so with the same level of success,” said Austin Barrow, president and COO of El Dorado Festivals and Events, Inc. “Beyond the sizable commitment of money, the day-to-day attention that employees pour into education within the community is noted from as early as kindergarten, and seen throughout the entire public school experience.”

As a result of the Promise, the El Dorado School District has implemented programs to prepare its students for college, beginning in kindergarten. According to El Dorado Promise officials, the enrollment in the high school has more than doubled since 2005.

INDUSTRY INVOLVEMENT
El Dorado has always been a city with major industries. Hash said because the town is particularly rich in natural resources, such as oil, timber, brine, natural gas, clean high-quality water and electrical power, it is attractive to industry. The town is also easily accessible through rail, highway and river transportation modes.

“Many of these prominent companies were created in El Dorado, and I believe the question might be why did they stay?” Barrow said. “Perhaps the question is what can we, the people of El Dorado, do to make sure they stay? Quality of life is a major factor in many people’s lives when considering where to relocate for a job, and these firms understand that notion.

“They understand it, and they fund it. … El Dorado is a bit of an oasis in a sea of pine trees, down here in South Arkansas. Our large employers have allowed our local economy to weather the bad economic times better than most.”

Check Murphy USA’s website, for example, and you’ll see that the company believes in making a difference in all the communities it serves. Murphy USA says it hosted more than 250 community appreciation events last year and, since 2011, has sponsored more than 3,000 youth league sports teams.

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
“Our major industries are particularly philanthropic to many fine art endeavors and El Dorado has a wonderful Philharmonic Orchestra and Art Center as a result, to mention just a few,” Mayor Hash said.

The local businesses also support a host of services, crafts, products, eateries and recreational activities.

“El Dorado is fortunate to have a wide variety of publicly traded, nationally headquartered firms that are overly generous when it comes to sponsoring events residing within its borders,” Barrow said.

The city is enthusiastically awaiting the development of the Festival City of the South, which is being created by El Dorado Festivals and Events. This will be a $50 million private entertainment district that will be developed in the downtown area, Hash said.

“There will be a wonderful world class arts and entertainment venue that will serve the entire South Arkansas and northern Louisiana region,” Hash continued.

The goal of the downtown arts and entertainment district is to embrace the spirit of Southern arts and culture. El Dorado was nationally recognized for it in CNN’s 2013 America’s Best Small Town Comebacks. The city also received the 2009 Great American Main Street Award from a nationwide pool of applicants.

Barrow said he believes anyone would be hard pressed to point to another southern town with a population of less than 20,000 that can boast about a symphony planning its 60th continuous season, an art center that has just completed its 50th season, and more than a dozen arts and music festivals that have been running each year for more than 20 years.

“It’s truly remarkable the level and quality of performances and events that take place in such a small town in the south,” Barrow said. “El Dorado has had many graduates over the past 50-plus years that have grown up in this arts rich environment, and are now working as professional artists around the globe. We have a very high college matriculation rate, and professional artists and teachers make up a sizable portion of those that move into the professional world.”

El Dorado is a jewel in Union County with its historic downtown, including the 1920s-era Rialto Theater, 14 structures on the National Registry of Historic Places and a corporate community that clearly believes in giving back.