In 1921, a fire at the Commerce Department Building, in Washington D.C., destroyed the entire 1890 census for the whole country, erasing a decade of information and creating problems for future genealogists.
Now, one man is working to rebuild that year s census for Izard County, Arkansas, and is enlisting social media to help.
In its early days, the mostly rural county, close to the Missouri border, served as a gateway to settlers coming to Northern Arkansas. It drew in those looking for fresh game and fish, clean water, and valley farmland. Its virgin pine forests supplied lumber throughout the region.
Today, those pines still cover the Ozark hills in the northern Arkansas county while the grassy valley settlements have grown into small towns with names like Calico Rock, Oxford, and Melbourne.
The Omaha-area base has its own space legacy, with the Offutt-based U.S. Strategic Command actually having overseen military space operations until just last year.
Combine that mission synergy with Offuttâs tremendous communications infrastructure, a state university thatâs one of just 14 nationally designated by the Defense Department as a center for national security research, and community leaders whoâve shown theyâre not afraid to open their wallets in a big way to support the military. Taken together, those pushing the Offutt bid believe the base can rocket to the top.
âWe have all the right things to be highly competitive for this mission,â said Rick Evans, a retired Air Force major general from Omaha who is working with the state and Greater Omaha Chamber on the Offutt bid. âI would be surprised if we arenât in the top 1 or 2. We have a solid chance.â