Arkansas wasn’t always “the natural state,” here are the state’s other nicknames

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — Arkansas is known as “the natural state,” but it wasn’t always that way.

Arkansas used to have unofficial nicknames, but the state did not receive an official nickname until the 20th century.

These are some of the first unofficial nicknames:

• The “Bear State”: The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said pre-settlement estimates indicated there were more than 50,000 bears in the state. Most of the bears were Louisiana black bears, one of 16 species native to the United States. By the 1930s, the bears had been nearly wiped out of the state.
• The “Toothpick State”: Early Arkansas residents carried large sheath or belt knives. Some were double-edged knives called “dirks.” The Encyclopedia of Arkansas noted in 1837 that a state delegate bludgeoned another delegate with a knife “(consolidating) the new state’s reputation as a violent place.”
• “Rackensack”: No one knows exactly where this nickname came from, but CALS says it was used by the late 1840s as an exaggerated definition for the rural and hilly western parts of Arkansas.

The “Miracle State”

In 1923, Arkansas officially received a nickname when the state legislature recognized the activities of the Arkansas Advancement Association. The AAA was a group of businessmen who sought to attract economic investment to the state and improve its image.

Former Governor Charles H. Brough was a supporter of AAA and traveled throughout the South earlier in the decade to tout the state’s natural resources.

A resolution of January 1923 stated: “It is a recognized fact that the State of Arkansas excels all other States in natural resources, her supply of mineral wealth is practically inexhaustible, her extensive forests yield pine and hardwood timber in quantities sufficient to place the State in prominence, and her agricultural and horticultural prowess is recognized not only in the United States; but abroad as well.”

The resolution argued that the nickname “Bear State” was a misnomer and gave a false impression, while the nickname “Wonder State” is accurate and deserves special recognition.

“Although the nickname was official, it did little to change the popular perception of Arkansas as an underdeveloped, even backward, state,” according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas.

“Land of opportunities”

Since the nickname did little to enhance the state’s image, a second group of businessmen, the ‘Committee of 100’, began looking for a new nickname.

To improve economic development in Arkansas, the group decided to create the “Land of Opportunity.”

Although not official at the time, the nickname was added to license plates and printed on various promotional materials in the 1940s, CALS said.

In 1953, the Arkansas General Assembly passed a resolution deleting the “Wonder State” and replacing it with “Land of Opportunity.”

The “natural state”

In the second half of the 20th century, tourism began to grow in the state. In the 1980s, the Arkansas park system adopted the moniker “Natural State” to emphasize the state’s natural landscape, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas.

In 1995, State Representative Dennis Young introduced a bill seeking to change the nickname to the “Natural State,” as it proved more popular than the previous one.

Young called it “unsurpassed scenery, clear lakes, free-flowing streams, beautiful rivers, winding bays, delta plains, forested mountains and the abundance of fish and wildlife” that Arkansas has to offer.

Later that year, his bill was passed into Act 1352, a nickname that has stuck ever since.