Monte Ne was a health resort and planned community established and operated by William Hope Harvey from 1901 into the 1920s. It was located in a valley just east of the town of Rogers, Arkansas, though today its location is mostly under the waters of Beaver Lake. The resort consisted of several hotels, a lake, an indoor swimming pool, a golf course, tennis courts, bowling alleys, its own post office and bank, as well as a dedicated train line and an imported Italian gondola to conduct guests to the resort. In 1931 Monte Ne was the site of the only presidential convention ever held in the state.
Despite Harvey's efforts to publicize his resort and draw both visitors and businesses, Monte Ne was not a financial success. By 1920 the rail line had been sold and abandoned, and the Monte Ne Bank closed. Given these setbacks, and Harvey's belief that civilization was doomed, he began to focus his efforts on building "The Pyramid", a 130-foot tall obelisk that would eventually contain books and objects that reflected human life in the 20th century, preserving them for future generations to discover. Harvey exhausted his funds constructing an elaborate amphitheater to serve as the pyramid's foundation, and the stock market crash of 1929 ended all hopes of raising the necessary money to build the pyramid.
By the time of Harvey's death in 1936, most of the resort's assets had been sold off. Some of the resort buildings were repurposed and continued to be used on and off until the 1960s, when the United States Army Corps of Engineers began construction of a dam on the White River, creating Beaver Lake. The lake flooded almost the entirety of the resort, with only the remnants of one hotel tower and some building foundations still regularly visible. This tower was demolished in February 2023 by the Corps of Engineers, citing ongoing vandalism and health hazards posed by the deteriorating structure. And yet, when Beaver Lake levels drop sufficiently, portions of the enigmatic amphitheater become visible again.
William Hope 'Coin' Harvey
William Hope "Coin" Harvey was a well-known and successful lawyer, businessman, politician, author and lecturer in the 1890s. His 1894 pamphlet, "Coin's Financial School", sold over one million copies in its first year, and earned him the nickname 'Coin'. Harvey's belief in the economic topic of "Free Silver" had a strong influence on 1896 Democratic presidential nominee William Jennings Bryan, and Harvey actively campaigned for Bryan during that year's election. This campaigning led Harvey to visit northwest Arkansas. In 1900 he purchased land near a small village called Silver Springs, and renamed the area "Monte Ne", which he claimed were the Spanish and Native American names for "mountain" and "water". Harvey wrote, "The people of Arkansas are to be congratulated on having no large city and no extremely rich people. For these reasons I have come here to make my home".
Harvey and his family moved into an existing house on the property of Monte Ne. In December 1901 the house burned and destroyed much of the family's belongings. Harvey's wife, Anna, moved to Chicago and only returned once to Monte Ne, for the funeral of their son Hal in 1903.
Initial construction projects In December 1900, with $52,000 of individual investors' money and $48,000 of his own, Harvey formed the Monte Ne Investment Company, which held the deeds to all of the land. Initial projects included dredging a canal and constructing a lagoon along with various bridges and walkways for guests. In 1900 the construction of the first hotel was begun, and the Hotel Monte Ne was completed in April 1901. It was three stories high and had two wings long. The grand opening of the resort was held on May 4, 1901. According to the Springfield Republican newspaper, "The ball being given tonight is the most brilliant social event that has ever occurred in this section, and marks the beginning of a new era in the social world of Northwest Arkansas".
In July of that year Harvey imported a 50-foot gondola from Italy and began selling rides on the lagoon. In August, Harvey's son and brother-in-law opened a bathhouse featuring a 25-foot by 50-foot indoor pool, complete with slides, springboards, and heated water, the first in Arkansas. A two lane bowling alley was also added.
Railroad
Harvey needed a way to get people to Monte Ne. In 1900, there were few adequate roads, and automobiles were not yet practical. Harvey chose to build a five-mile (8 km) railroad line spur from the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad ("Frisco") in Lowell, Arkansas, to Monte Ne. The Arkansas Railroad Commission granted a charter on April 26, 1902, and the Monte Ne Railway Company was incorporated the following month with a capital stock of $250,000. Harvey purchased an engine, a tender, and a passenger coach from the Frisco Railroad and built a large log depot along the bank of the lake at Monte Ne. He employed his imported gondola to move guests from the rail depot to the resort hotels, and Harvey often promoted Monte Ne as: "the only place in America where the gondola meets the train".Washington County Arkansas Genealogical Society, February 2006 Retrieved on 2007-04-11 The line was opened on June 19, 1902, and former presidential candidate and friend William Jennings Bryan spoke at the opening ceremony.
Unfortunately for Harvey, the railroad was not a success. Its service was erratic, and many guests actually arrived via special Frisco excursion trains. In 1908 the Monte Ne rail line was sold to the Arkansas, Oklahoma & Western Railroad (AO&W) and then to the Kansas City & Memphis Railroad (KC&M) in 1910 when the former went bankrupt. Passenger service continued until 1914, and the line hauled lumber and freight for a few years longer.
Further hotel construction Harvey envisioned adding more hotels to Monte Ne. He retained the services of A. O. Clarke, a successful architect from St. Louis. In April 1904 the Monte Ne Club House Hotel and Cottage Company was organized with $250,000 in capital and with Clarke as both the chief architect and superintendent. Five hotels were proposed: a three-story main building called the Club House Hotel and four "cottage rows", each to be named for a state bordering on Arkansas.
The first two hotels commissioned were the Missouri Row and the Club House Hotel. Missouri Row was designed to be wide and long and built of 8,000 logs and of concrete. Red tiles for the roof were shipped from Chicago. The Club House Hotel was designed to use stone and concrete, “as palatial as a Roman imperial villa” with an 18-foot-high waterfall in the lobby. In May 1905, in order to speed construction, workers were asked to work longer hours for no increase in pay. The workers went on strike, and Harvey fired them.
Harvey was involved in a physical altercation with one of the workers, who was unhappy about what had been written about him in the Monte Ne newspaper. The worker alleged Harvey pulled a gun on him, Harvey claimed self defense, but the pistol was knocked to the ground and a scuffle ensued. In the end Harvey required several days of bed rest to recover.
The strike was soon resolved, but work on the Club House Hotel was suspended and despite the fact the first floor was built, it was never finished. All of the workers focused on finishing the Missouri Row, which opened in September 1905 with room rates of $1 a day and $6 a week.
With financing from almost 300 new stockholders, construction began on the Oklahoma Row in 1907. Also designed by A.O. Clarke, it was another log and tile construction, with a three-story concrete tower on the south end. During this period of construction Harvey was very concerned about the financial situation at the resort, writing to his wife "I am trying to save the ship from sinking". Opening in 1909, all 40 rooms featured electric lights, indoor plumbing, and running spring water. According to an article in the 1963 Daily Oklahoman, it was touted as the largest log hotel in the world. Due to lack of funds, when Oklahoma Row finally opened there was no gala event, as there had been when Missouri Row was finished.
Theme song In 1901, Harvey commissioned a theme song for Monte Ne. "Beautiful Monte Ne" was written by a Rogers local, Edward Wolfe, and copyrighted by Harvey in 1906.Beautiful Monte Ne. Rec# 606. Mary D. Hudgins Arkansas Music Collection. Processed by Kim Allen Scott, July 1992 Beautiful Monte Ne, God's gift to man they say Health resort of all the world is beautiful Monte Ne Rosy cheeks and purer blood they gain there day by day in mountain air water rare at beautiful Monte Ne
Business development and resort operations Harvey tried to get businesses to move to Monte Ne, but few actually did. Monte Ne's small downtown area had at one time a general store, a livery stable, a gristmill, and a post office. Harvey issued his own money, or scrip, which was accepted and used as cash in and around Monte Ne. Scrip was a way of financing his mercantile without requiring operating capital. Harvey would purchase items with the scrip and promised to redeem it within 30 days. If the item did not sell, the scrip had no value.
In 1905 Harvey established the Bank of Monte Ne. He again turned to architect A.O. Clarke. He designed a two-story, building (usually referred to as the "Bank Block") including the bank and a store room on the main floor, as well as a lodge room and offices on the second floor. The building was across the street from the post office. The bank operated until 1914, when depositors and lenders were paid off and any other funds were transferred to a bank in Rogers.
To help attract tourists, Harvey often brought in musicians and hosted dances and other events to give Monte Ne a constant festive atmosphere. He used the Monte Ne Herald, run by his son Tom, to promote these events. The newspaper only lasted until 1905, probably due to financial troubles and Harvey's publication of personal attacks. There were sporting events in Monte Ne such as tennis, croquet, and fox hunting. A golf course was built sometime before 1909.
Harvey's difficult-to-please nature often ended up driving away more people than it attracted. Harvey had a lights-out at 10 p.m. policy, and at least once he cut the main electricity to the town in order to enforce his curfew. Disgruntled guests left the next day. He was also criticized for holding events on Sunday and for banning children and people who were ill from the resort.
Roads By 1913, the Monte Ne railroad has failed and Harvey realized that automobiles were becoming a more common method for vacationers to travel. In 1913 Harvey spearheaded the founding of The Ozark Trails Association (OTA) to promote marking and building (but not financing) quality highways. Not surprisingly, his interest was in bringing people to Monte Ne, as he stated: "My personal interest in the Ozark Trails is that they all lead to Monte Ne", though he said further "My inclination runs toward doing something of a progressive nature that will promote the collective good, and I have now concentrated all that inclination on carrying out the system of roads known as the Ozark Trails".
Arguably, the OTA was William Harvey's most successful endeavor. From the initial meeting at Monte Ne on July 10, 1913, the annual meeting hosted 7,000 delegates in Oklahoma City in 1916. The group built large obelisks, listing the names of the benefactors, along the routes and trails that it sponsored.