By Dr. Curtis Varnell
With more than eight billion people on this planet, many of us feel like we’re a small cog in a large machine and there is little that we can do to change or affect the world around us. I love visiting Eureka Springs with its historic and quaint shops, its unique mountainous streets, and its old buildings. Visitors explore the numerous nooks and crannies of the various shops, finding that unique and original item found nowhere else in the state, visit the kite shop, and explore the large springs that gush from the hillside. Nostalgia creates an aura of better days, simpler times, and remembrances of times past. Much of what we see stands as a testament to what can be achieved by one man, determined to work with others to make his world a better place.
John Fuller Cross came from a distinguished family that succeeded and achieved the American dream through hard work and determination. His grandfather was a common workingman. When John S. Cross was of age, his mother worked in a boarding house to help pay tuition for his education. John S. Cross worked at various jobs with the U.S. Department of the Interior and was instrumental in the creation of the Promenade at Hot Springs National Park. Later, even though past draft age, he was in the Navy and a WW. II veteran. He and his wife were the parents of John F. Cross (1934) and brother Claude (1935). It is interesting that both of them spent time in the military with Claude becoming a naval officer in charge of the USS Poseidon, a position in which he held the same “nuclear” button as the president and the power to destroy a big portion of the world.
John F. graduated from the University of Arkansas, and after his military years, started to work as a teller in the bank of Eureka Springs. Always interested in the outdoors, he took the local job in his grandfather’s bank rather than more lucrative job elsewhere so that he would have plenty of time to hunt, fish, and explore.
Always interested in promoting and building the city he lived in, he purchased the Basin Park Coffee shop, the Basin Park Hotel, the Ozarka water company, the spring, and other real estate. He was successful in restoring and preserving these enterprises for future generations. With an astute head for the market and investment, John moved up the ladder in the bank and. In 1968, became the youngest bank president (age 33) in Arkansas. Today it is one of the top five community banks to work for in the U.S.
John’s biggest impact in the region came from his interest in history and his efforts to preserve and restore his home town. In 1978, he was elected to serve as the chairman for the Eureka Springs centennial committee. At that time the downtown area was decaying and rundown with buildings in shambles. Seeking to restore the historic old city rather than to demolish it, the committee decided to clean up, polish up, and rebuild the natural attractions rather than build a sterile theme park. John was instrumental in locating grants and in finding matching funds, obtaining donations, and in organizing the reconstruction. Old buildings were repainted, aluminum siding removed, and buildings redone to match the decor of the historical city. In many instances, building that could not be repaired were removed and replaced by beautiful fountains, parks, and gardens. Trolleys were purchased to roam the streets, transporting tourist from the new upper town to the historic district. Cross worked with Gerald L.K. Smith to get the huge Christ of the Ozarks statue constructed. Latter the Passion Play, which attracts thousands to the city, was added to the attraction.
In his 70th year of banking, he is the oldest working banker in the state and perhaps the oldest working in the U.S. Still involved in the region, he assisted the efforts to preserve Carnall Hall at the U/A and helped create the Bank of Eureka Spring Museum.
When we think we are only an unimportant cog, let us remember John F. Cross and the many men like him that stand as an example of how one person can change and make the world around them a better place.
