L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 2018 www.italoamericano.org 18 L'Italo-Americano LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE D ear readers, Arka- nsas, the 25th state to join the union (1836), may not be a hot bed of Italianità, but within the state live the descendants of the oldest Italian settlement in America and the oldest Grape Festival in Ameri- ca. In fact, when I spoke with Charlotte Piazza, former curator of the Tontitown Historical Museum () she told me that this will be the 120th edition of the 3 day Tontitown annual Grape Fes- tival, held in August.  Since geography may pre- v e n t y o u f r o m a t t e n d i n g t h e Festival, I want to acquaint you a bit with the history of Tonti- town and the travails of those f i r s t I t a l i a n s e t t l e r s , s e t i n motion by a well meaning New York philanthropist who bought a big plantation, besides the Mississippi River, in Arkansas, thinking it might be an alterna- tive to New York's congested s l u m s a n d p e r s u a d e d I t a l i a n families in large numbers to go down there to farm. *** A s t e a m e r c a r r y i n g 9 8 Northern Italian families left Italy in 1895 because increas- ingly high taxes, overcrowding, food shortage, political unrest and unpopular colonial wars, w e r e t e r r o r i z i n g t h e i r l i v e s . They came to America to begin again.In 1896 a steamship with 72 families left Italy for all the same reasons and the desire to begin again in a place called S u n n y s i d e , i n t h e s t a t e o f Arkansas. It seems that Austin Corbin, a New York millionaire and philanthropist conceived the ideas of establishing a colony in Southeast Arkansas at Sunny- side, in Chico County. The plan was to sell land to colonists in twelve acre tracts for a small payment and with deferred pay- m e n t s e x t e n d i n g o v e r m a n y years. Prince Ruspoli, an Ital- i a n n o b l e m a n , w h o w a s a n o w n e r o f a b i g b l o c k o f t h e stock in the Sunnyside Compa- ny favored the idea, as did other Italian peasants or small farm- e r s l i v i n g i n t h e  A l p i n e region of Italy, and closed con- tracts to purchase land at Sun- nyside. The first group arrived a t S u n n y s i d e P l a n t a t i o n o n December 4, 1895, followed by a second group on January 5, 1897. The colonists had expected to grow small fruits and vegeta- bles, but due to the lack of facil- ities for rapid transportation, they could not do this and were forced to cultivate cotton and corn, crops about which few, if any of them, had any knowl- edge. Unaccustomed to the humid climate, plagued by malarial mosquitoes, many became sick and died that first winter. Of the 1 0 0 f a m i l i e s w h o h a d f i r s t arrived, 125 members died in the first year *** Meanwhile, Father Pietro B a n d i n i h a d b e e n s e n t t o  A m e r i c a t o h e l p I t a l i a n i m m i g r a n t s . B a n d i n i w a s o f good birth and highly educated. He was passionately involved in the plight of improving the lives of his fellow Italians and orga- nized the St. Raphael Society to work with the Immigration Ser- vice in New York. Hearing of the conditions at Sunnyside, Bandini came to Arkansas to help. Father Bandini remem- b e r e d t r a v e l i n g t h r o u g h t h e Ozarks where the terrain was high and dry; a place where the sick could regain their health, and colonists could cultivate crops that were more familiar. He convinced 18 families to wait while he secured land. Gio- vanni Battista Bariola's family was the first to follow Father Bandini in January 1898. By March, at least 40 families had a r r i v e d . T h e y c a m e by coach singing the same songs they had once sang on the voy- age from Italy. *** T h e y b o u g h t t h e l a n d on mortgage, dividing the farm and a few other small parcels in 10-acre tracts for each family. That first winter, the families huddled in a few wood and mud h u t s . T h e m e n  w o r k e d i n the Ozark mines in the win- ter while the women did their best to make homes of those huts. By late spring, the communi- t y b e g a n p l a n t i n g t h e i r f i r s t crops of vegetables and fruit. They began to cultivate one acre of land, placing grape vines on i t . T h e y p l a n t e d t h e f i g a n d chasten trees from their native Italy, and the American apple tree. The fig and chestnut trees died during the first year, but the apples prospered. Day by day, from dawn to late night, e a c h m a n a t t e n d e d t o h i s acreage, trying to improve land. Father Bandini was officially appointed pastor. They named the colony Tontitown for Henri De Tonti, the first Italian and LaSalle's Chief Lieutenant, who had established the first white colony in Arkansas. *** A u g u s t f o u n d t h e I t a l i a n s with a harvest to celebrate with a mass to Thanksgiving in the l i t t l e C h u r c h . T h e w o m e n served the tastiest meal their meager provisions would allow. F r o m t h a t f i r s t f r o l i c i n t h e w o o d s i n  1 8 9 8  s t e m m e d t h e Tontitown Festival of today. John Pozza established the f i r s t g e n e r a l s t o r e a n d p o s t office in May 1900. By now, the Italians had established their farms, with strawberries and truck hardens of all kinds. The men worked together to build a church, dedicating it on Novem- ber 18,1900. W i t h i n s i x y e a r s , T o n t i - town's farms were profitable, several businesses were estab- lished and as word spread of the Italian integrity an proficiency, t h e A m e r i c a n s l e a r n e d f r o m their methods of cultivation The Italians had earned their due respect.  *** "Though apples were the unit of their economy, grapes, were the crop of their hearts. "It was good that Tontitown had that second cash crop, for in 1904 scale attacked the orchard. From that time on, the apple declined as Tontitown's major crop. With the biggest part of the apple orchards ruined, Father B a n d i n i s u g g e s t e d t h a t t h e y expand their back-door grape arbors to commercial vineyards. By 1911, they had formed the Tontitown Grape Growers Asso- ciation. Two years later, the first shipment of four carloads of Tontitown grapes were made. *** Queen Margherita of Italy sent Fr. Bandini a set of beauti- f u l h a n d m a d e v e s t m e n t s embroidered by students at an Italian Girls School. When Tontitown was incor- porated in 1909 Father Bandi- ni, was elected mayor. By that t i m e , I t a l i a n h o l d i n g s h a d increased to over 1400 acres. The Kansas City and Memphis Line ran a spur through Tonti- town with the depot completed in 1912. Golden Lion Hotel, Frank Baudino's store and cafe, a n d t h e S t r a b a l a B l a c k s m i t h S h o p o p e n e d . L e o M a e s t r i ' s General store was now the new post office and the Bank of Ton- titown was founded. In December 1916, Father Bandini had a stroke. Although i t w a s t h o u g h t t h a t h e w a s improving, he died onJanuary 2, 1917 and was buried in Tonti- town. He was missed in Tontitown people's homes, church lives, and business councils.

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