BELLA VISTA, Ark. — With Bella Vista's rapidly growing population, the 5NEWS morning crew wanted to get an idea of how the city got to this point. On this episode of Around the Corner, the crew dove into the Bella Vista Historical Museum archives.
The museum, located at 1885 Bella Vista Way, covers all of the city's history, from Native American artifacts to chronicles of the beginning of a resort community.
The name Bella Vista means beautiful view. While this remains true today, the vision of what Bella Vista could be has changed over the years.
At the museum, you can learn about the people behind the vision. For example, John Cooper was behind framing the vision of Bella Vista as a recreational retirement community, which is how it is perceived today.
Before Cooper, the Linebarger brothers had a different vision for Bella Vista. They aimed to make the Northwest Arkansas city into a resort community.
The concept of a resort community was already circulating in the 1900s, but the Texas brothers executed the idea on a grander scale with the Sunset Hotel.
While Bella Vista is well-known for its roaring hills, the Linebargers decided to take advantage and place the hotel on top of one. The hotel was state-of-the-art, with bathrooms in every room.
Not only did the brothers have an extravagant hotel, but they also owned a one-of-a-kind nightclub. In 1930, the Linebargers opened up a nightclub inside Wonderland Cave. The "event venue" was so large that it could fit around 2,000 people at a time.
Although not owned continuously by the Linebarger brothers, the cave was operating off and on until 1994.
The 5NEWS crew learned about one of the most elaborate cave uses and more at the Bella Vista Historical Museum.
As a well-known history buff, Zac's favorite part of the museum was examining the blueprints of old Bella Vista buildings, such as the Sunset Hotel.
Jo's favorite part was learning about the history behind Wonderland Cave and imagining what it was like with the orchestral music bouncing off the cave's walls.
For those looking to dive into the city's archives like Zac and Jo, the museum is open Wednesday through Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m.
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