Bauxite

Bauxite. . , Bauxite ore from this region was crucial to the United States’ success in the Second World War. The demand for bauxite, the raw material that yields aluminum, spiked when the U.S. entered the war in 1941 and began rapidly manufacturing large numbers of military aircraft. Mines in this area supplied over 95% of the nation’s bauxite to produce the aluminum for over 300,000 fighters, bombers, cargo planes, and passenger planes built for the war effort. The growth in local bauxite mining from less than half a million tons a year before the war, Reverse , to over six million tons in 1943 boosted the Arkansas economy even as it substantially contributed to American victory overseas. With the placement of this official marker, the Arkansas250 Commission, appointed by Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, recognizes this site, for the events that occurred here, as among the most significant in Arkansas history. It was chosen by the commission for the consequential role played in Arkansas history in the 250 years from the birth of American independence to the semiquincentennial celebration on July 4, 2026.