Rogers: First Store, Beaver Lake, and a City Remade by Retail
Sam Walton opened his first Walmart store at 719 West Walnut Street in Rogers on July 2, 1962. The building still stands and has been converted into the Walmart Museum, drawing corporate tourists and history buffs who want to see where a $600 billion company started with a single discount store in a small Ozark town. Rogers was about 6,000 people then. It has since grown past 63,000.
Beaver Lake, created by the Army Corps of Engineers in the 1960s with the damming of the White River, has 487 miles of shoreline and sits just east and north of Rogers. The lake provides drinking water for much of NW Arkansas and serves as the primary recreational draw for the area, with fishing, boating, and swimming bringing visitors year-round. War Eagle Mill, a functioning water-powered grist mill on War Eagle Creek, hosts a biannual craft fair that attracts over 100,000 visitors each time.
Like its NW Arkansas neighbors, Rogers has been reshaped by the Walmart vendor economy. Companies that sell to Walmart maintain satellite offices throughout the city and region, creating a white-collar employment layer that did not exist before the 1990s. The downtown square has been partially revitalized, with restaurants and shops occupying formerly vacant storefronts. The Pinnacle Hills Promenade shopping center on the south end of town serves as the primary retail destination for the region.
The demographics of Rogers shifted dramatically starting in the 1990s as poultry processing and construction jobs drew a large Hispanic and Latino population. Bilingual signage is common along parts of Walnut Street, and the city's restaurant scene reflects the shift. Rogers Public Schools now enrolls a student body where nearly half the students are Hispanic, a proportion that would have been unimaginable when Sam Walton opened his store here.
Show more
Sam Walton opened his first Walmart store at 719 West Walnut Street in Rogers on July 2, 1962. The building still stands and has been converted into the Walmart Museum, drawing corporate tourists and history buffs who want to see where a $600 billion company started with a single discount store in a small Ozark town. Rogers was about 6,000 people then. It has since grown past 63,000.
Beaver Lake, created by the Army Corps of Engineers in the 1960s with the damming of the White River, has 487 miles of shoreline and sits just east and north of Rogers. The lake provides drinking water for much of NW Arkansas and serves as the primary recreational draw for the area, with fishing, boating, and swimming bringing visitors year-round. War Eagle Mill, a functioning water-powered grist mill on War Eagle Creek, hosts a biannual craft fair that attracts over 100,000 visitors each time.
Like its NW Arkansas neighbors, Rogers has been reshaped by the Walmart vendor economy. Companies that sell to Walmart maintain satellite offices throughout the city and region, creating a white-collar employment layer that did not exist before the 1990s. The downtown square has been partially revitalized, with restaurants and shops occupying formerly vacant storefronts. The Pinnacle Hills Promenade shopping center on the south end of town serves as the primary retail destination for the region.
The demographics of Rogers shifted dramatically starting in the 1990s as poultry processing and construction jobs drew a large Hispanic and Latino population. Bilingual signage is common along parts of Walnut Street, and the city's restaurant scene reflects the shift. Rogers Public Schools now enrolls a student body where nearly half the students are Hispanic, a proportion that would have been unimaginable when Sam Walton opened his store here.
Country selected
Region selected
City selected
