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# 77 MARCH 21 , 2016
voted. Father Bandini was
the first mayor of Tontitown.
In its first 100 years, Tontitown has had 16 mayors:
12 of them had an Italian
family name. Is there a big
Italian American community in Arkansas?
Yes, it has been. It was basically an Italian community. Now there’s not so
many Italians anymore. I
came here from Kansas.
What is the story of the
Tontitown Historical Museum?
When they cleared off the
land there was nothing
there, just trees and a little bit of. So they had to
harvest, and when they
did it, they started for the
first time what it is now called the “Grape festival”: it
must have been a simple
pic-nic, at that time.
10 | WE THE ITALIANS
www.wetheitalians.com
So, Father Bandini decided to suggest to name
the town Tontitown, after
Henry De Tonti. De Tonti
probably was a Jesuit, and
Father Bandini was a Jesuit, both born in Italy. There were three names the
Italian immigrants could
choose from, and Tontitown was the one most
The Museum was established in 1986. A lot of the
history was being lost, and
that’s why the community
decided to collect pictures and artifacts in a museum. We have a few things that belonged to some
of the original settlers. My
husband and I take care of
the museum, I am the curator, and I have been the
only one from the beginning.
Which are the museum’s
activities?
We have the polenta in
November. Then we have