WEST PLAINS, Mo. – Officials with the Ozarks Heritage Research Center (OHRC) at Missouri State University-West Plains (MSU-WP) will host a special presentation on the Ozarks Regional Commission for economic development at 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 15, at the Garnett Library, 304 W. Trish Knight St., in West Plains.
The presentation by historian Joe Hutchinson, Evening Shade, Arkansas, discusses the creation and ultimate downfall of the Ozarks Regional Commission (ORC) and the Ozarks Economic Development Region (OEDR).
More about the presentation
Entitled “Modernizing the Hills: The Creation and Early Years of the Ozarks Regional Commission,” Hutchinson’s presentation reviews the creation of the Ozarks Economic Development Region (OEDR) and the Ozarks Regional Commission (ORC) under the Public Works and Economic Development Act (PWEDA) of 1965. The organizations were created to spur industrial economic development in a 125-county area in Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma.
Through improvements in infrastructure, recreation and tourism, and education, the ORC looked to transform the fledgling agrarian economy of the OEDR into a modern industrial one. But the ORC lasted only 15 years before President Ronald Reagan dismantled it in 1981.
This lecture examines the causes of the ORC’s downfall, including its internal dysfunction, its lack of funding and authority, and its ultimate failure to assist counties in the OEDR that needed help the most. The plight of the ORC reveals problems with the federal government’s faith in economic growth to solve rural America’s woes in the mid-20th century. The ORC also reveals the federal government’s complicated relationship with a regional approach to economic development.
More about Hutchinson
Hutchinson received his bachelor’s degree in history from Williams Baptist University in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, and his master’s degree in history from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He will begin pursuing his doctorate degree in history at Mississippi State University in Starkville this fall.
Hutchinson has presented at numerous conferences, including the Ozarks Studies Association, where he serves as a board member, the Ozarks Studies Symposium and the Missouri Conference on History. He also gave a lecture to the Spring River Gem and Mineral Club. He received the 2024 Northeast Arkansas Regional Archives Award for his paper “Jealousy, Gangs, and Contract Killing: A Revealing Case in the Arkansas Ozarks.”
The July 15 event is free and open to all. Light refreshments will be served.
For more information about the event, contact Rebekah McKinney at 417-255-7949 or RebekahMcKinney@MissouriState.edu.
