Official Kids Mag

In 1955 the hotel was sold to J.C. Gladded, a Springdale antique dealer, who used it as an antique gallery. By the 1950s the Town of Monte Ne was reduced to a few homes, a general store, gas station, a restaurant, and a camp for girls. In 1960, work began on Beaver Dam, which was built to control flooding in the area. That was the beginning of the real end for Monte Ne. Business owners and the community wanted the dam built and only a few people cared about saving what was left of Monte Ne, which would be flooded by the project. In their land survey, the Army Corp of Engineers mistakenly calculated that the property the three hotels stood on would be under water as well, so they purchased the land and dismantled the hotels. As the waters rose, Harvey's tomb was moved up onto a hillside. It can be viewed from the boat launch at Monte Ne. J.C. Gladden purchased the some parts of the old hotel and moved it west to use as an antique shop. Now all that's left standing of the former resort is the foundation and basement one of the hotels, and a fireplace, chimney, foundation and a retaining wall from another. When the water levels Beaver Lake are low, the ghosts of Monte Ne emerge, and you can see some of what was once one man's vision of the perfect community. Two concrete chairs from the original amphitheater stage were moved are now in Frisco Park in downtown Rogers. The concrete tower of one of the original hotels that appears above the water was placed on the National Register of Historic Places as one of the first examples of reinforced concrete construction in Arkansas. William Harvey may have been a visionary or just plain crazy. Either way, he definitely was an interesting figure who created a weird and wonderful Arkansas artifact. You can learn more about Mont Ne by visiting the Rogers Historical Museum in downtown Rogers, which still has some relics from the resort. These include a cement chair, a wooden model of what the pyramid would have looked like, and Harvey's death mask– made by a funeral home employee while waiting for Harvey's tomb to be prepared. MONTE NE, 1911 The resort a few miles from Rogers was built by eccentric wealthy William Hope "Coin" Harvey, so named because he wanted to replace the nation's gold standard with silver. One of the things erected on the 320 acres of the resort was an indoor swimming pool housed inside this building. "I am having the time of my life, lots of dandy people... We go to a picnic at the place of this picture... Social here tonight." For a look inside the building, see tomorrow's feature. MONTE NE, 1909 The outside of the resort's indoor pool was seen yesterday. "There's where we go when Lish is here. Don't take me as I mean we swim like this at all but we go there." That may have been a reference to the bathing suits, when even the men had covered tops. The resort of eccentric Coin Harvey, which contained several hotels and other facilities, today lies mostly beneath the waters of Beaver Lake. Off icialKidsMag.com • NOVEMBER 2019 • 17 Monte Ne 1910 "I beg your pardon for not answering right away. I have been so busy visiting & my hubby came back here a little over a week ago." The image was of one of the canals and gondolas which were a part of eccentric Coin Harvey's Monte Ne resort a few miles from Rogers. Today most of the site lies beneath Beaver lake.

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