Farm No. 266—Johnny Cash Boyhood Home was the home of singer-songwriter

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...

from 1935 to 1950. Cash moved with his family to a rural community in

Mississippi County, Arkansas Mississippi County is the easternmost County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 40,685. There are two county seats, Blytheville, Arkansas, Blytheville and O ...

. The farm house was built in 1934 in a government project to help boost the economy. The Cash family joined the community in March of 1935. Ray and Carrie Cash moved to Arkansas when they took an offer to farm government land for poor and impoverished farmers. The Cash family went through many hard ships while living in the farm house by floods and losing one of their children, Jack Cash. Growing up picking cotton and working on the farm influenced some of Johnny Cash's songs in the future. One of them being "Pickin' Time." In 2018, the home was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

History

In March 1935, when American musician

was three years old, the family settled in

Dyess, Arkansas Dyess is a town in Mississippi County, Arkansas, United States. The town was founded as Dyess Colony in 1934 as part of the Roosevelt administration's agricultural relief and rehabilitation program and was the largest agrarian community establi ...

, a

New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...

colony of the

Franklin Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

administration. Dyess Colony was founded in Mississippi county in 1934 to give poor families a chance to work land that they had a chance to own. The colony was named after William Reynolds Dyess, a Mississippi native, and the first Arkansas

WPA WPA may refer to: Computing *Wi-Fi Protected Access, a wireless encryption standard *Windows Product Activation, in Microsoft software licensing * Wireless Public Alerting (Alert Ready), emergency alerts over LTE in Canada * Windows Performance An ...

administrator. Dyess gave the idea of supplying farms to families in poverty to

Harry Hopkins Harry Lloyd Hopkins (August 17, 1890 – January 29, 1946) was an American statesman, public administrator, and presidential advisor. A trusted deputy to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Hopkins directed New Deal relief programs before servi ...

, and then named the first "Colonization Project No 1." 16,000 acres in Mississippi County were given to this project for 500 different families to come farm on. Families started arriving in October 1934. The Cash family settled in March of 1935 on 20 acres. The house given to the Cash family is one of few left standing in the Dyess Colony. J.R., as Cash was known as a child, started working in his father's cotton fields at the age of five, singing along with his family while working. He lived there until he graduated from high school in 1950. Fifty pages, with bibliography, and with 17 photos from 2017. All families in Dyess colony depended on cotton. None were sharecroppers so the idea of one day purchasing their farms from the government was real. The government eventually stopped funding the scheme, but the Cash family continued farming at the property.

Arkansas State University Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage la ...

acquired the home in 2011, and the university's Heritage Sites Office operates it as a small museum, "Historic Dyess Colony: Johnny Cash Boyhood Home", as of 2022. It was listed on the

in 2018.

J.R. Cash growing up

Johnny Cash was born to Ray, and Carrie Cash on February 26, 1932. J.R was the fourth born of seven kids to the Cash family. J.R was three years old when the family packed up and moved to their new home, Farm No. 266. The Great Depression was a tragedy at this time, but along with the Great Depression came floods and natural disasters. In 1937 the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers flooded. The flood was so bad on the Cash family, they had to evacuate. Everyone but Ray Cash left to go to Kingsland; until it was safe to return. Along with natural disasters and the Great Depression, the Cash family went through a horrific event. On May 20, 1944 Jack Cash died. Jack was J.Rs older brother. Jack was 15 years old when he fell into a table saw on the Cash's farm. Jack pulled himself to the side of the barn where he laid until he passed away.

Incorporating the farm house into his music

Johnny Cash used his experiences at the farm house growing up in many of his songs. One important song that was inspired from the farm house is, "Pickin' Time". The family farm was flooded on at least two occasions, which inspired his song " Five Feet High and Rising".

Gallery

References

External links

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Boyhood Home in Dyess, 360^o Tour
ArkansasOnline {{DEFAULTSORT:Farm No. 266-Johnny Cash Boyhood Home National Register of Historic Places in Mississippi County, Arkansas Houses completed in 1934 1934 establishments in Arkansas Houses in Mississippi County, Arkansas Historic house museums in Arkansas Museums in Mississippi County, Arkansas University museums in Arkansas Arkansas State University Biographical museums in Arkansas Boyhood Home Country music museums New Deal in Arkansas Arkansas culture