The incorporated town of Kimberly, a sparsely inhabited area on the south side of

Murfreesboro, Arkansas Murfreesboro is a city in, and the county seat of, Pike County, Arkansas, United States. Its population was 1,641 at the 2010 census. The city is known for the Crater of Diamonds State Park located south of the city. History In 1906, diamonds ...

, began in late 1908 as an ill-fated land-development project spanning almost . At the time, the recently discovered Arkansas diamond field was still generating a speculative heyday, and the enterprising property owner, Millard M. (M. M.) Mauney, envisioned a dynamic settlement based upon a future mining industry. His location was perfect. The diamond field lay only a half-mile away. The planned extension of a

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

into Murfreesboro from the southwest would cut through Kimberly, facilitating investments and development.

Opening ceremony

On the weekend of January 22–23, 1909, Mauney and associates staged the opening ceremony for the grand venture. Helping stir publicity, the discoverer of the diamond field, "Diamond John" Huddleston, was on hand to buy Lot No. 1 for a token $70.

Buildings

In 1909–1910, the promoters secured a few wood-frame businesses, including a small

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

, a compact three-story

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

, and a little general store. There were also plans for a large business center featuring a club "for the entertainment and accommodation of those interested in the diamond lands, and or

prospectors Prospecting is the first stage of the geological analysis (followed by Mining engineering#Pre-mining, exploration) of a territory. It is the search for minerals, fossils, precious metals, or mineral specimens. It is also known as fossicking. ...

who may visit that section." Meanwhile, speculative investors bought a considerable number of residential lots.

End of the venture

Mauney's success, however, depended upon commercial testing at the main

diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the Chemical stability, chemically stable form of car ...

field and at similar

volcanic A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...

deposits nearby, and failure was assured as commercial yields constantly proved elusive. In February 1910, local investors abandoned the idea of building the club and adjacent business complex. As activity continued dwindling, the venture formally ended in July 1911.

Return to agriculture

Eventually, Mauney's heirs recovered full ownership of almost all the property he had dedicated to the project. The few buildings were removed, and almost all the

platted In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Surveys to show the distance and bear ...

Kimberly township reverted to

agricultural land Agricultural land is typically land ''devoted to'' agriculture, the systematic and controlled use of other organism, forms of lifeparticularly the rearing of livestock and production of cropsto produce food for humans. It is generally synonymous ...

. Contrary to a recurring description, there is no "

ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * Ghost Town (1936 film), ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * Ghost Town (1956 film), ''Ghost Town'' ...

Kimberly today

Today, the former Kimberly addition consists of about a dozen modern homes along State Highway 301 - the "Diamond Mine Road" which passes through

Crater of Diamonds State Park Crater of Diamonds State Park is a List of Arkansas state parks, Arkansas state park in Pike County, Arkansas, Pike County, Arkansas, in the United States. The park features a 37.5-acre (15.2 ha) plowed field, the world's only diamond-bearing sit ...

References

* Banks, Dean, ''Arkansas Diamonds: Dreams, Myths, and Reality'', Online edition, copyright 2006, available at {{coord, 34, 02, 37, N, 93, 41, 21, W, display=title Geography of Pike County, Arkansas Ghost towns in Arkansas