Cotham's Mercantile Store was a widely known community restaurant favored by former President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

. It was housed in a former general store building constructed in 1912. A restaurant opened inside the store in 1984 and displayed multiple antique farm implements. Known for its large “hubcap” burgers, catfish, Mississippi Mud pie, and other southern comfort food, it has been visited by well-known politicians and celebrities.

History

Cotham's mercantile was built in 1912. It served as a place where farmers and plantation owners could buy supplies. It also served for a time as a military commissary and a jail for criminals awaiting trial by a circuit-riding judge. The store in Scott was built on stilts projecting over the edge of a bayou on Horseshoe Lake. Though Cotham's did not serve food at the time, the interior and exterior of the building were featured in the 1973 Burt Reynolds movie "White Lightning".

Today

A fire destroyed the structure in 2017, and the structure was never rebuilt. The restaurant relocated to downtown

Little Rock, Arkansas Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...

in a location known as Cotham's in the city. https://www.cothams.com/

References

{{coord, 34.69115, -92.09644, display=title Restaurants in Arkansas 1912 establishments in Arkansas