Meet John Kocourek; Bohemian immigrant

Meet John Kocourek; Bohemian immigrant and one of the founding fathers of the Slovak, Arkansas community.

Mr Kocourek was the land agent who introduced the Slovak Colonization Company to the area that is now Slovaktown, Arkansas. So impressed with the area, The Slovak Colonization Company purchased 3,000 acres and began recruiting Slovaks to join the farming community.

Mr Kocourek set up a local real estate office & The Kocourek and Sons Hardware store, which provided the community with all their building and farming needs to thrive in this growing agricultural land.

He is often known as the “Father of Arkansas Rice Expansion” for his advocacy for the Cotton Belt railroad which helped connect Slovak farms with the north allowing them to be a huge player in the national agricultural market. In 1912 he wrote a 20-plus pamphlet about the growing of rice and the farming technology that now has led to Slovak and surround area to be the #1 producer of rice in the USA!

Mr Kocourek was so confident in the richness of the land and the community that he would often provide prospective Slovak land buyers a free roundtrip train ticket to view the land. He knew it was something very special.

Although the hardware store closed in 2000, the building still stands and is on the US National Register of Historic Places. Mr Kocourek’s great-granddaughter, Sharon Kocourek Cagle, is carrying on her Great Grandfather's love of Slovak as she works with Arkansas Heritage to restore the building for the public. The Kocourek dedication to this monumental place in Arkansas, agricultural, and Slovak - Bohemian history lives on through Sharon.

Sharon Cagle (née Kocourek) great granddaughter of Mr Kocourek at the Hardware Store

Help us share more about Mr. Kocourek and other important historical figures from Slovak, Arkansas with the world and for the future generations.

Thank you Conley House of The Grand Prairie Herald for your journalism that has already helped archive this amazing history when the hardwares store closed its doors. .