When brothers Steuart and Tom Walton built a 142-room hotel on the Bentonville square last year, they named it The Compton. The name was in honor of legendary Arkansas conservationist Neil Compton, who led the successful effort to prevent the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from damming the Buffalo River.

Bentonville appears to be doing a good job combining nature and art, attracting visitors from around the world while earning positive reviews in numerous publications. The Compton is the brothers' nod to the nature part of that equation. Their nod to the art side will be The Hart on Main, the name of their planned residential, retail and office development on the north side of the square.

The Benton County jail, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, will be restored as part of the development. The name is for Thomas Hart Benton, who grew up in nearby Neosho, Mo., and later came to Arkansas on a regular basis to do sketches. Benton's art is part of the collections of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art at Bentonville and the Arkansas Museum of Fine Art in Little Rock.

The name also honors U.S. Sen. Thomas Hart Benton from Missouri, the grand-uncle of the painter's father, M.E. Benton. He served in the Senate from August 1821 until March 1851. The senator was a supporter of westward expansion and was among those who pushed for Arkansas statehood in 1836.

Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Oregon and Washington have counties named after Benton. Both Bentonville in Benton County and Benton in Saline County are named for the senator.

"The Hart reflects the spirit and history of Bentonville," said Brian Shaw of Blue Crane, a real estate development company owned by the Walton brothers. "In addition to its location on the town square, it acknowledges where the community began and honors the people and stories that continue to shape it."

The north side of the square was last renovated in the 1980s, when most of the buildings on the block were removed and replaced with new ones. The Hart will mark a return to the 1880s facade designs and brick architecture. The development will have 184 apartments, 17 condominiums and almost 50,000 square feet of space for retailers and restaurants. There also will be about 45,000 square feet of office space with underground parking.

Construction is expected to begin this summer. It would be nice if Alice Walton (Tom and Steuart's aunt) would allow those at Crystal Bridges to loan original pieces by artist Thomas Hart Benton to hang in The Hart.

The future artist was born in April 1889 in Neosho. His father was an attorney and served as a congressman from 1897-1905.

"Thomas Hart Benton -- painter, muralist and writer -- developed, along with artists Grant Wood and John Steuart Curry, a style of painting in the 1920s that became known as regionalism," Russ Aikman wrote for the Central Arkansas Library System's Encyclopedia of Arkansas. "Benton was influenced by a sketching trip he took through northwest Arkansas in 1926. He returned to Arkansas to sketch and paint periodically, primarily in the Buffalo River area. Benton enjoyed floating and fishing on the Buffalo and opposed efforts to dam it."

Benton knew Compton, thus tying the hotel on one side of the Bentonville square to the mixed-use development on the other side.

Benton quit high school in Neosho when he got a job drawing cartoons for The Joplin American. He attended Western Military Academy in Alton, Ill., for a time at the request of his father, but later transferred to the Art Institute of Chicago. Benton studied from 1908-11 at Academie Julien in Paris.

"While his mother encouraged his artistic endeavors, his father did not," Aikman wrote. "Benton moved to New York City in 1912, where he struggled to make a living as an artist. During World War I, he served at a naval base in Norfolk, Va. To make money, Benton painted movie sets and taught at the Chelsea Neighborhood Association, in public schools and at the Art Students League in New York.

"He married Rita Piacenza on Feb. 19, 1922. An Italian immigrant and former student, she took an active role in Benton's career, handling his business affairs so he could focus on art. The two remained married until his death in 1975.

"In the early part of his career, Benton attempted to master several styles of painting. . . . Though he achieved some success, he was dissatisfied with his efforts. In 1924, Benton returned to Missouri to help care for his father, who was dying of cancer in a Springfield hospital."

Benton listened to friends who came to visit his father and decided he needed to reconnect with his rural upbringing. He returned to New York after his father's death in April 1924, but soon decided he wanted to travel the country and capture Americans working and playing.

"His first sketching trip lasted two months and began in the spring of 1926," Aikman wrote. "Benton took a train from New York to New Orleans, then went north by towboat on the Mississippi River. He got off at Helena and took a train to Little Rock. He continued north from Little Rock, hiking 15 to 20 miles per day, until he reached the Buffalo River area. Rambling about the backwoods of Newton County, Benton experienced a lifestyle largely unchanged since the 1890s.

"He sketched farmers working in their fields, church meetings, boys swimming, children in schoolhouses and life around the town square. Benton stayed in the homes of farmers and in backwoods hotels, including the Whiteley Hotel at Ponca. He later wrote an article about his experiences for the July 1934 issue of Travel magazine."

In 1934, Benton was in a self-portrait on the cover of Time magazine. An article inside explained the development of regionalism. Benton moved to Kansas City the following year to join the faculty of Kansas City Art Institute. He stayed in that job until 1941 and lived in Kansas City the rest of his life. His most famous student was Jackson Pollock.

"Benton sought to capture the American experience in a manner that made his art accessible to the mainstream public, an approach that put him at odds with other artists and critics," Aikman wrote. "His work was derided as cartoon-like, isolationist, jingoistic and stereotypical. Others felt Benton's work was original and full of energy.

"In the summer of 1939, Benton took his son, Thomas Piacenza, to Arkansas for two short vacations. The pair spent time floating and fishing the White and Buffalo rivers. Benton sketched and painted the scenery there, resulting in the lithograph 'Down The River,' which featured his son. Another product of the trips was a painting and lithograph of a White River scene titled 'Shallow Creek.'"

Benton visited Newton County in the spring of 1940 with a group of students. They spent 10 days sketching and painting. He returned in 1941 with another group of students.

"Benton became acquainted with Arkansas artists and writers," Aikman wrote. "He met poet John Gould Fletcher, who introduced Benton to artist Adrian Brewer in 1938. Benton knew artists Louis and Elsie Freund and was a periodic visitor at their home in Eureka Springs. He also knew Ozark writer Vance Randolph and illustrated some of his work.

"Starting about 1965, Benton made annual trips to float the Buffalo with friends from Kansas City. Sometimes he fished or swam, but invariably he carried a sketch pad. He painted some of his best late works during this period, including 'The Chute -- Buffalo River' in 1970 and 'Jon-Boat' in 1973. Benton opposed damming the river and wrote a letter to the Corps to that effect."

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency produced a short film titled "A Man and a River" that was based on Benton's 1973 trip to the Buffalo. Now, more than five decades later, Benton will be remembered on the Bentonville square.

Rex Nelson is a senior editor at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

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