From Arkansas Heritage site—In 1929, Hankins built a new home for his family. A new, better store was built in 1930, using some logs and material from the old structure. It was built of wooden novelty siding on a native stone foundation with heart-pine support beams, with a basement for storage. He built a gristmill and two saw mills near the store.
During the Depression, two civilian conservation camps were located nearby, as well as a German prisoner of war camp. The store served as a trading post for mill crews, two CCC camps, the prisoner of war camp at Victor, forest service workers and wildlife check station personnel. There was no electricity, telephone or inside plumbing. All state and federal elections were held at the store, and Tom Hankins was in charge of overseeing these. After the votes were counted, Hankins was responsible for delivering the results to the courthouse in Russellville, an arduous journey in all types of weather via Highway 7, which was not paved until 1956. Tom Hankins purchased the original Hankins General store from his brother, Rubin, in 1922. It served people in the surrounding communities of Moore, Victor, Dillon, Treat, Richland, Lurton and Indian Creek. The store was small and the family lived in the back of the store. Tom Hankins owned 27 acres surrounding the store, and was also a landlord for his six rental houses. A post office was opened inside the store on April 16, 1923, established by Loretta Pelsor, who was its postmaster for six months. Tom
