The unlikely-named town of Paragould. My notes when I bookmarked the site for some reason:

Strange place, no real center, no hotels, no big office buildings

Let's see why I stuck around.

Let’s start with the theater:

Originally the Capitol; restored and still open. A good sign!
Then again . . .

Wonder what it was. Dealership, perhaps?

THAT is a substantial OUMB; it seems to dominate the entire block.

Why banks went from Roman grandeur to hydraulic-press people-masher I've no idea.

You know this is a gummint building without checking the name, don't you?

The black glazed blocks pin it to a particular time in the 60s, and I still regret the passing of the style.

Perhaps the owners thought: it's this, or a metal screen.

The screens were less destructive. The screens you could take down.

Same here, perhaps.

It’s modern, but it has the effect of erasing the town’s history - which, in the post-war era, was often the point. Let’s move to the future!

The more I think about it, the more I wonder if this wasn't original construction.

Umm. . .

Perhaps the town was closed off for “quarantine” for a few years until people stopped wondering about it, and then reopened with buildings like these, and inordinately polite residents who spoke without contractions and often seemed to look up at the stars at night, as if collection messages?
 
That’s a raw bit of business.

Scar of a staircase on the left?
AUGH NO NO

The worst of the late 60s early 70s - the semi-cycle windows, the big huge awnings, and Buckaroo’d to boot.
Scar of a dearly departed:

 
 
This was done with the confidence that no one would build anything next door for a long time.

 

f I had to guess, I’d say . . . train station? No, too new. Post Office?


Hope they’ve fixed it up by now.

Shame if it's lost.

 

 

Wholesale only, and even if the sign didn’t say it . . .


. . . the loading dock would tell you what they did.

 

 

 

It’s as if they wanted to wall up the door that led to the apartments, but had a fit of conscience at the last moment.


 
It’s a rare thing, a second-floor porch - why weren’t there more of these?

Because it cut down on rentable space.

Yes, main floor rehab, if you wondering if I’d mention it.

“I ain’t payin’ for no damned carved letters, I don’t see the point. Just don’t."

"But Mister, it's gonna look -"

"AIN'T. PAYING."
It’s an odd bank that literally seems to say “reach for it.”

 
A bygone furniture store.

Late 40s, if I had to judge from the color scheme.
I’m 94% certain that’s original, but you know, it could be a clever new sign. It’s the INC that nags at me.

Anyone else laying claim to the name?

Later known as the Missouri Pacific. As for that fellow, well, there’s the story I mentioned.

The name evolved by combining syllables from the names of the two railroad presidents- joining together the two protagonists. "Para" for Paramore and "Gould" for Mr. Gould, thus making Paragould a truly original name for an unusual town.

Legend says Mr. Gould, who considered himself first in railroading, objected to having his name consigned as the last syllable. For a time, he refused to use the name on his schedules and used instead a local name of Parmley. There was finally a compromise to use the name "Para-Gould". As time passed, the hyphen was dropped and the one word, Paragould, without a capital "G," became the name.

Jay Gould, aout whom Wikipedia says: His sharp and often unscrupulous business practices made him one of the wealthiest men of the late nineteenth century. A highly controversial and unpopular figure during his life; Gould is widely regarded as one of the great villains of his era.

Citation needed? Apparently not.