Local residents have seen the big green street sign that says “Jesse Thompson Parkway,” and they want to know who he is, and why a new street off Highway 229 is named after him.
In January 2026, seven months before Buc-ee’s would hold their grand opening on 229 and I-30, I asked the Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT) for details on how traffic would flow into and around the new mega travel center. I ended up with an American history lesson that answers exactly who Jesse Thompson is. Read more below. 🦫
While studying an illustration that ARDOT provided, I too wondered who Jesse Thompson is, and why he was important enough to have a street/parkway named after him. It’s not someone related to the former property owner – their last name is Thomas.
Jesse Thompson Parkway is behind Buc-ee’s, to the right in yellow.
I made a call to the City. Benton Mayor Tom Farmer said that he had the same question when he saw the plans. He said he spoke to Buc-ee’s representatives, and learned that whenever they build a new location, they name their delivery street after someone among those who defended the Alamo, and who was also local to that new store. Buc-ee’s is a Texas company, and they want people to “remember” that – and the Alamo too, perhaps.
That might have been enough, but I wanted to know more about this “Alamo Defender,” and I knew our community would want to know as well. I started with an internet search, but found only a birth year and Arkansas – no city name.
I wanted to know if he was from the Saline County area, (yayy) or somewhere else in Arkansas (booo).
I called Congressman French Hill’s office, hoping they had better access to veteran records than I did. Unfortunately, they came up with no better results.
Undeterred, I tried the Saline County Library next. Mason Newberry answered the phone, and after brainstorming together, something occurred to us. Those of you who are better students of history will already know what I’m about to say.
If Thompson was in the battle at the Alamo, it was before 1836. Arkansas didn’t become a state until that year. According to various records, Thompson was born in 1789, and Arkansas at the time was part of a larger territory held by the Spanish.
There were no cities yet in Arkansas, so that’s why Thompson does not show a city with his birthdate. Arkansas Post existed since 1686 and that was the closest thing to a city, outside of indigenous populations. Research shows that there may have been around 1,000 people in the would-be Arkansas area at the time Thompson was born.
Thompson moved to Texas at some point and enlisted in the Texas military in 1835. He died as a garrison defending the Alamo on March 6, 1836.
Other Alamo Defenders from Arkansas were Isaac Baker, Jesse B. Bowman, Davy Crockett, and Henry Warnell.
Links for more on Jesse Thompson:
https://www.thealamo.org/remember/battle-and-revolution/defenders/jesse-g-thompson#fromDefendersList
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Thompson-22080
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8736722/jesse-g.-thompson
