R.M. RUTHVEN BRIDGE
DEDICATED DECEMBER 31, 1976
TO HIS MEMORY AND RECOGNITION
FOR HIS YEARS OF DISTINGUISHED
SERVICE TO THE PEOPLE OF
BAXTER COUNTY
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Roderick McKenzie Ruthven was born in Jefferson City, Missouri, on January 22,1885, son
of W. Ruthven, superintendent of construction for the state of Missouri for fifty-three years. R.M.
Ruthven received his formal education in the public schools in Jefferson City. After graduating from
high school in 1903, he worked on his father's farm for four years until he entered the employ of
the G.C. Ramsey Tie Company in 1907. His position as field representative took him to Cotter,
Arkansas, where he made his home for the rest of his life. After six years with the company, he
purchased it, and for the next sixteen years he was the manager and owner of the Ruthven Timber
Company, a highly successful enterprise. Ruthven held the office of County Judge for six terms
during the 1930s and early 1940s and at one time he was president of the Arkansas County Judges
Association. He also served several terms as mayor of Cotter. He worked closely with the
administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in planning thQ federal Works Projects
Administration program; he is credited with securing many improvements for Baxter County,
including three major highway bridges, at Cotter, Norfork and Henderson. Several major county
highways were constructed during his administration - he mobilized Baxter County citizens to build
county roads with donated labor and little machinery during the depression years, and the effort was
commended by officials in Washington as an example for the rest of the nation.
A biography of R.M. Ruthven, stated that he had "probably made more substantial
contributions to the civic betterment of his community than any other individual in the immediate
vicinity."(77) When Ruthven died in 1962, at the age of 77, his obituaries mentioned the Cotter
Bridge as one of the crowning achievements of his life."
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