[Editor’s note: I felt it might be the right thing to post this on the anniversary of these two events. Today marks the 50th anniversary of the burning of both the Ranger plant and the MonArk plant. Ranger still exists but MonArk went out of business long ago, not due to the fire, mind you.]
I’m sure most of you know that the Ranger facility located in Flippin AR burned down May 4, 1971 due to a spark that ignited a can of acetone. All that was salvaged from the fire was a metal desk and 60 boat orders. After calling his customers and ensuring them their boats would be built, Forrest, Nina and his workers rebuilt the company and the rest is history.
What many may not know is there was another Arkansas boat company, MonArk of Monticello, AR, that got hit by a flash fire on the same day. Here’s the news clip from the 1971 July/August issue of Bass Master Magazine.
Kind of a strange coincidence that two bass boat manufacturers burned down the same day – don’tcha think?
