Mrs. Robinson's great-grandfather Moore, on her mother's side, arrived in town in 1855, she said. Her father's side of the family did not appear until 1876 when her grandfather Dr. J.S. Westerfield moved to Greenbrier from Kentucky.

In 1893 Westerfield moved to Conway because "everyone was moving to Conway," Mrs. Robinson said.

Her first-hand knowledge kicks in Dec. 22, 1917, the day of her birth.

Eno Hilliard, Mrs. Robinson's father, sold wholesale groceries for Plunkett-Jarrell on Front Street and Mode and Clayton.

Hilliard built the house on Center Street where Mrs. Robinson and her husband, C.W. "Sid" Robinson, live. "The house and I have grown old together," she said.

"I think I was lucky to grow up in Conway. It was a small town. We never thought it would get above 5,000 or 6,000."

Mrs. Robinson attended Conway public schools for 12 years. The campus was located where Conway High School-East now stands.

She walked to school as did her sons years later. Because there was no lunch program, she walked home to eat during the noon hour.

Saturdays were spent at the theater. "We'd stand and wait until the box office opened," Mrs. Robinson said of her childhood friends. "It cost a dime until we were 12 and then it went up to a quarter."

One coin bought an afternoon of entertainment. The show started with a comedy followed by a serial (chapter of an ongoing story), the main attraction and, finally, coming attractions. Then the sequence repeated.

"We would stay all day," Mrs. Robinson recalled. "We'd look out the windows to see when it was getting dark, then we'd leave."

During the summers, the childhood group could just as easily be found in Kuykendall's swimming pool located at the present day Briarwood Club.

"The rest of the time we played on vacant lots," she continued. "Conway had vacant lots then."

Youngsters in the 1920s and '30s also entertained themselves by climbing on roofs and swinging off on ropes like Tarzan, Mrs. Robinson added.

However, the Great Depression put a damper on the fun. "Some of us had to grow up a lot during the Depression," she said.

Mrs. Robinson told of the closure of Conway's only three banks during the Depression: Farmers State Bank, Faulkner County Bank and Bank of Conway. Her grandfather held stock in one bank and had to pay double his stock's worth to cover depositors.

A family in her neighborhood received assistance through the welfare office. "Father took salary cuts, but never lost his job," she said.

"As bad as World War II was, it brought us out of the Depression," Mrs. Robinson reasoned.

During this time of astounding national events, C.W. "Sid" Robinson and Corrine Hilliard married May 24, 1941.

Except for a year they spent in Mississippi County where Mr. Robinson taught school, the couple has lived in Conway.

After graduating high school in 1935, Mrs. Robinson attended Central College (now Central Baptist College) and Arkansas Teachers' College (now University of Central Arkansas).

Mrs. Robinson was swept up in the movement of women working outside the home. "I was no Rosie Riveter," she said with a smile.

She worked at Central College until her first baby, Stephen, was born. At Central she performed many duties as secretary to the president, bookkeeper and postmistress, she said.

She eventually returned to her alma mater, Arkansas Teachers' College, to work for 27 years. Mrs. Robinson knew every UCA president from Col. Heber L. McAlister to Dr. Winfred L. Thompson.

"Colleges have sometimes been our main industry," Mrs. Robinson said of Conway's history.

Along with Dorris Dolan and Hattie Ann Kelso, Mrs. Robinson edited the book "Faulkner County: Its Land and People." She wrote a history of First National Bank when it opened its new building at Main and Chestnut streets in 1975.

Mrs. Robinson passed on her Conway heritage to her sons. Stephen and Michael Robinson delivered the Log Cabin Democrat as youngsters. Later, Michael managed the old Conway Theater. The boys graduated from UCA and that's where the nostalgia almost ends.

Stephen and Michael moved away from Conway. One public school campus grew into 12. The historic movie theater was torn down. First National Bank changed its name.

Corrine Robinson took everything in stride and offers this advice for the new millennium: "You can expect change, it's going to happen."

She watched a lot of things change from a little, old house on Center Street.