Back in the 1930s and well into the 1950s, Reno was known for two things-gambling and divorce.
Nevada's "Biggest Little City" offered glittering nightlife-outshining Las Vegas until the mid-1950s-and the opportunity to shed a spouse in comfort and style.
With just a six-week residency requirement and lenient courts, Reno quickly became the place to be for movie stars and socialites who wanted to get rid of a husband or wife. Sometimes there was a replacement partner waiting in the wings and the state's equally easy marriage laws meant that a wedding could be had before the ink was dry on the divorce decree.
But while Reno got the headlines, there was another place where easy divorce laws drew a crowd. And that was Arkansas.
In the early 1930s the state passed a 90-day residency requirement for divorces-it had been one year-and added the kicker that proceedings could be started in just 60 days, with the final decree coming at the three-month mark. That made Hot Springs, which also featured wide-open if illegal casinos, the Reno of the South. In counties bordering Tennessee, Missouri and Oklahoma, which all had stricter laws, divorce also became big business.
That was then, this is now. Changing laws, including no-fault divorce, made "divorce mills," as Arkansas and Nevada were once called, obsolete. But divorce hasn't become less popular in Arkansas. In fact it's on the rise.
According to a story published this weekend in the Arkansas-Democrat Gazette, the state ranks No. 4 in the nation in divorces. While the national average in 2015 was 16.9 per 1,000, Arkansas saw divorces at a rate of 25.3 per 1,000. That's up from 22.3 in 2014.
Why? The Democrat-Gazette says couples in the state marry younger than in most states. But there has also been an increase in divorces among those married 30 years or more.
We value marriage in our society, but sometimes divorce is the best option. Still, it's possible the divorce rate could drop if couples spent more time getting to know each other and were more honest about their goals and expectations. We may hope to change our potential partner, but in many cases that's a pipe dream.
Traditionally, the officiant at a wedding ceremony says something to the effect that marriage is "not by any to be entered into unadvisedly or lightly; but reverently, discreetly, advisedly, soberly "
Good advice. Something that all should consider before taking that important step in life.