All Around Arkansas: The Hinderliter Grog Shop

                

                Driving through downtown Little Rock (Pulaski County), you may have noticed a white two-story building on the corner of Third and Cumberland streets that looks very out of place. That structure would be the Hinderliter Grog Shop, and it's considered by most local historians to be the oldest still-standing building in the capital city.

         The Hinderliter Grog Shop was built around 1826 by Jesse Hinderliter, who came to Arkansas with his wife, Sophia, from St. Louis. On Lots 7, 8 and 9 of the city’s Block 32, Hinderliter built the two-story, hand-hewn log building, which served as a tavern, a restaurant, an inn and the private residence for the Hinderliters. The grog shop reflects architecture common in the state throughout the 1820s and 1830s

         Unfortunately, Jesse Hinderliter didn’t live long in Little Rock. He died in 1834. The grog shop was then sold at auction to repay the debt Hinderliter owed to the original owner of the property, prominent Little Rock attorney Chester Ashley.

         According to local legend, the last meeting of the Arkansas Territorial Legislature took place in the old grog shop in October 1835. Arkansas historian William Pope, wrote in his book, “The Early Days of Arkansas,” that “the last Territorial Legislature met October 5, 1835 and held its sittings in the old Hinderliter house on the northwest corner of Cumberland and Mulberry Streets. There is a stone marker placed by the Daughters of the American Revolution (which has sunk into the ground and is barely visible now) on the corner of Third and Cumberland that attests to this story. But there is no concrete evidence that the old building ever housed the territorial legislature. 

         After Hinderliter’s death and the sale of the building, it continued to serve as a public building. By the 1880s, the grog shop shifted into tenements with a restaurant inside. Part of the building was also used as a laundry business. As seen in photos taken of the building in the early 1930s, it served as a grocery store and a barber shop. Eventually the building fell into disrepair and was almost demolished by the city.

         But thanks to the efforts of Little Rock socialite Louise Loughborough, the old Hinderliter Grog Shop and several other vintage structures on the block were purchased by the state and restored by the Works Progress Administration. On July 19, 1941, the Arkansas Territorial Capitol Restoration officially opened to the public. The old grog shop was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 31, 2019. 

            Today the restored buildings are part of the Historic Arkansas Museum, which is operated by the heritage division of the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage, and Tourism. Tours are available of the grog shop, just don’t expect any adult beverages when you visit. For that dear readers, you’ll have to walk a couple of blocks over to the River Market.

            May you all have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving weekend.

       A proud sixth-generation Arkansan, Darrell W. Brown is a lover of all things Arkansas. He lives in Saline County with his wife, Amy, and their beloved Boston Terrier, Dixie. Find him on Facebook and Instagram at AllAroundArkansas.

All Around Arkansas: Dyess Colony, Arkansas

 

                One of my fondest memories of working for the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism was helping lead a group of international tour guides and travel bloggers on a tour of historic attractions in the Arkansas Delta in 2017. Our first stop: Dyess (Mississippi County), the boyhood home of music legend Johnny Cash. 

                Dyess, formerly known as Dyess Colony, was one of several "resettlement colonies" for impoverished farmers who suffered during the Great Depression. The area around Dyess was prime farmland, but by the end of the 1920s, several disasters had devastated the Delta's small independent farmers. The great flood of 1927 was followed by a severe drought. And in 1929, the stock market crashed and banks failed across the country. By 1930, nearly two-thirds of the state's independent farmers had lost their farms and fell into tenancy.

                When President Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in 1933, he created several federal agencies to create jobs and rebuild America's economy. Two of these agencies included the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), both of which aimed to help impoverished farmers and sharecroppers.

                Mississippi County native W. R. Dyess was appointed as Arkansas’s first WPA administrator. He proposed a plan to the president's advisers through which tenant farmers could buy their own farmland. FERA purchased about 16,000 acres of bottomland in the county, and with the assistance of $3 million in federal funds, that bottomland would become a "resettlement colony" to homesteading families, who would each receive 20 acres of land for a home and a farm. 

                Roosevelt and his advisers signed off on the proposal and in May 1934 "Colonization Project No. 1" was established near Arkansas Highway 297 in southwestern Mississippi County. It would later become known as Dyess Colony. In June 1936, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt visited Dyess Colony, where she made a speech at the WPA administration building and met with the community’s residents for several hours

                One of the families that applied for and was accepted to become part of the Dyess Colony experiment was the Cash family from Kingsland (Cleveland County). In 1936, Ray and Carrie Cash moved their family to Dyess Colony. One of their young sons, J.R., who was known by his friends as "John" and later as "Johnny," would go on to become one the biggest stars in American music history. 

                Cash graduated from Dyess High School in 1950 and wrote the song "Five Feet High and Rising" about growing up in the small community. His younger brother, Tommy, would also go on to have some success on the country charts.

                In 2011, Arkansas State University in Jonesboro purchased Cash’s boyhood home, which by that time had become dilapidated and was listed on the Historic Preservation of Arkansas’ most endangered places list. A-State restored the house to its original condition, and the home opened to the public on Aug. 16, 2014. Other historic buildings in Dyess have been restored, and the small town has become a popular tourist destination.

                When I led that tour of travel guides and bloggers in 2017, I was afraid the group wouldn't be familiar with Cash or his music and not too excited about visiting the house. So I brought my guitar, and after we toured the small home, I sat down on the front porch swing and began to play some of Cash’s hits. 

                Much to my amazement, the group knew every word to every song. It was a special moment that proved music is an international language that brings us all together.

                A proud sixth-generation Arkansan, Darrell W. Brown is a lover of all things Arkansas. He lives in Saline County with his wife, Amy, and their beloved Boston Terrier, Dixie. Brown teaches history and broadcasting at a private school in Bryant. Find him on Facebook and Instagram at AllAroundArkansas.

All Around Arkansas: The Arlington Hotel

 

                    With its iconic twin towers and Spanish-Colonial Revival style facade, the Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa is the anchor of historic downtown Hot Springs. Generations of Spa City visitors — including gangsters, pro athletes and presidents — have made it their favorite place to stay, take a hot mineral bath, dance the night away, and have an adult beverage or two.

                    Hot Springs railroad executive Samuel W. Fordyce and two other partners, Samuel Stitt and William Gaines, put up the money to build the first Arlington Hotel, which opened in 1875. Fordyce is the namesake for both the Fordyce Bathhouse in Hot Springs and the county seat in Dallas County.

                    The original hotel was considered to be the first luxury hotel in the Spa City and at the time was the largest hotel in the state. The original Arlington was located across from the current hotel on the site now known as Arlington Park. 

                    In 1893, Fordyce and his partners decided the property had become dated compared to the newer hotels in the city, such as the Eastman and the Majestic. So they demolished the Arlington and rebuilt it on the same site. The second hotel, known as the New Arlington, had an elegant Spanish-renaissance design, a larger guest capacity (300 rooms) and more modern amenities. 

                    But a fire destroyed the second Arlington on April 5, 1923. The blaze killed one fireman and caused an estimated $1.6 million in damage (about $23.5 million in today's money). One notable guest staying at the Arlington at the time of the fire: William Pinkerton, founder of the security service that bears his name.

                    Hotel owners decided to rebuild again. But this time, they chose the site at the intersection of Fountain Street and Central Avenue across the street from the two previous structures. Designed by Arkansas State Capitol architect George Mann, the current Arlington Hotel was completed on Nov. 28, 1924.

            

                    During the 1930s, the Arlington was the choice hotel for notorious gangster Al Capone, who had his own suite, Room 443. When Capone was in town for gambling and other adult activities, he would rent the entire fourth floor for his entourage.

                    Throughout the years, many famous people including U.S. presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton have been guests of the Arlington. Other notables include baseball legend Babe Ruth, humorist Will Rogers, and musicians Tony Bennett (who performed at the nearby Vapors Club) and Barbra Streisand. 

                    In 1928, Joseph T. Robinson, a former governor and U.S. senator from Arkansas, publicly accepted the Democratic nomination for vice president on the front steps of the hotel. The speech was broadcast nationally by KTHS, whose studio was once located inside the Arlington and was the first radio station in Hot Springs.

                    In recent decades, the hotel operated as a shell of a former self, prompting city officials in 2016 to issue the Arlington’s owners a notice of unsafe conditions and threaten to close the building unless repairs were made.

                    Thankfully, the hotel’s new owners, Sky Capital Group LP of Little Rock, have mounted a $30 million renovation of the historic hotel. Construction crews have just completed the restoration of the Arlington’s twin towers and are making other repairs to bring the hotel back to its former glory.

                    So while you may not see Al Capone at the bar or Babe Ruth headed to the spa, you’ll soon be able to see the Arlington how it once looked decades ago, when Hot Springs was the Las Vegas of the South.

All Around Arkansas: Subiaco Abbey and Academy

 

                If you take a drive between Fort Smith (Sebastian County) and Russellville (Pope County) on Highway 22, you may see a building that looks out of place. It appears to be an ancient structure you’d see somewhere in old Europe rather than rural Arkansas. That unusual building is the Subiaco Abbey and it has an interesting story.

                Subiaco Abbey is an American Benedictine monastery located in Logan County, Arkansas. It was established in March 1878 and was called St. Benedict’s Colony. St. Benedict’s Colony provided for the settlement of German-speaking immigrants in western Arkansas and laid the groundwork for what would become known as the Subiaco Abbey and Academy. The monastery is home to thirty-nine monks, as well as a preparatory school operates, Subiaco takes its name from Subiaco, Italy, the site of the first monastery founded by Saint Benedict. 

        In July 1891, Pope Leo XIII upgraded the status of St. Benedict’s Colony to the rank of abbey. With its new status as an independent monastery ruled by an abbot, the colony was renamed Subiaco Abbey. In 1892, Bishop Edward Fitzgerald sent seminarians from the Diocese of Little Rock to train at Subiaco and the training of seminarians continued there until around 1911.

                Sadly, the original monastery was destroyed by fire in December 1901. Thankfully, a new monastery was almost finished at the time of the disaster. The new monastery was located on a hilltop overlooking the small town of Subiaco and is the current site of the abbey and academy. Along with the move to its new location, the abbey opened a high school for boys in 1902.

                Tragedy struck the abbey once again in 1927, as the building was destroyed by flames. Unfortunately, this time Subiaco Abbey suffered a very slow recovery. The fire, along with the dire economic situation caused by the Great Depression, did not allow the abbey and academy to fully recover until a few years after the end of World War II. In 1963, Subiaco Abbey opened the Coury House Retreat Center as a retreat ministry for visitors from across the nation and world and in 1978, Subiaco Abbey and Academy celebrated its 100th anniversary.

                In 2007, Subiaco Academy announced its plans to allow eighth graders to attend the school. Subiaco had admitted eighth graders in the 1940s and 1950s, but had stopped. During the twenty-first century, Subiaco has had quite the diverse student body with students from fifteen states and other nations including China, Mexico and South Korea. Of the nearly thirty staff and faculty members at Subiaco Academy, almost a quarter are Benedictine monks.

                Today, the compound at Subiaco is home to around 40 monks. In addition to serving as instructors at the academy, several of the monks also serve as pastors for churches in the surrounding communities. On the farmland surrounding the abbey, other monks raise Black cattle, maintain a vineyard, operate a sawmill, and grow the produce necessary to make their own Monk Sauce, a habanero pepper sauce which can be purchased in person at the Subiaco store or online at countrymonks.com. In 2018, Subiaco opened a public brewery and tasting room.

                So if you’re ever in the Subiaco area, stop in at the old abbey. After all, where else can you get hot sauce, wine, and go to confession afterwards?

A proud sixth-generation Arkansan, Darrell W. Brown is a lover of all things Arkansas. He lives in Saline County with his wife, Amy, and their beloved Boston Terrier, Dixie. Brown teaches history and broadcasting at a private school in Bryant. Find him on Facebook and Instagram at AllAroundArkansas.