All Around Arkansas: The Old State House

            One of the most beautiful, historic buildings in Arkansas is located on West Markham Street in downtown Little Rock — the Old State House. If you’ve never been to the Old State House, you owe it to yourself to see this grand structure where so much of the history of our state was made.

            The first capitol of Arkansas was located at Arkansas Post when the Territory of Arkansas was created in 1819. But it moved to Little Rock in 1823. For a while, several buildings were used as the capitol, including the Hinderliter Tavern.

            In 1833, Arkansas’ territorial governor, John Pope, hired Gideon Shryock, the architect of the Kentucky State Capitol, to design a capitol building in hopes that the territory would soon become a state. At Pope’s request, Shyrock agreed to draw up plans for a large stone structure with a copper roof to be built in the Greek Revival architectural style.

            Once Shyrock finished his plans for Arkansas’ new capitol, he sent his employee, George Weigart, to Little Rock to oversee construction. The capitol complex would be three separate buildings to house each branch of government. But due to budgetary constraints, Weigart was forced to reduce the square footage, replace the stone with stucco-covered brick, and use faux graining on interior doors and columns and faux marbling on mantles. By the time Arkansas became the 25th state on June 15, 1836, construction of the capitol was well underway.

            The legislative branch was located in the center building, the executive branch in the west wing and the judicial branch in the east wing. The first session of the General Assembly met in the House chamber in 1836 with construction still in progress while legislators debated and voted. Gov. Archibald Yell officially declared the building complete in 1842, and covered walkways were added to connect the three structures.

            In 1837, Arkansas’ Speaker of the House, John Wilson, stabbed Rep. Joseph Anthony to death after a heated debate on taxes. In May 1861, the second session of the Secession Convention met in the original House chamber to vote on whether Arkansas would leave the Union and join the Confederacy after the attack on Fort Sumter. Every delegate except for Isaac Murphy voted for secession. 

            The Old State House was the home to the Confederate government until Union forces led by Gen. Frederick Steele captured Little Rock in September 1863, forcing the state’s Confederate government to temporarily move to Hot Springs and eventually to Washington (Hempstead County). After the Civil War’s end, Murphy was appointed governor of Arkansas for his loyalty to the Union.

            By 1911, the state government had outgrown the building, which was in need of repair. But many legislators disagreed with spending money to fix a building that was too small. Following the completion of the new capitol, all Arkansas government offices moved to the new structure. In 1912, the University of Arkansas Medical Department (now the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences) moved into the old capitol. 

            In 1921, the building was given to the American Legion and renamed the War Memorial Building, and in 1947, legislators designated the former capitol as a museum dedicated to Arkansas history. 

            Today, the Old State House Museum is operated by the Division of Arkansas Heritage. The building remains the oldest standing state capitol building west of the Mississippi River.

            In Oct. 1991, then-Gov. Bill Clinton announced his candidacy for president on the Old State House grounds. He celebrated his presidential victories there in 1992 and 1996. 

            So if you find yourself walking through downtown Little Rock, do yourself a favor and pay a visit. Admission is free and the information you’ll learn about Arkansas’ history is priceless.

All Around Arkansas: Paris, Arkansas

               

                 My father used to tell a story about why he took my mother to the lodge atop Mount Magazine on their honeymoon. The tale goes that he chose Mount Magazine so he could brag that he took his new bride to Paris — the small Logan County town, not the capital of France.

                Paris, in northern Logan County, is one of the county’s two seats. The other, Booneville, is located in the southern part of the county. 

                When the state Legislature created Logan County in 1871, it was called Sarber and was named for Republican politician John Newton Sarber. A special election was held in 1874 to determine the site of the county seat. Voters chose a location along the old military road in the north-central part of the county. 

                The next step was to choose a name for the new county seat. As legend goes, a prominent local businessman had just gone on a trip to Paris, France, and suggested the town be called Paris. The name was approved, and soon afterward, a log courthouse was built. 

                Sarber County’s name was changed to Logan County in 1875, after Democrats regained control of state government and wanted all government entities named for “carpetbaggers” (Republicans who moved to the state after the Civil War to seize power of government and business) changed.

                The town of Paris was incorporated in February 1879, and in 1880, a Georgian-style brick courthouse was built to replace the original, which burned in 1877. 

                In 1901, Logan County was divided into two judicial districts: a northern district and a southern district. Logan County was a difficult county to administer because it went from the Arkansas River in the north for a distance of 60 miles southwest and was intersected by Booneville Mountain. A trip to Paris from the southern part of Logan County took several days of travel by horseback or buggy over roads in terrible condition. 

                So to provide easier access to a county seat, Logan County was divided into two districts that would each have its own county seat. Paris was designated the county seat for the northern district and Booneville became the county seat for the southern district.

                Throughout the decades to come, coal mining would become a major industry for Paris. From 1917 to 1957, 31 coal mines operated in the area and employed about 2,000 miners. Several factories opened in Paris, including a lingerie factory, a charcoal plant, a shoe factory and a men’s clothing factory. Eventually, tourism became the town’s main industry thanks to Arkansas’ highest peak, which is located 17 miles south of Paris.

                In 2002, nearby Mount Magazine became part of the Arkansas state park system. A new lodge was built on top of the summit in May 2006 to replace the original lodge that had burned. The new facility featured a restaurant, an indoor swimming pool, conference rooms and hotel guest rooms. Guest cabins were built near the lodge. A campground with facilities for recreational vehicles was built, and hiking trails were established. All of these improvements helped bring thousands of tourists — and with their vacation dollars — to the area.

            In November 2014, an 18 ft. replica of the Eiffel Tower was dedicated in Paris, and has become a famous landmark, especially for lovers who write their names on padlocks, attach them to the fence next to the structure, and then throw the key in the nearby fountain. That tradition started many years ago at the real Eiffel Tower in Paris, France.

            Knowing my dad and his affinity for tall tales, he just might say that he was the one who started the tradition — not in France, but in the natural state on his honeymoon to Paris.

All Around Arkansas: The Gann Building

                Located just a few blocks from the Saline Courier in the historic district of Benton is the Gann Building — the only known building in the world to be constructed out of bauxite. Throughout its 130-year history, the structure has served as a doctor’s office, a library, and now, a museum.

                In 1890, physician Dr. Dewell Gann moved to Benton from Atlanta, where he had graduated from Southern Medical College in 1886. Shortly after his arrival, he married Martha Whithorne, the daughter of Col. Samuel Whithorne, who owned the Saline Courier newspaper. 

                Gann worked as a doctor for several Arkansas companies, eight of which were industrial plants and four were railroads. Eventually Gann would start his own medical practice on South Market Street in Benton.

                The structure known as the Gann Building was built in 1893, made of locally sourced bauxite. Why bauxite? The story goes that the office was built for Gann by patients who worked in the local bauxite mines near the town that bears the name of our state mineral. The patients were unable to pay for Gann's medical treatment. Because bauxite is a soft ore, it can be sawed into blocks, hardened for a few weeks and then used for construction. The three-room office had two waiting rooms for patients (one for men and one for women) and an exam room.

                After Gann’s practice became successful, he founded the Saline County Medical Society in 1903. Gann's son, Dewell Jr., eventually joined his father’s medical practice. Like his father, Gann Jr., was a successful doctor and was named a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1925. 

                Gann Jr. began teaching at the University of Arkansas Medical School (now the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences) in 1914 as a professor of surgery and remained as a professor there until he retired from teaching in 1936. He also served as chief of staff at St. Vincent’s Infirmary in Little Rock from 1922 to 1927. Gann Jr. is best known for being the inventor of the lung resuscitator, which was purchased by the U.S. government in 1940 and is credited with saving thousands of lives during World War II. 

                Gann Sr. died in September 1945, and a year later, his son donated the Gann Building to the city of Benton for use as a public library. In 1967, the library moved to a larger facility, so the city designated the Gann Building as a museum to interpret and preserve the history of the Gann family and Saline County. Gann Jr. died in January 1960, at his home in Benton at age 70.

                The building was placed on the Department of the Interior’s National Register of Historic Places in October 1975.

                Now known as the Gann Museum, the building features an impressive collection of Niloak pottery (made in Benton), native American artifacts, and memorabilia related to the early history of Saline County. Items once owned by the Gann family are on display as well. The museum is open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and admission is free. For more information, you can visit the museum’s website at gannmuseum.com.

            On Nov. 28, the Benton City Council passed Resolution 132 of 2022, by which the city of Benton entered into an agreement to allow the Saline County library system to lease and operate the Gann Museum.

            So if you’re looking to learn more about the early history of Saline County or simply intrigued at the thought of the only building in the world made of bauxite, now you know the perfect place to visit.

 

All Around Arkansas: Mozart, Arkansas

                        

                        Every time there is severe weather in Arkansas, I always learn of towns and communities I've never heard of. One might think that a lifelong Arkansan who worked for years in the state Department of Parks, Heritage & Tourism would know every part of the Natural State. But I'm constantly learning about new places.

                        A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I were watching the severe weather coverage on one of the local TV stations and a peculiar name stood out on the radar map — Mozart. While I know who Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is, I was curious as to why there would be a community in Arkansas bearing the name of the famous Austrian composer.

                        Mozart is located on Highway 263 near Lick Fork Creek in Stone County, between the towns of Timbo and Fox. The community that eventually became Mozart was an extension of those towns.

                        In 1926, Mozart got a post office. Previously, Mozart residents picked up their mail at the Timbo post office. One of Mozart’s founding families, the Harpers, owned a general store and put the post office there before a separate facility was built.

                        Nancy Harper was appointed as the first postmaster of the Mozart post office. But the post office permanently closed in 1959 and postal services were transferred to Fox. According to a local legend, the Harpers’ daughter, Lucille, picked the name for the post office because she was a devoted fan of the composer. But there’s another tale about the origin of the community’s name. 

                        Native Austrians Dominikus Kocher and his brother, Achatz, came to the United States and eventually made their way to Rushing, in Stone County, in 1904. Their cousin, Matthew Schiefer, arrived in 1923. A long-standing legend says that the immigrants submitted the last name of their fellow Austrian as the name of the new post office. In 1966, descendants of the Kocher family established the county's first Catholic Church, in Mozart.

                        By 1925, the Stone County towns of Fox, Meadowcreek, Mozart, Parma, Rushing, Sunnyland and Turkey Creek all had their own schools. The school in Mozart was called the Skyland School. Starting in 1946, the small towns decided to combine their schools into one, the Rural Special School, which was located about 2 miles from Fox along Highway 263. The schools operated independently until 2004, when the state Legislature consolidated small school districts across the state. Rural Special joined the Mountain View school district but was allowed to keep its own campus because of its isolation.

                        A Baptist group briefly used Mozart’s old Skyland School as a church; it later became a Pentecostal church. The building is still standing but is in terrible condition. 

                        The first Catholic church in Stone County, Our Lady of Victory Church, was built in 1966 in Mozart. The local Southern Baptist organization purchased the Our Lady of Victory church building and began having regular worship services in August 1994. 

                        Several towers stand atop the mountains that surround Mozart. One such tower belongs to Arkansas' public television station, Arkansas PBS. Bear Pen Falls, located near Mozart, is a popular fishing spot for fly fishing and bait casting.

                    Sadly, not much is left of Mozart. There are no stores, no schools and no post office. The few Arkansans who still make their home there travel to Fox or Mountain View for shopping, health care and restaurants. 

                    While I never hope for threatening weather to strike, I'll be watching the next round of severe storm coverage to see if there's a Bach or a Beethoven, Arkansas.

                    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: America's First National River

 

                Arkansas is home to many firsts — the first Walmart, in Rogers, and the first national park, in Hot Springs. (Technically the "Spa City" was the first federal reservation, but it predates Yellowstone National Park by 40 years.) 

                Arkansas is also home to the first public diamond mine, in Murfreesboro, and the first river to be designated a national river, the Buffalo. And floating the Buffalo River is something of a rite of passage for true Arkansans.

                Located in northern Arkansas, the Buffalo River is one of only four rivers designated as a national river by the U.S. Department of the Interior’s National Park Service. It was established by an act of Congress and signed in law by President Richard Nixon in March 1972, ending plans by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build one or more dams on the river for flood control and recreational purposes. 

                According to the National Park Service website, the designation of the Buffalo as a national river “protects the waterway from any and all industrial uses, impoundments and other obstructions that could change the natural character of the river or disrupt the natural habitat for the flora and fauna that live in or near the river.”

                The meandering river is about 153 miles long. The lower 135 miles of the Buffalo flows within the boundaries of an area managed by the park service. The river flows from west to east through Newton, Searcy, Marion and Baxter counties. It originates in the highest part of the Boston Mountains of the Ozark Mountain range and eventually joins the White River at Buffalo Valley (Searcy County). The area along the Buffalo near Boxley (Newton County) is home to the state's only elk herd. The upper section of the river in the Ozark National Forest is managed by the U.S. Forest Service and is designated as a national scenic river, as well as a national wild river by the federal government.

            The Buffalo National River is a popular camping, hiking, canoeing and fishing destination for Arkansans and out-of-state tourists. According to park service statistics, the river averages about 900,000 visitors a year. Those looking to float the Buffalo can bring their own canoes and kayaks or rent from several independent outfitters located along the waterway. Camping is generally allowed throughout the park and is permitted on the gravel and sand bars along the river, and the park service maintains several campgrounds along the river. There are a few places where camping is not permitted. More information on camping can be found on the Buffalo National River’s website at www.nps.gov/buff.

            A visitors center operated by the National Park Service at the Tyler Bend recreational area located along the Buffalo near St. Joe (Searcy County) interprets the story of the Buffalo National River and includes exhibits on recreation, the establishment of the park, prehistoric and pioneer history, flora and fauna, and a gift shop.

            Interestingly, one of Arkansas’ first state parks was built on the Buffalo. Established by the Arkansas Parks and Recreation Commission in 1938, Buffalo River State Park, like the other original state parks, was developed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1939. The state park was eventually absorbed into Buffalo National River and became a federal park in 1972. The area is now known as Buffalo Point and features several CCC-era structures, the Indian Rock House trail, a former zinc mine and the Indian Rock House cave. Another interesting fact about the Buffalo is that it was designated as the first International Dark Sky Park in the state in June 2019.

            With its scenic views, historic sites and free-flowing waters, native Arkansas singer and songwriter Jimmy Driftwood said it best when referring to the Buffalo as "Arkansas’ gift to the nation and America’s gift to the world."

            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