Captain Charles C. Henderson House

The Henderson House is a Queen Anne–style home with Craftsman and Neoclassical additions located in Arkadelphia (Clark County). Owned by Charles Christopher Henderson (for whom Henderson State University—HSU—was named), it was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 24, 1998.

Charles Christopher Henderson was born in Scott County on March 17, 1850. Moving with his family to Arkadelphia in 1869, Henderson worked in a number of businesses, most notably in banks, timber, and railroads. Marrying in San Antonio, Texas, in 1880, Henderson and his wife returned to Arkadelphia, where they began to purchase a number of successive houses and plots of land. On July 16, 1892, Henderson bought a plot at the corner of present-day 10^th and Henderson streets, directly opposite the campus of Arkadelphia Methodist College (now HSU), where he had been named to the board of trustees the previous year.

Two small cottages built in 1876 on the property faced the campus. Henderson and his family lived in one of these homes for several years before the family moved to Ruston, Louisiana, for several years. Returning to Arkadelphia in 1903, Henderson moved one cottage to a new location and began an extensive expansion project on the second cottage. Over the next three years, Henderson added a wrap-around porch with a balustrade on the front of the home. The porch curves around a two-story turret and has a portico with six columns. The interior of the house is lavishly adorned with fretwork. Two parlors are located on the first floor, each with large fireplaces. Numerous other common rooms are located on the first floor, along with a heavily detailed staircase to the second floor. The staircase opens on the second floor into a square hallway that leads to numerous small rooms.

The Henderson family lived in the completed house for only four years before moving to El Paso, Texas, in 1910. Henderson sold the home the next year to T. N. Wilson. Wilson owned the home for seven years before selling the house to Claude Phillips. The Phillips family added the porch supports and the Craftsman additions that can be seen today.

The Phillips family sold the house to Henderson State University in 1978, and the university operated a museum in the structure until the 1990s. After being added to the National Register on August 24, 1998, the house underwent extensive renovation in 1999. It reopened as an on-campus bed and breakfast, and the business continues to operate today.

For additional information:
“The Captain Henderson House.” Clark County Historical Journal (2001): 1–5.

“Captain Henderson House.” Henderson State University. http://hsu.today/henderson-house/ (accessed October 21, 2020).

Hope, Holly. “Captain Charles C. Henderson House.” National Register of Historic Places nomination form. On file at Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, Little Rock, Arkansas. Online at http://www.arkansaspreservation.com/National-Register-Listings/PDF/CL0939.nr.pdf (accessed October 21, 2020).

David Sesser
Henderson State University