Harvey C. Couch Historic School

Harvey C. Couch (1877–1941), born and raised in Calhoun (Columbia County), became one of Arkansas’s pioneers in economic and industrial development. Before founding the Arkansas Power Company in 1913, the forerunner to Arkansas Power & Light (AP&L), Couch was an early leader in Arkansas’s fledgling telephone industry in the 1890s and early 1900s. Later, he became a major force in the railway industry. In 1928, Couch decided to do something for the small, rural town in which he had been raised. The Calhoun community wanted a new, modern school building for its students, so Couch offered to donate $10,000 to construct the building according to plans approved by the Arkansas Department of Education. The Calhoun School District supplied the site and classroom equipment, with most other items being donated.

The Harvey C. Couch School was built in 1928 and formally opened on October 14, 1928, at the intersection of County Roads 11 and 25 in rural Columbia County several miles southeast of Magnolia (Columbia County) in the community of Calhoun. It was designed by architect Richard Curzon and constructed under the supervision of County Superintendent F. M. Powell with Guy Wilson as the builder. It was dedicated on August 10, 1928, with a homecoming celebration attended by more than 2,000 citizens, friends, and family.

Measuring forty-eight feet wide and seventy-five feet deep, the single-story Craftsman-style building featured classrooms that would serve 150 students. The brick-veneered building has a gable-roofed open front porch, a recessed double-door entrance, and concrete stairs that project at different points from the building’s other three sides. Three brick chimneys project from the main roof: one each on the west wall, the northeast corner, and the east wall. The combination hipped-gable roof is covered with asbestos shingles, the walls are faced with brick, and all are supported by a continuous brick foundation. The pediment features a concrete entrance sign stating, “Calhoun Dist. No. 3 Harvey C. Couch School.” Directly above, in the gable peak of the main building, is a simple eight-pane wood fanlight set into a brick arch.

The rear elevation has two single-leaf doors, both covered with simple, bracketed shed roofs. Each of the two entrances is accessed by a simple concrete staircase that runs along the wall and up to a flat concrete deck supported by a pair of brick piers. The western elevation is composed of four groups of three windows, all of which are of the same simple configuration seen elsewhere. A single wood sash window completes the elevation at the north end, along with a single wooden entrance door also accessed via a short concrete staircase and deck.

The significant exterior details are limited to the decorative Craftsman-style brackets on the southern porch and gable end, the front porch fanlight, the brick piers supporting the front porch, and the exposed rafters that extend around the other elevations. A single band of brick placed on-end creates a water table located approximately two feet above grade that extends around the main body of the building.

The interior is the typically simple style used for public schools during the 1920s, with plank moldings framing the windows and doors, and the walls and ceiling covered with beaded board. Some interesting features survive, such as the beveled wall-ceiling intersections around the classrooms and the use of paneled rolling overhead doors to divide rooms and separate the stage area from the classrooms.

The upgrades to the building have been limited to the addition of two bathrooms, the installation of a hot water tank and related plumbing, the addition of air conditioning in the western half of the building, the extension of the auditorium stage about ten feet to the south, the installation of a ramp at the front porch, and the October 2022 replacement of the shingled roof.

The Class of 1952 was the last class to graduate from Calhoun, and the building was deeded to the Calhoun Community Club, Inc., in 1958. The school became home to the Columbia County Hayride that provided local musical entertainment on Saturday nights during the 1970s. The Calhoun and nearby Village (Columbia County) school districts were absorbed by the Magnolia Public School District in 1986. The school building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 8, 1993. A local group of Calhoun citizens maintains the property, which remains remarkably intact in the twenty-first century.

For additional information:
Couch, Ruth. The Noble Heritage of the Harvey C. Couch School, Calhoun, Arkansas. N.p.: Academic Americana, 2014.

“Harvey C. Couch Historic School.” National Register of Historic Places registration form. On file at Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, Little Rock, Arkansas. Online at https://www.arkansasheritage.com/arkansas-historic-preservation-program (accessed September 19, 2025).

“The Harvey Couch Homecoming.” Dixie Magazine, August–September, 1928.

“Harvey Couch School Opens.” Banner News [Magnolia, Arkansas], October 18, 1928, p. 1.

Kilgore, Nettie Hicks. History of Columbia County. N.p.: Southwest Arkansas Genealogical Society, 1976.

“Sons and Daughters of Old Calhoun Come from Far and Near in Order to Attend Harvey Couch Homecoming.” Banner News, August 16, 1928, p. 1.