Museums and Historic Sites

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Entry Category: Museums and Historic Sites

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, located in Bentonville (Benton County), officially opened to the public on November 11, 2011. The 201,000-square-foot museum with its 120 acres of forest and garden was designed to portray the spirit of America. The museum was founded by Alice Walton, daughter of Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart Inc. The museum took its name from Crystal Spring, which is located nearby on the grounds, and the bridge-shaped design of the building, designed by Moshe Safdie. The museum collection includes art from colonial times to the present day. It also offers temporary exhibits from other museums and collections. Alice Walton was ranked as one of the richest people in the United States in 2010 and …

Crystal River Tourist Camp Historic District

aka: Crystal River Tourist Court
aka: Crystal River Cave and Court
The Crystal River Tourist Camp Historic District is perhaps the most unusual tourist court in the state, and one of the most unusual in the country. The striking exteriors have remained largely unchanged since the structures were built by a local businessman and a stone mason in 1934. The court surrounds the entrance to the Crystal River Cave, a popular gathering place for which the town of Cave City (Sharp and Independence counties) was named. The Crystal River Cave and Courts, as it is now called, no longer functions as lodging, although the property’s owners offer tours of the cave by appointment. The Crystal River Tourist Camp Historic District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on June …

Crystal Springs Dam and Camp Shelter

The Crystal Recreation Area, located in the Ouachita National Forest, included two structures listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1935, the stone dam and log picnic structure were added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 21, 1993. The site is located on Forest Road 177 north of Norman (Montgomery County). The shelter was constructed by CCC Company 741. The company was formed on May 1, 1933, at Camp Pike. The company completed numerous projects in the Ouachita National Forest and was stationed at Crystal Springs at the time of the project. The dam is placed across Montgomery Creek and is constructed from fieldstone. The two-tier structure is …

Curran Hall

aka: Little Rock Visitor Information Center
aka: Walters-Curran-Bell House
Curran Hall, sometimes known as the Walters-Curran-Bell House, stands at 615 East Capitol Avenue in the MacArthur Park Historic District and is one of the few remaining antebellum landmark properties in Little Rock (Pulaski County). Dating back to 1842, the house was constructed during the city’s first building boom, which reached its peak around 1842 and faded out with the depression of 1843. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 1, 1976. According to widely accepted tradition, Curran Hall was constructed in the Greek Revival style by noted Greek Revival architect Gideon Shryock, who designed the Kentucky State Capitol as well as the Old State House, making this house of particular significance. The original one-story …

D. L. McRae House

The D. L. McRae House is located in Prescott (Nevada County). Designed by architect Charles Thompson and commissioned by Duncan McRae Sr., the house was constructed in 1912 and added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 22, 1982. The son of Arkansas governor and member of the U.S. House of Representatives Thomas Chipman McRae, Duncan McCrae was born on October 27, 1885. He grew up in Prescott and graduated from Prescott High School before attending several colleges, including Arkansas College (now Lyon College) and Vanderbilt University. After being admitted to the bar in 1907, McCrae worked as an attorney in Prescott and served as the city recorder in 1908–1909. He became a member of the firm McRae …

Dairyman’s Bank Building

The Dairyman’s Bank Building located in Carlisle (Lonoke County) was constructed around 1901. Established as a financial institution to promote the local agricultural economy, the Dairyman’s Bank was one of the earliest banks established in the town and the town’s only bank until 1907. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 29, 2019. Carlisle was incorporated in 1878 and in a short time grew into a thriving community based upon local agriculture. To help stimulate the growth of the agriculture economy, the Dairyman’s Bank was founded at the beginning of the twentieth century. The bank opened with capital of $5,000 and was managed by President M. A. Thompson. In about 1901, as the town …

Daisy Airgun Museum

The Daisy Airgun Museum in historic downtown Rogers (Benton County) attracts visitors from all over the world, due in part to the popularity of the Daisy BB gun that was once a staple of childhood in America. People visit in order to experience Daisy’s history and to buy unique collectibles and souvenirs. Daisy Manufacturing was founded as the Plymouth Iron Windmill Company in Plymouth, Michigan, in 1882. It made windmills of steel when others made them of wood. The steel windmills were not well received, and in 1888, the company was considering bankruptcy. Its president was presented with a prototype steel BB gun, which he shot into his wastebasket and later fired through a wood shingle. He exclaimed, “Boy, that’s …

Dallas County Courthouse

The Dallas County Courthouse in Fordyce was erected in 1911. The building is the most elaborate structure in Dallas County to be built in the Classical Revival style of architecture. The courthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 27, 1984. On January 1, 1845, Dallas County was established, with Princeton being selected as the first seat of county government. The first courts in Princeton were held in the home of Presley Watts. The first Dallas County Courthouse was built in 1846 on the east side of the square in Princeton. In 1852, a second courthouse was built in Princeton at a cost of $6,000.The courthouse remained at Princeton until 1908, when it was officially moved to …

Dallas County Museum

In September 1993, the State of Arkansas chartered the Dallas County Museum in Fordyce (Dallas County). In the spring of 1995, Frank Hickingbotham, owner of Citizens Bank, donated the old bank building to the museum; the museum materials had previously been housed in a back room at the local Chamber of Commerce. Formerly the McKee Building, the 1907 structure was restored to include a new, native red oak staircase and a new elevator; original bank vaults and safes remain in the building. The Dallas County Museum provides 13,000 square feet of exhibition and office space at 221 North Main Street in the Fordyce Commercial Historic District, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. An annex opened in the …

Dallas County Training School High School Building

The High School Building at the Dallas County Training School is located in Fordyce (Dallas County). Constructed in 1931 with assistance from the Rosenwald Foundation, it served African-American students in Dallas, Bradley, Calhoun, and Cleveland counties. Added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 21, 2004, the building was unoccupied by 2001. A school for African-American students began operating in Fordyce in a wooden building in 1918. Designed to serve four counties, the building was overwhelmed, and local citizens explored options to expand the facility. After securing $2,600 from the Rosenwald Foundation, local African Americans donated $300, and public funds of $9,690 covered the balance, giving the cost of construction of the 1931 section of the building a …

Damascus CCC Camp No. 3781 Historic District

The Damascus CCC Camp Co. No. 3781 Historic District, located on Camp Hill Road in Damascus (Van Buren and Faulkner counties), is a collection of stone structures associated with a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) facility that operated there in cooperation with the U.S. Soil Conservation Service (USCS) during the Great Depression. The Damascus area had long seen agricultural use, which led the CCC to establish Camp Damascus there on June 1, 1935, under USCS control to help rehabilitate farmland in a region damaged by a long history of poor farming techniques. Junior Company 3781, SCS-5 was located on a forty-acre site leased for one dollar per year from William A. Brown. Construction of the camp began on June 12, and …

Damascus Gymnasium

The Damascus Gymnasium, located on State Highway 285 just north of the Faulkner/Van Buren County line in Damascus, is a single-story, wood-frame building constructed in 1933 and designed in the Craftsman style of architecture. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 4, 1992. The first school in Damascus was established in 1881 by neighbors in the community who held classes in a brush arbor. That rustic setting served until 1889 when summer and winter terms were held in the new Baptist church. In 1900, a two-story, four-room schoolhouse was constructed. When a high school was built in 1910, a School Improvement Association was formed to finance an eight-month term of classes. The Damascus school joined …

Dante House

The Dante House, built in 1965, is a one-story Mid-Century Modern house designed by the noted Arkansas architect Noland Blass Jr. Located at the southeast corner of Court Street and Puryear Street in Dumas (Desha County), it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 23, 2020. The Dante family was the most prominent of the Jewish families in Dumas. Charles Dante came to the United States alone from Poland in 1890 at the age of twelve, and a cousin in Pine Bluff (Jefferson County) urged him to spend some time in New York in order to learn English and earn some money. Two years later, Dante traveled to Pine Bluff and became a peddler and store …

Dardanelle Agriculture and Post Office

The Dardanelle Agriculture and Post Office is a 1938 U.S. Postal Service structure in Dardanelle (Yell County). A mural there painted by artist Ludwig Mactarian was financed through the U.S. Treasury Department’s Section of Painting and Sculpture (later renamed the Section of Fine Arts), a Depression-era stimulus project that promoted public art. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 14, 1998. U.S. congressman David D. Terry notified the postmaster for the county seat for northern Yell County in June 1936 that $60,000 in federal money was set aside for land acquisition and construction of a new facility for the town. A few months later, Dardanelle’s Post-Dispatch reported that the U.S. Treasury Department was purchasing …

Davidsonville Historic State Park

Davidsonville Historic State Park is a 163-acre park located on the Black River in southern Randolph County. The park preserves the site of the town of Davidsonville, which housed the first postal stop, the first courthouse building and county seat of Lawrence County, and the first federal land office in what is now the state of Arkansas. The town was created from a few log cabins in 1815, when the Act of Lawrence County was written; it was briefly known as the town of Lawrence. Strangely, this town of “firsts” was also the first county seat to be bypassed by a major road connecting Missouri to the Great Southwest. By 1829, Davidsonville had lost the courthouse to Jackson and the …

De Queen and Eastern Railroad Machine Shop

The De Queen and Eastern Railroad Machine Shop, located in De Queen (Sevier County), was built in 1905 for repairing and maintaining train engines. It is one of the only buildings constructed during the early years of the Eastern Railroad Company and by 2019 was also the only remaining railroad shop in that area of the state. The shop was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 20, 1996. A long, one-story building with brick masonry and tall glass windows on its façade, it is notable for its Italianate architecture, rare for buildings with an industrial use. Its large curved windows remain intact. On top of the building is a monitor roof with small windows for more …

De Queen Commercial Historic District

The downtown buildings of what is now the De Queen Commercial Historic District were built from 1900 to 1961. The district is locally significant under Criterion A on the National Register of Historic Places as the original commercial center supporting the city of De Queen (Sevier County). The district was listed on the National Register on January 26, 2012. The district boundaries encircle thirty-five buildings. Contributing buildings retain many of their historic features, with the historic integrity of this community at fifty-five percent intact. The identity of the area is defined through its proximity to the courthouse and its remaining historic structures. Historically, the buildings in this district were related to commerce, healthcare, recreation and culture, and government. There were …

DeGray Creek Bridge

DeGray Creek Bridge is a pin-connected Pratt pony-truss bridge located near Arkadelphia (Clark County). Constructed in 1915, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 21, 2010. It is the only known surviving bridge of its type in the state. The bridge consists of two steel trusses, seven feet tall and twelve feet apart. A steel deck substructure is attached to the trusses, and pins hold the sections together. The deck is covered by wooden planks. This bridge is connected to the banks of the creek by concrete and is a single lane wide. The bridge and similar bridges were prefabricated to be constructed in a manner that would allow them to be quickly and easily …