Two Arkansas Properties Added to National Register of Historic Places

Frances McSwain, director for the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, announced Thursday that the National Register of Historic Places has added two Arkansas properties to the country’s official list of historically significant real estate.  

The added properties were an 1828 remnant of Memphis to Little Rock Road in Village Creek State Park (Cross County) and the 1927 Randolph James House in El Dorado (Union County).

The 557-foot remnant of road was used during the American Indian removals of the 1830s.

The property was submitted for National Register recognition under the listing "Historic and Archeological Resources Associated with the Cherokee Trail of Tears," according to the AHPP’s website.

The Arkansas preservation organization said in a news release that the road remnant is "one of the most-intact surviving segments of the roads traversed by the Bell Detachment [a Cherokee group overseen by part-Cherokee John Bell] during the Cherokee Removal, as well as one of the few known ferry crossing sites on the road. Its association with the earlier Choctaw, Creek and Chickasaw Removals augments its importance, as does its role in the opening of eastern Arkansas as a means of westward emigration."

The Randolph James House is a Spanish Revival-style design. According to the news release, an "oil boom" in 1920s southern Arkansas "brought new-found wealth to the El Dorado area, which allowed residents to build new and elaborate homes in the latest architectural styles. Such was the case with the Randolph James House."

The National Register of Historic Places recognizes properties that are significant to the nation, individual states or specific communities.

The AHPP is the Department of Arkansas Heritage agency responsible for identifying, evaluating, registering and preserving the state’s cultural resources.