CONWAY — Members of the Faulkner County Historical Society braved a blistering sun Monday to view a Depression-era sidewalk that the University of Central Arkansas’ president wants to replace with a decorative walkway.
Charles E. Clawson Jr., the society’s president who also is a circuit judge, said organization members would discuss the matter among themselves before making a recommendation on whether the current traditional sidewalk should be preserved.
“Anything historical is worth preserving when you can,” Clawson said. “It’s just part of the character of the community.”
UCA President Allen C. Meadors has said the sidewalk is in bad shape and dangerous and needs to be replaced.
Meadors, his wife, Barbara, and a few UCA administrators greeted society members at the sidewalk along Donaghey Avenue, a street named after Arkansas’ 22nd governor, George Washington Donaghey.
Earlier this month, UCA Archivist Jimmy Bryant, who has written a book on the university’s history, urged Meadors to save the sidewalk because of its historic value. Markings at each end of the walkway indicate that the National Youth Administration, a New Deal agency under the Works Progress Administration, built it.
Last week, Meadors said he would seek a recommendation from a local historical group.
“I’ll do whatever the historical folks think is the appropriate thing to do,” he said.
As it turns out, though, Conway City Attorney Mike Murphy, who is on the Faulkner County Museum commission, said Monday, “There’s a good chance this [sidewalk] is in the city right of way anyway,” meaning the city would own it.
If the city does own it, Murphy added, it’s the “city’s responsibility to maintain and then confer with UCA on how to proceed.”
Society member Vivian Hogue of Conway said the National Youth Administration was a special interest of Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose administration launched New Deal programs to help the nation recover from the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Meadors said Monday he did not think the sidewalk, which has some cracks, could be repaired by just replacing a couple of sections. “I counted 29 that are pretty dangerous,” he said.
Clawson said the sidewalk has “some potential hazards.”
Barbara Meadors told society members that UCA is taking any sidewalks that are being replaced and recycling the concrete to make a patio behind the president’s UCA owned home.
Asked whether he thought that plan was a good idea for this National Youth Administration sidewalk, Clawson said, “I think that’s a very original idea.” Asked that question again, the judge chuckled and again said, “I think it’s a very original idea.”
Hogue, however, said, “Anytime you are preserving something, you need to preserve where it is,” she said.
“You can save whatever you want to save,” Hogue said. “Things can be lifted up, leveled. ... I’ve walked over sidewalks like this [condition] on Conway all my life.”
Murphy, the city attorney, said “there’s no rush” to do anything.
“Nobody’s thought much about this sidewalk for about 80 years,” he said.
Arkansas, Pages 7 on 06/22/2010