BENTON — The Saline County Courthouse is highly visible with its clock tower dominating one corner of the building’s multiple-gable roofline, but how many people know that it’s the third courthouse that has been built on this one-city-block site?
Or how many know a jail was part of the first courthouse built in the mid-1830s?
These bits of history, along with many more facts about the downtown business community, will be answered Saturday during the Walks Through History tour of the Benton Commercial Historic District. The tour, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 11 a.m. in front of the Saline County Courthouse, 200 N. Main St.
Anchored by the 1902 courthouse, which was designed by Charles Thompson,
the Benton Commercial Historic District includes 53 commercial-style buildings constructed during the early 20th century, when Benton prospered as a result of the county’s abundance of natural resources such as timber, clay and bauxite.
The courthouse is a two-story Romanesque Revival-style brick building. In addition to the clock tower, the structure features arched openings on the north and south ends of the open center hallway. The building is on the northern edge of the city’s commercial historic district.
Saturday’s tour is sponsored by the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program and co-sponsored by the Saline County Library and the Saline County History and Heritage Society. Rachel Silva, AHHP preservation outreach coordinator, will lead the tour.
Silva said the tour will cover historic buildings facing the courthouse on North Main, West Sevier and North Market streets before proceeding south on Market Street for three blocks to the Gann Museum at 218 S. Market, which, Silva said, is not in the historic commercial district but is of significance because it is the only known bauxite building in existence, constructed from locally quarried bauxite blocks. Buildings on both sides of Market Street will be highlighted along the way. The tour will also include buildings on West South Street and a new mural, which is painted on the west side of the building at 102-104 W. South St.
The Benton Historic Commercial District gained a listing in the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. Three of the buildings in the district are individually included on the National Register of Historic Places — the Saline County Courthouse, which was placed on the register in 1976; the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Building at 123 N. Market St., placed on the register in 2001; and the Royal Theatre, placed on the register in 2003. As previously stated, the Gann Museum is not in the commercial district, but it was put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
“The Walks Through History tour series is important because it increases awareness of the unique historic resources in each Arkansas community,” Silva said. “The tours attract locals, as well as people from out of town.
“When I give a tour, I try to tell my audience something they don’t already know. I hope the tours give people an increased appreciation for their city’s history and architecture. I also provide information about the services we offer at the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program and incentives for the rehabilitation of historic buildings.”
Silva said this is the first time she has given this tour in Benton, although she has been in her position at the AHHP since 2008. In addition to leading the monthly Walks Through History tours statewide, Silva also leads the Sandwiching in History tours each month in central Arkansas, develops and delivers various programs on historic preservation, writes articles for publication in local and statewide journals, and writes nominations for the National Register of Historic Places.
Steve Perdue, head of the genealogy and local history department at the Saline County Library and president of the Saline County History and Heritage Society, said he has taken groups on similar walking tours in the past.
Perdue noted that one interesting exhibit inside the Saline County Courthouse is the mural The Bauxite Mines, which was painted by Julius Woeltz of Texas in 1942 as part of the New Deal-sponsored Art in Post Office project carried out from 1934-1943. He said the mural was installed in the old Benton post office, which is in the Benton Historic Commercial District at 129 N. Main St., but later relocated to the courthouse. The Salvation Army is now located in the old Benton post office building.
For more information on the Walks Through History tours or other AHHP programs, call (501) 324-9880; write the agency at 323 Center St., Suite 1500, Little Rock, AR 72201; email info@arkansaspreservation.org; or visit www.arkansaspreservation.org.