BATESVILLE — Members of the community are invited to take a look at some of the city’s historic buildings Saturday when the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program presents a Walks Through History tour of the Batesville Commercial Historic District.
The tour, which will begin at 11 a.m. at the Landers Theater, 322 E. Main St., is co-sponsored by Main Street Batesville and the Batesville Preservation Association.
Rachel Silva, AHHP preservation outreach coordinator, will lead the tour.
“Downtown Batesville features many distinctive buildings constructed with locally quarried stone,” Silva said. “We will see many of those buildings and more.”
Silva said the tour, which is free and open to the public, will include commercial, public and institutional buildings on Main Street from State Street on the west to First Baptist Church and First United Methodist Church in the 600 block of East Main Street on the east. She said First Baptist Church at 610 E. Main St. was built in 1924, and First United Methodist Church at 615 E. Main St. was built in 1913.
“We will include some buildings on side streets if time allows,” she said.
“The commercial historic district was first listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 and included buildings in the 100 blocks of West Main, East Main and North Central streets,” Silva said. “The district was expanded in 1990 to include buildings on Main Street down to Fourth Street on the east.
“It was re-evaluated and updated again in 2004 but retained the same boundaries,” she said. “We just updated building information.”
The following notable buildings are among those found within the district boundaries:
• The old U.S. post office at 368 E. Main St., built in 1904, now houses the Independence County Library and the circuit/juvenile courts.
• Landers Theater at 332 E. Main, built in 1906 as the Gem Theater, became the Landers Theater in 1929, and the facade was altered in 1947 to its current appearance with the marquee. Fellowship Bible Church now owns the building.
“The Landers Theater literally fell apart in the 1990s. A tree was actually growing in the building,” said Joel Williams, executive director of Main Street Batesville.
“Fellowship Bible Church stepped up, took advantage of tax credits and restored it to its former glory, including the marquee,” said Williams, who has been with Main Street Batesville for three years.
• The Barnett Bros. Mercantile Co. building at 267 E. Main St. was built in 1903-1904.
• The Independence County Courthouse at 192 E. Main St. was built in 1940 with help from the Works Progress Administration and designed in the Art Deco style by the Little Rock architectural firm Wittenberg and Delony. Batesville has always been the county seat of Independence County, which was created in 1820.
• The Case Building at 101 E. Main St. was built in 1877 in the Italianate style. Silva said this building is best remembered as Menard Grocery and had a Coca-Cola ghost sign on the structure’s west elevation.
• The Melba Theater in the 100 block of West Main Street was remodeled to its current Art Deco appearance in 1940, Silva said, and reopened that year as one of the state’s first CinemaScope theaters. It closed in the early 1990s and reopened again in 2000, but closed again last year. The theater is currently being rehabilitated once again.
Williams said more information on the current rehabilitation effort can be found at www.mainstreetbatesville.org.
• The Adler Building at 151 W. Main St. was built in 1880. Silva said it had cast-iron storefront columns made by J. Christopher & Co. of St. Louis. The building housed the Yeatman-Gray Co. (wholesale grocers) in the early 20th century.
“There are 52 buildings in the commercial historic district, but we will talk about additional blocks not included in the district boundary, as well as some individually listed properties,” Silva said.
The following properties are among those listed individually on the National Register of Historic Places:
• St. Paul’s Episcopal Church at 424 E. Main St. was built in 1916 and designed by Little Rock architect Charles L. Thompson. The church was listed on the register in 1982.
• The Garrott House (formerly known as the Case-Maxfield House) at 561 E. Main St. was built in 1842 as a private residence and listed on the register in 1971. It is one of the oldest buildings in Batesville.
• The Dondy Building at 154 S. Third St. was built in 1918 and designed by architect Theodore Sanders. It was listed on the register in 1982.
• The Central Avenue Bridge/Poke Bayou Bridge was built in 1930 by the Luten Bridge Co. The bridge was listed on the register in 2010.
• The Batesville Confederate Monument was sculpted by Otto Pfeiffer in 1907 and listed on the register in 1996.
“In the Walks Through History program, the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program hopes to increase awareness of historic properties throughout the state,” Silva said. “I always try to tell my audiences something they don’t already know about their community or the historic buildings in their town. I am also happy to answer questions about the National Register of Historic Places, federal and state tax credits for the rehabilitation of historic properties and grants. People are encouraged to make suggestions for future walking-tour sites.”
Williams said visitors to Batesville on Saturday will notice a “streetscape revitalization” project that is underway in the city.
Parking in the commercial historic district along Main Street now features angled parking spots. The street, once a two-lane thoroughfare, is now a narrow, one-lane road with an S-curve to slow traffic.
“This is designed to increase parking by up to 45 percent,” Williams said. “It also allows us to create some green spaces along the street and to add walkways.
“We hope it will draw new businesses to the downtown area,” he said. “Seven new business have opened in just the last three months.”
For more information on the Walks Through History tour in Batesville, call the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program at (501) 324-9880 or Main Street Batesville at (870) 698-1555. More information is also available at arkansaspreservation.com.