HUNTSVILLE -- Madison County's history is slipping away.
Some of it went 27 miles up the road to the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History in Springdale.
There -- among other Madison County treasures -- they have former Gov. Orval Faubus' hat and author Donald Harington's log-cabin-shaped coffee bin, which was rescued from Nail and Calico General Store at Drakes Creek before the store was torn down in the 1950s and its contents shipped off to Knott's Berry Farm, a California amusement park.
Huntsville Mayor Darrell Trahan said Madison County needs its own museum so such artifacts don't end up somewhere else.
"The idea of stuff leaving here kills me," he said. "We can't wait 10 more years. That's 10 more years of people going to the grave and leaving their stuff to Shiloh. I like Shiloh, but I don't want my stuff going over there."
Susan Young, a spokesman for Shiloh Museum, said Springdale has long served as a city crossroads for people going to and from the more rural communities in the Ozark Mountains to the east. And the Shiloh Museum has been their museum, even if visiting there did require a short drive.
But Springdale is in Washington County, Trahan said. Madison County's rich history should remain in Madison County, he said.
"Our history is leaving, literally leaving the county," Trahan said. "We want a museum that kids can visit as they walk to and from school."
The previous Huntsville mayor, Kevin Hatfield, also campaigned for a museum. But in 2013, Huntsville voters rejected a proposal to use part of a new sales tax to build a museum and tourist center. It was narrowly defeated by a vote of 131-124.
Trahan has another idea. He wants to convert a 96-year-old building Huntsville already owns to be the county museum.
The city bought the old Basham Ford building on the downtown square in 2013 for $250,000, Trahan said. It's one of the oldest buildings on the square since many of the historic wood-frame structures were destroyed by fire over the past century.
Along with the Basham Ford building, the city got 1.8 acres and a large metal storage building.
"We bought the land just to have the parking spots and metal building," Trahan said.
The Basham Ford building was constructed of limestone. Trahan said the Ford dealership was only open for a few years. For most of the 20th century, the building served as Basham Motor & Tire Co., where repair work was done and tires were sold.
A large wood-burning stove sits in the middle of the building's front room, where men would gather while work went on in the adjacent service bay. The building has no other mode of heating and no air conditioners.
The service bay is used now for storage of city property, including picnic tables and a miniature train known as the Fred Lewis Express. Lewis, an engineer from Saint Paul, donated it to the city.
Trahan wants to build a "splash pad" water park for children behind the museum, and the miniature train could run a short route on the museum grounds, keeping youngsters occupied while their parents tour the museum or visit at picnic tables in a covered area out back.
Trahan said architecture students at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville will design the museum renovation during the spring semester. He said Huntsville's public works department can do the renovation work.
Greg Herman, an associate professor of architecture at the university, said about a dozen fifth-year students will work on the project.
"How do you insert a museum into a building?" Herman said. "A museum requires enormous environmental control, so that will be a challenge."
The UA designs could help the city get a federal grant, Trahan said.
The mayor said Huntsville will apply for a grant through the College/Underserved Community Partnership Program, which develops partnerships between small communities and nearby colleges to provide a variety of technical support at no cost to those communities, according to the Environmental Protection Agency's website, epa.gov.
To get a grant, they need to see that your plan is well thought out, Trahan said.
"If you've got a model of it, architectural drawings and prices for it, that puts you way ahead," he said. "It's something that desperately needs to be done. It's a benefit to everyone. The building is an eyesore right now."
Trahan said the museum could house, among other things, small replicas of buildings in historic Huntsville. The replicas were built by Otto Grubbs. They're in storage now.
Trahan said he hopes Shiloh Museum will loan some of its Madison County items to the new museum in Huntsville.
"They can't display everything they have," he said. "What I'm hoping is, they don't have to give it to us, just let us display it."
Joy Russell, who has been involved with the Madison County Genealogical & Historical Society for more than 30 years, said she knows people who wanted to donate items to the society, but there was no place for them. When that happens, the items are often sold to private collectors or given to entities in other counties.
"In just the past two or three years, I can remember one family who wanted to donate their grandmother's spinning wheel and loom to the society," Russell wrote in an email. "Another had an old pump organ that was in excellent shape, which was purchased about 1900. And another family was looking for a home for an old bed and dresser made by their ancestors in the late 1800s.
"It's always made me sad that those items were not kept here in the county where the families who owned them resided."
Drakes Creek was the inspiration for the fictional town of Stay More in Harington's novels. Harington's grandmother, Minnie Nail, was the storekeeper at Nail and Calico.
Harington, who died in 2009, is probably best known for his novel The Architecture of the Arkansas Ozarks, which was published in 1975. In that book, the character of Jacob Ingledew had some similarities to Isaac Murphy, who was the first elected governor of Union-controlled Arkansas. He was also the first governor from Madison County.
The second -- and most recent -- governor from Madison County was Faubus, who was most famous for calling in the National Guard to block the desegregation of Little Rock's Central High School in 1957.
Madison County remains rural. Forests cover two-thirds of the county.
Madison County had a population of 15,717 in 2010. That's less than in 1890, when the county had 17,402 residents. But it's up from 1960, when the population bottomed out at 9,086.
Many people live in Madison County and work in the larger cities to the west, including Fayetteville, Springdale and Rogers. Madison County residents like the country vibe, and many of them complained when the county got its first stoplight in October.
But the county needs to attract new industry and more jobs, Trahan said. He's working on that. In the meantime, a museum can help preserve that slower way of life.
Russell said the museum needs to happen soon.
"I hope that plans for a museum is a priority and, if it's going to happen, that it happens sooner rather than later before more special old items are gone forever," she said.
NW News on 12/05/2016