An old armory, a country church and an inactive railway station were a few of the properties added to a state historical group's "endangered" watch list.
During a ceremony at the Capitol on Thursday, officials from Preserve Arkansas announced seven new properties to be added to its "endangered places" list, an effort aimed at calling attention to historic structures and the need to preserve them.
The group also announced two Little Rock locations as "Ones Worth Watching" and honored an old farmhouse in Conway County that was supposed to be added to the list but was recently demolished.
Vanessa McKuin, the director of Preserve Arkansas, said the range of properties identified throughout the state to be added to the watch list meant different things to different groups, but that she believes all of the properties are of historic value and are worth saving.
"A lot of cases, we list properties where the history is only known by one or two people," she said.
McKuin's group began its Most Endangered Places Program in 1999, adding five to 10 properties a year to the list, in an effort to encourage awareness in local communities of historical structures as well as drum up financial support to help restore them.
McKuin said she didn't know how many structures are currently a part of the program but that inclusion on the list can help "bolster efforts" to save them. McKuin said that often it's local leadership that is tasked with taking care of neglected properties, but she added that such efforts can be costly.
"[Often] there's a lack of awareness of their importance. It's hard for us to see what's in our own backyard as historically significant," McKuin said. "Funding is an issue. ... There's not a whole lot of private dedicated funding for historic properties. ... Part of what we're trying to do is raise awareness about the resources and tools available."
Karen Hamilton of Mount Ida came to Little Rock on Thursday to raise awareness about the Sweet Home Chapel, a historic building on her property, which she acquired by chance.
When she was in college, she'd often drive by the church and admire its pastoral location. Fifteen years ago, she bought a homestead in the area only to discover that the old church, one built in 1907 but decommissioned in 1977, came with the homestead.
"The church had designated 2 acres we didn't know was going back into the original homestead when we bought it. We eventually found out later it was a part of our property. ... It was definitely just an accident."
Hamilton said she and her husband tried to keep it up as best they could and for a while used the empty building for storage. But after so many years, the ceiling and the foundation are in dire need.
"Something's going to have to be done," Hamilton said. "It's really in sad shape."
The other buildings on the list:
• Ray House, 2111 Cross St. in Little Rock (built 1917): Vacant since 2013, it was built in a black neighborhood called the Dunbar Historic District. It was once called home by Gloria Ray Karlmark, one of the Little Rock Nine students who desegregated Central High School in 1957.
• National Guard Armory, also known as the Sonny Alston Youth Center, in Clarksville (1930): Costs for restoration of the building, named after a black public employee and youth sports booster, are higher than local government wanted to pay. The city has put a tarp atop the leaking roof, but the building's "supporters still face an uphill battle to win its preservation," according to the organization.
• Union Chapel Community Center in Springfield in Conway County (1929): The original facility burned down in the mid-1930s but was rebuilt by workers with the Works Progress Administration. After years of community use, the building fell into disrepair.
• Slack/Comstock/Marshall House, Uniontown in Crawford County (mid-1890s): The Plain Traditional-style house is now vacant but over the course of a century belonged to three different families, one of which wants to save the structure despite its deteriorated state.
• Goodwin Field Terminal in El Dorado (1948): Built in an Art Deco/Art Moderne style of the age, the building was expanded in 2006, but the terminal is now ill-suited to the air traffic at the airport. The city's Airport Commission has approved its demolition and the final decision goes to the El Dorado City Council.
• Warren & Ouachita Railway Station in Warren (1909): Once a thriving hub for timber, passengers and farm products, the facility has been hit hard by vandalism and the elements. The Warren Chamber of Commerce wants to restore it but funding is tight.
Preserve Arkansas also identified the KATV Building at 401 Main St. in Little Rock as one worth watching. A product of Arkansas architect George Richard Mann, its days as the home of KATV are numbered and the company is looking for a different location, according to Preserve Arkansas. The 1929 building was a bank before it became the home of the TV station in 1969.
The group also identified the Mosaic State Temple Building at 906 Broadway in Little Rock as one worth watching. Built in 1921, it is for sale.
Metro on 05/13/2016