KEO -- One purpose of history is to provide figurative time travel back to pasts that have vanished or faded, even if their heydays weren't all that long ago.
That's the case with Keo Commercial Historic District, added to the National Register of Historic Places six years ago, in this flatland community of 256 residents, located 20 miles southeast of Little Rock.
Keo prospered mainly on cotton farming through the first half of the 20th century, a fact reflected by most of the 34 buildings in the historic district. As late as 1950, according to one recollection, there wasn't a parking spot to be found on a Saturday as farm families came into the busy town to buy their next week's goods.
Many of the structures erected largely between the two world wars are now derelict, evidence of the deep decline in Arkansas cotton growing since that era. In the peak year of 1930, 3.5 million acres were planted with cotton -- about 10 times the crop's current acreage in our state.
The empty buildings, along with a few containing current businesses, cast an elegiac mood over Keo. A former drugstore along the short stretch of Main Street houses the tastiest present-day reason to come here, namely Charlotte's Eats and Sweets. This lunchtime cafe, praised in regional and national publications, purveys flavorful sandwiches and salads as overtures to its celebrated pies and cakes.
Twenty-two of the historic district's structures were part of the Cobb Cotton Gin operation, run until its closing in 2008 by a family still prominent in Keo. Along with the massive gin, the complex's remains include a commissary, a tenant house, a fire-hose building, a water tank and a Quonset hut.
Another four buildings belonged to the Morris Cotton Gin, which closed in 1970. For the past two decades, that former facility has housed Old Gin Antiques, whose outdoor displays include a bevy of fountains and other yard ornaments along with one item of taxidermy -- a young razorback hog.
The state's application for National Register of Historic Places status describes Keo's evolution over the decades:
"An overhead view of Keo and the surrounding area reveals a grid of agricultural fields for miles. Oxbow lakes snake through the landscape and pecan trees form cathedral arches in orderly rows.
"After the installation of the Altheimer-to-Argenta branch of the St. Louis, Arkansas and Texas Railway in the late 1800s, Keo grew around the line. ... With the development of the highway system, the importance of the railroad lessened. Changes in the agricultural character and culture of the area contributed to loss of population, and commerce began to die out in Keo by the 1960s.
"Despite this, the town retained its agricultural-industrial complexes and several commercial structures within its historic environment of farm land. A small renaissance of commerce has made Keo a popular stop for tourists and antique shoppers, because the community still conveys the feel of an early-to-mid-20th century farming town, and as such tells the story of the Arkansas Delta."
Lying outside the designated historic area, the magnet for antiquers is the complex of seven buildings housing Morris Antiques. One of the mid-South's largest dealers, Morris showcases American, English and French antiques dating from the 1750s to the 1960s. Browsing among the vintage furniture and other objects provides a fitting complement to a meander through Keo Commercial Historic District.
For information on Keo Commercial Historic District, visit keoar.com, which includes a map of the district's buildings.
Charlotte's Eats and Sweets, 290 Main St., Keo, is open 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday. Call (501) 842-2123
Morris Antiques, on Arkansas 232, is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursday-Saturday or by appointment. Visit morrisantiques.com or call (501) 842-3531.
Style on 06/27/2017