I love old hotels. My definition of fun? Sitting in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel at Memphis, watching the ducks swim in the fountain and seeing who I recognize.
Here in Arkansas, some of my fondest hopes involve historic hotels. Once the pandemic ends, I'm hopeful the owner of the Arlington Hotel at Hot Springs will embark on the long-awaited renovation. Without a doubt, the Arlington is most iconic privately owned structure in Arkansas.
In downtown Little Rock, Parth Patel has purchased the former Sam Peck Hotel on Capitol Avenue and is beginning a renovation project. Here's hoping he can find someone who will return fine dining to what once was the go-to place for nice dinners in the capital city.
I hope the investors who want to renovate the Pines Hotel in downtown Pine Bluff can find financing and add that structure to the mix as Pine Bluff seeks to regain its status as the regional center for southeast Arkansas.
There's another former hotel crying out for redevelopment. Though Stuttgart might be too small for an investor to take a chance, we can always dream about the return of the Riceland Hotel. It opened in 1923 and hosted duck hunters from across the country during this time of the year. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.
According to the National Register nomination form: "In late 1919, a number of Stuttgart businessmen formed the Stuttgart Hotel Co. The company, which eventually included 40 stockholders, represented all four Stuttgart banks and every business and enterprise of any nature on the Grand Prairie. A Little Rock architectural firm, Mann & Stern, designed the building. The E.A. Steininger Construction Co. of Missouri was retained as the builder. George R. Mann also drew the plans for the state Capitol, the Arkansas Gazette building and the Marion Hotel in Little Rock.
"The Hotel Price, which stood at Third and Main streets, was demolished to prepare for the new structure, enthusiastically heralded as 'one of the most modern hotels in Arkansas.' Construction on the building began almost immediately as the rice economy of the Grand Prairie collapsed. In 1919, the price per bushel of rice reached a high of $3.50. In 1920, it plummeted to 25 cents per bushel. The effect on the economy was devastating. ... According to the Stuttgart Grand Prairie News, the 'entire locality was dealt a financial blow that put almost every individual in straits that will take several years to overcome.' Late in 1920, stockholders ordered work on their hotel suspended."
One account noted that "the skeleton of the building stood as a tombstone to a dead burg."
By July 1922, the building was owned by Exchange Bank. W.F. Ault of Little Rock was hired to complete the hotel according to Mann's plans. The Riceland opened on Feb. 15, 1923. The five-story hotel was operated by the Stuttgart Revilo Hotel Co. The Riceland Barber Shop and Riceland Pharmacy also opened in the building.
Exchange Bank, which had staked its success on rice, defaulted in 1926. The hotel was purchased by First State Bank. Three years later, Southern Hotel Co. acquired the lease and retained it until 1957. The hotel closed in 1970.
The Arkansas Historic Preservation Program described the Riceland as the "hub of duck hunting in Stuttgart, a place where all of the guides would meet. Many celebrities stayed in the Riceland while engaging in the hunt, including actors Andy Devine, Wallace Beery, Robert Taylor and Rod Cameron; baseball player Ted Williams; publishing giants Joseph Pulitzer, Ray Long and Jim Quirk; cartoonist Bud Fisher; New York jeweler Pierre Cartier."
The Nov. 25, 1935, edition of the Arkansas Gazette reported: "Herbert Pulitzer of New York and Joseph Pulitzer of St. Louis, sons of the famous New York publisher, have gone in for duck hunting in a big way. They have rented the ground floor of the Riceland Hotel, rented two houses in Stuttgart and leased a 1,500-acre tract, including a large reservoir on the rice plantation of Frank Freudenberg, six miles east of Stuttgart. It is reported that the brothers have installed a retinue of attendants, including a hairdresser, in the hotel while they and their wives and guests are occupying the homes they rented."
The most famous outdoors writers of the time were also regulars at the Riceland.
In the 1987 book "Big Grass," John Madsen wrote: "About 25 years ago, with an ancient bellboy named Bobo bringing me pots of coffee, I finally managed to hack out the final passages in a little book called 'The Mallard.' It was at the Riceland Hotel in Stuttgart, where I was dividing my days between a portable typewriter and the flooded oak timber of Winchester's Greenbriar Club. Writing is never easy, and the onerous chore wasn't made any lighter knowing that just down the hall Nash Buckingham and Herb Parsons were arguing the fine points of pass shooting."
John Olin was the president of Olin Industries, the parent company of the Winchester brand. He would come to Stuttgart each duck season to hunt on a reservoir leased from Stuttgart businessman Roger Crowe. Now known as Greenbriar, the club in those days was referred to as the Winchester Club. There was no clubhouse at the reservoir back then, so Olin stayed at the Riceland.
"He rented several rooms there for the season for himself and his guests," Jeff Churan writes in the book "The Grand Prairie." "He loved to shoot with his .410 Model 21. Accordingly, he always stayed on the fourth floor in Room 410."
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Senior Editor Rex Nelson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He's also the author of the Southern Fried blog at rexnelsonsouthernfried.com.