I love old houses. I know a city is a good place to live when its residents work hard to preserve and restore historic properties. However, I've never fallen in love with a house quite like Mark Camp has fallen for the Packet House.
Camp is a renaissance man. He's a pilot and collects items related to aviation. He's an artist. He's a writer. He's a businessman. Camp and I became friends when he headed the Keep Arkansas Beautiful Commission during the Asa Hutchinson administration. I became the radio voice for KAB's efforts. We share an aversion to the amount of trash along Arkansas roadways.
Among the things that fascinate Camp are the houses of Little Rock, especially one he would see each time he drove along busy Cantrell Road. Commonly known as the Packet House, the McDonald-Wait-Newton House has a rich history. In 2015, Camp noticed that the house was for sale. He joined forces with his wife and two business partners to buy the 1869 structure and restore it as a private dining club, The 1836 Club.
Camp recently completed a book titled "If Walls Could Talk: The Packet House Remembers." He's now searching for a publisher. In an interesting twist, Camp tells the story from the perspective of the house. That story, filled with Arkansas history, runs from the 1830s, when Roswell Beebe was given a land patent for much of what's now downtown Little Rock, until the present.
I couldn't help but smile as I read "the house's" feelings and enjoyed its down-home characterizations. A few examples:
"I was built by an abolitionist who risked his life to end slavery, and sadly I have witnessed the insidious racism that has plagued Little Rock for most of its history."
"He was like a rooster who believed the sun rose just to hear him crow."
"I knew that Arkansas had turned into a menagerie of bad memories and dishonorable men."
"I can tell you that if you want a friend in politics, get a dog. In politics, loyalty is merely camouflage for future betrayal."
"Arkansas is indeed a small state, and politics does indeed make strange bedfellows."
Camp, who joined the Little Rock investment firm Crews & Associates in 1985 and spent almost three decades there, concludes the book with a tour of The 1836 Club. We learn why rooms were named, get an explanation of the furnishings and paintings, and sense Camp's pride that the club is one whose members "are men and women of all races from various backgrounds with diverse religious beliefs and political affiliations."
"When the Packet House was constructed, its address was 1406 Lincoln Avenue; the road name was later changed to Cantrell," Nicole Boer writes for the Central Arkansas Library System's Encyclopedia of Arkansas. "The people who built in the area had some association to the North; either they supported the North during the Civil War, or they moved south during Reconstruction, leading to the nickname of Carpetbaggers' Row for the homes along the road."
According to the nomination form that was submitted to get the home listed on the National Register of Historic Places: "The Packet House is the oldest of the five brick homes built shortly after the Civil War on the north side of Lincoln Avenue and is the only remaining structure of the original Carpetbaggers' Row mansions."
Alexander McDonald, who moved to Arkansas after Union troops took over Little Rock in 1863, built the house. McDonald, a Pennsylvania native, traveled to the Kansas Territory in 1857 and ran a sawmill with his brother. He later got into banking. McDonald helped organize a frontier guard in Kansas after the start of the Civil War. He later resigned as a captain so he could serve as a supplier to the Union Army.
"After Fort Smith was taken by Union forces, McDonald was named post sutler, making him the main source of supplies to Union soldiers," writes Arkansas historian Steve Teske. "At about the same time, he organized a Fort Smith bank. Under the reign of McDonald and his business partner, Perry Fuller, corruption at the fort was rampant. ... Before the end of the war, McDonald had organized Merchant's National Bank in Little Rock, of which he was president."
McDonald was sworn in as a U.S. senator in June 1868 after he was selected by the Arkansas Legislature. His term only ran until the end of 1871.
"During his short term, McDonald's greatest contribution was probably his support for impeached President Andrew Johnson," Teske writes. "Not only did McDonald vote against conviction, but he spoke to persuade other senators to do the same, allowing Johnson to complete his term."
After leaving the Senate, McDonald sold the house to William Wait and moved to New York. Wait had moved to Arkansas Post from Tennessee in 1830. He later made his way to Little Rock, where he was involved in banking and real estate. In 1887, Ann McHenry Reider purchased the house. Her two daughters and their families moved in. Both daughters had married into the prominent Newton family, and the house remained in the family for four generations.
The family sold the house soon after the end of World War II, and it was converted into apartments. It was renamed Packet House because it overlooked the Arkansas River, which once had been filled with packet boats. Many owners and uses--from office space to restaurants--followed. The house was added to the National Register in 1978.
Camp has done extensive renovations since the 2015 purchase. Having made Preserve Arkansas' 2011 list of the state's most endangered places, the house has never looked better than it does now.
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.