The Fate of the Woodruff House...

Listed on Arkansas’s 2007 "Most Endangered Places" by The Historic Preservation Alliance of Arkansas, the Woodruff House remains one of Arkansas’s most notable properties...Unfortunately, it stands a very serious chance of being lost forever, unless larger forces intervene.

First, the back story (drawn largely from The Quapaw Quarter Association's web site). In 1851 Mr. William E. Woodruff, founder of The Arkansas Gazette, bought 23 1/3 acres of land, then just outside the city limits, on the East side of the city. His family was growing so rapidly he wished more rooms for them, also to gratify his own desire and love for a desirable country home, and the leisure and privacy that such a home afforded him. Facing Ninth Street, near College Street, he built a beautiful substantial two and one-half story thirteen room, brick home, full of comfort and so roomy (7,000 sq. ft.) that not only his own family, but many friends and many strangers found pleasure visiting within its walls. The immediate enclosure about his home and garden occupied ten city blocks (today it has been winnowed down to three lots).

When the Federal army took possession of Little Rock, the Woodruff House was confiscated. This lovely old home, with the exception of two rooms allowed for Mrs. Woodruff to occupy, was used for the white officers of a black Union regiment as their headquarters, and later used as a hospital for Federal officers. After the war, the family occupied it again until Mr. Woodruff died on June 19, 1885. After Mr. Woodruff's death the home became the property of the oldest child, Alden Mills Woodruff, and he and his family occupied it for a period of five years, from July, 1886, to March, 1891.

At the turn of the century, the house was remodeled into apartments, and fronted on East Eighth Street. In September, 1921, it was purchased for a home for business girls and was renamed “The Business Girls Cottage Home." It was last used as apartments, but a fire in recent years damaged some of the rooms. It now needs total restoration.

Its prime location near the Clinton Presidential Center, the headquarters of Heifer International, and the future Lion’s World Services for the Blind Headquarters, puts it at possible risk of being eventually demolished for a hotel, condos, or other retail establishment. However, an even more immediate threat is the high level of vagrant activity in the area. Preservationists are all too painfully aware of what happened to the historic Mosaic Templars Building in March of 2005--destroyed by fire. The same fate could befall the Woodruff House as well if immediate steps are not taken to secure and protect the property.

It would be a tremendous loss for Little Rock and the State of Arkansas if this home was not preserved and refurbished.

I am, of course, a bit biased...I am interested in the Woodruff House from not only a preservation perspective, but also an archeological one. The Woodruff House is a prime example of what my colleague Leslie C. "Skip" Stewart-Abernathy has calls an "urban farmstead." The house once had a substantial garden to the east of the structure, and north of the house was the servants' quarters, a wood yard, a large chicken house, barns, and other ancillary structures one would expect to find on a nineteenth century farm of the genteel class. On the west side was a large laundry house built over a large cistern, which furnished the water for washing. Farther to the West extending to Rector Avenue was a fine orchard, cornfield, potato patch, and so on. Archeological excavations at the Woodruff house could not only shed light on the daily life of the Woodruff family--an important family in Arkansas history by all measures--but it could also give us insights into the workings of these urban farmsteads, the trauma of the Civil War in Little Rock, the dawning of the modern, consumer age and what life was life for those enslaved in the urban South.

The Arkansas Archeological Survey is looking for ways that we can help save and conduct research on the Woodruff House as we speak. And I hope to report in the near future that either myself of Dr. Stewart-Abernathy will begin work on the project soon...In the meantime, consider donating to The Quapaw Quarter Association's effort to save the Woodruff House...

click here to donate

Samuel Dickinson

The below obituary is from the December 14th Hope Star. Sam Dickenson was a legend in Arkansas history and archeological circles...I never got the opportunity to meet him, but I have heard lots of stories....He published several articles with Sam Dellinger in the 1930s and depending who you ask either one "Sam" or the other was "the Father of Arkansas Archeology." Although Dellinger is home likely to be credited by professionals, Dickenson was a home-grown archeologist (unlike Dellinger). He taught history and Spanish at SAU back in when is was "Magnolia A&M"...and even directed the National Youth Administration (the NYA was a WPA-like program for the youth) project to build the Greek Theater still standing on SAU's campus (It's recently been put on the National Register of Historic Places).

PRESCOTT--Samuel Dorris Dickinson, 95, of Prescott, died Friday, November 30, 2007, at a Prescott care and rehab center. He was born February 26, 1912, in Prescott, to Sam P. and Bessie Sue Litton Dickinson. He studied American archaeology, and for several years he was engaged in that profession. He taught at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia. He was in charge of the University of Arkansas's WPA archaeological laboratory. Then, he turned to journalism and for a total of 28 years, he held the position of associate editor to the Little Rock Arkansas Gazette, the Little Rock Arkansas Democrat, and the Shreveport Journal. In retirement he continued to contribute to archaeological, historical, folklore, and literacy journals, as well as to newspapers and popular magazines. He translated colonial French and Spanish accounts of Louisiana and Arkansas. He published six books and his analysis of Gombo, the African-French dialect spoken by Louisiana slaves, was one of the very few ever published on that subject. Both the Arkansas Preservation Alliance and the Arkansas Historical Association gave him lifetime achievement awards. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He has been called the ‘Father of Arkansas Archaeology' because his archeological research was the first done in a scientific manner in this state.

Survivors include his caregiver and friend, Ronnie Vandiver, of Prescott. Memorial services will be at 2 p.m., Saturday, December 15, at Brazzel/Cornish Funeral Home Chapel in Prescott, with Mr. Ed Talley officiating. Arrangements are by Brazzel/Cornish Funeral Home in Prescott. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Cammie Henry Room, Eugene Watson Library, Northwestern State University of Louisiana, Natchitoches; Riley-Hickingbotham Library, Ouachita Baptist University, Arkadelphia; the First Methodist Church of Prescott, or the Old Washington Foundation, Washington, Arkansas.

Holt Hall Foundations

On Thursday, April 12, 2007 Dr. Ben Johsnon of the SAU History Department notified me that the Physical Plant employees had unearthed some foundations...When I heard this, I hoped that it might be the foundation of Old Main (the first structure on the SAU campus...See some of early posts here for some pics). . .Alas, it was not Old Main, but it was one of the first generation of SAU's buildings.

Holt Hall was one of the first dormitories quickly built in response to the overwhelming enrollment following the opening of what was then the Third District Agricultural School (TDAS) in 1909. Dr. James Willis identified the foundations and provided us with a date of 1911, which corresponded with the material remains--the foundations are made of a simple aggregate concrete without any rebar supports (certainly pre-1930s).

David Jeane (my AAS-SAU Station Asst.) and I spent a few hours documenting the remains of these foundation before the SAU Physical Plant took a jackhammer to the upper portions of the foundations.

Interestingly, Steven Oches' digital photography class showed up as well to document us documenting the foundations...

Above: The concrete foundations of Holt Hall.

For more pictures of the foundations (including some of the pics by Steven Oches' students) check out:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jcbrandon/sets/72157600089736058/

Of Mounds, Turkeys and Spirits....

As you know from previous posts, in late March the AAS-SAU Research Station hosted the Caddo Archaeological Conference...all went well (with a few of the normal hick-ups)...you can check out my Flickr pages here for pictures of the event if you like.

I have one interesting story to pass along from the conference, however...on Sunday a bunch of archaeologists, members of the Caddo Nation and avocational folks took a couple field trips to two legendary Caddo sites--the emergent Caddo site known as Crenshaw Mounds and the massive Battle Mound. Both are located nearby our home base over in the Red River Valley. John Miller, who was a AAS-SAU station assistant back in 1980s and who had worked some salvage at Battle Mound did us a big favor and lead the tour (Lord knows I don't know enough about these sites to yet speak with any authority and David felt comfortable with Crenshaw, but not Battle).

Turkey in foreground, Battle Mound in background (photo by Duncan McKinnon).

At any rate...we were greeted at Battle Mound (in some accounts the place of Caddo origin) by a very tame turkey who accompanied us from the farm road out to the large, multi tiered mound and back....When I ran into the land owner he said "Did you bring a friend with you?" (pointing at the turkey)...I figured that the turkey belonged on the farm and he was pulling my leg...but he finally convinced me that he had never seen the turkey before.

As the turkey escorted us on our trek away from the mound and back to our cars...I had to wonder if it was symbolic--if not an outright supernatural--manifestation of the ancient Caddo...here to make sure that their descendants and archaeologists treat the place with some respect.

Long Time Gone...

Wow....I am truly sorry that I have been so remiss in my posting, but the spring semester has really knocked me off of my feet. My first semester as AAS-SAU Research Station archaeologist was very busy, but I managed to keep all of the balls juggled in the air...and I had a good time doing it.

The Spring semester is a different story, however...The addition of my 2 classes (General Anthropology and Anthropology of North American Indians) has swamped me as I did not cut back my outreach and research efforts. I have: closed on my house, gone to the SHAs in Williamsburg, VA, taught the archeology merit badge class at a Boy Scout Wintercamp at Camp DeSoto south of El Dorado (see photo above by Anthony Clay Newton), I have visited two CRM excavations in my station territory, I am helping to organize the upcoming Caddo Conference in Magnolia...I will be giving a program to the Kadohadacho Chapter of the AAS (Feb 13), an a program at Historic Washington State Park (Mar 6)...I have helped conduct geophysical surveys on a mound group in Northern Louisiana and I have helped map an Archaic site near Hot Springs...I am mapping 4 African-American cemeteries in my area...I will be documenting another cemetery and a well at Historic Washington State Park this month...and I have a journal article, a book chapter and an peer review for a regional journal all with deadlines this month.....Arrrgghhhh!

I LOVE teaching and would not stop if I had the chance...but I've learned a valuable lesson about "seasonal" outreach at the AAS-SAU Station...you live you learn.

I'll endeavor to post a little more regularly as we go through the spring...

Happy Holidays from Magnolia!

The image in this post is SAU's signauture Bell Tower all "lit up" for the holidays (it usually looks like this).

It's hard to believe that I'll be finishing my first semester as the AAS-SAU Research Station Archeologist...time goes by quite quickly.

My first semester here I've dealt with the Cedar Grove Collection theft, started raising money to secure and refurbish our station and the future SAU Museum and begun the process of reviving the Kadohadacho chapter of the Arkansas Archeological Society. I attended three conferences, gave two conference papers and did two public talks, three radio interviews and several TV and newspaper interviews. I attended two weekend public outreach events (Texarkana Archeology Fair and Civil War Days at Old Washington) and wrote an article and a book chapter.

By far, my favorite parts of this semester have been getting to know my station territory with the help of Vernon Perry, Anthony Clay Newton and Peggy Lloyd...I've gotten to see a lot of sites (both prehistoric and historic) and a WHOLE LOT of cemeteries.

To all my friends and family--both in Magnolia and elsewhere--Happy Holidays!