Marker program aims to tell tales of the state
Agency, groups to split signs’ expense
Martha Ellen Talbot, an owner of the Marlsgate Plantation in Scott, hopes to get a sign on U.S. 165 to draw more attention to the historic mansion about 14 miles southeast of Little Rock.
So she plans to apply through a new state Department of Arkansas Heritage program to create a historical marker for the Greek Revival mansion.
“I am certain that a lot of people don’t know about it,” Talbot said Friday of the Arkansas Historical Marker Program. The new program will add to the hundreds of markers already scattered around Arkansas.
Ground was broken on Marlsgate in 1888, and it was completed in 1904, she noted. At one time, the house was the nerve center for a farming operation that totaled 7,000 acres and supported 100 families, many of them tenants who lived on the surrounding property. The mansion now serves as a location for weddings and other events.
Under the Department of Arkansas Heritage program, a marker must commemorate a historic person, place or event, and significance must have been attained at least 50 years ago. The markers are required to be sponsored by civic groups and organizations, such as chambers of commerce, his-
torical societies or individuals partnering with those organizations.
“I love that the state is being proactive in promoting what we have,” Talbot said.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson said in a written statement that the new historical marker program “will be a tremendous way to help us remember who we are and where we’ve been.”
The cost of the markers will be split between the Department of Arkansas Heritage and the sponsoring organization, according to the department. The cost will be $1,850 for a one-sided marker or $1,950 for a two-sided marker, with a onetime maintenance fee of $250.
Melissa Whitfield, a department spokesman, said the agency can’t predict at this point how many applications will be submitted. The agency planned to spend up to $10,000 this fiscal year, with each marker costing the state about $1,000. Fiscal 2018 ends June 30.
Funding comes from a conservation tax of $240,000 a year.
A designated historical marker program review committee will have final approval on marker eligibility and text, and all markers will be manufactured by a vendor selected by the department. The markers will be about 42 inches wide by 30 inches high on a 7-foot-tall post. The first approvals might be in the spring, Whitfield said.
More information on the program is available on the department’s website at arkansasheritage.com/Programs/arkansas-historical-markers.
Arkansas already has at least 558 historical markers, based on a searchable database on the department’s Arkansas Historic Preservation Program website, arkansaspreservation.com.
The historical markers include one for Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto in Calion in Union County, sponsored by the Colonial Dames of the 17th Century and dedicated in 1965; to the Flood of 1927, located in Arkansas City in Desha County and dedicated in 1976, according to the preservation website.
The existing markers include 144 that were placed during the Civil War sesquicentennial observance, Whitfield said.
“The others were provided to us [for the database] in response to a request sent out to local governments to let us know of markers in their area. Then, sometimes staff will just stumble on a sign when they are out in the state and will take a picture and add it to the database,” she said.
“I suppose if people wanted to replace older markers with newer ones, they could do so by following the application process,” Whitfield said in an email. “This is a totally new program intended to be an organized way to help organizations and communities fund and place markers. Up until now, the markers you see around the state (except for the Civil War Sesquicentennial markers) have been placed by organizations alone who funded and placed markers with their own funds.”
Department Director Stacy Hurst said, “My hope is that these signs will become a familiar sight around the state and help convey the compelling story of Arkansas.”
Meanwhile, Adona Rose, an owner of ASL Rose, a company in Frederick, Md., that publishes materials for teaching American Sign Language and English, said she plans to apply for a marker for the Arkansas School for the Deaf in Little Rock.
Rose noted that Arkansas once had private deaf schools in Clarksville, Fort Smith and Little Rock before the state took over the school in Little Rock.
The school for the deaf in Clarksville was started in 1850 and was the first started west of the Mississippi River, according to the Arkansas School for the Deaf’s website. The school in Fort Smith was organized in 1860 and was closed during the Civil War. After the Civil War, it was moved to Little Rock and reopened, and the state took over the school in 1867.
“A lot of people don’t realize the significance of the School for the Deaf,” she said, noting that a few states have closed their schools for hearing-impaired students.