El Dorado awarded grant for airport terminal

LITTLE ROCK — Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced that the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage, has awarded roughly $44,000 in grants for projects in three cities through its Certified Local Government Grant program.

The City of El Dorado received a $13,500 grant for a National Register of Historic Places nomination for the South Arkansas Regional Airport/Goodwin Field Terminal Building.

Grants also were awarded to Dumas, which received about $23,000 for a roof restoration and gutters at the Dumas Area Arts Center Building in the Dumas Commercial Historic District and Eureka Springs, which received $7,100 for a National Register nomination for the Eureka Springs Cemetery.

The grant program is open to Arkansas cities and counties that have a historic district commission and a historic district protected by a local ordinance. The grants provide training opportunities to local historic district commissions and fund other local preservation projects. At least 10 percent of the program’s annual appropriation from the federal Historic Preservation Fund goes to certified local

government cities as grants for local projects.

There are 20 Arkansas cities in the grant program, including El Dorado, Little Rock, Fort Smith, Pine Bluff, Morrilton, Texarkana, Rogers, Russellville, Osceola and Blytheville. Several others are working to become part of the program.

The Arkansas Historic Preservation Program is the Department of Arkansas Heritage agency responsible for identifying, evaluating, registering and preserving the state’s cultural resources. Other agencies are the Arkansas Arts Council, the Delta Cultural Center in Helena, the Old State House Museum, the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, the Historic Arkansas Museum and the Arkansas State Archives.