Library named to National Register of Historic Places

The Forrest City Public Library has been named to the National Register of Historic Places.

The library, on Tuesday, joined several other sites throughout the state in being named to the national list.

FCPL Director Arlisa Harris said is excited about the potential the designation offers for the library.

"We are pleased to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places,” said Harris. "We think it’s great that others may want to visit our library and see our 100-year-old building with its unique features. We hope, as an added bonus, it will allow us to preserve the building with some funding opportunities as well."

According to a press release from the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, properties with the distinction may be eligible for grant and tax programs on the state and national level.

Joining the library in this honorary listing are Scott Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church, Chicot County; First

Presbyterian Church, Phillips County; Arkansas State Fairgrounds Historic District and Broadmoor Neighborhood Historic District, Pulaski County; Presbyterian Center, Winslow Commercial Historic District and North Garvin Drive Historic District, Washington County.

J. Mason Toms, with the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program who helped get the building listed, said the library was nominated to the National Register for its association with local significance with the New Deal program, the Public Works Administration, and for the association with the history of civic education in Forrest City. The library was also nominated as a good example of a Depression Era Art Deco civic structure.

"The Forrest City Public Library had its beginnings in the fall of 1920, when prominent women of Forrest City established the Community Service Circle for civic improvement purposes," said Toms.

Toms said that through the hard work of those women, the community came together to

(Continued from Page 1) have a 500-volume collection of books that at first were housed in a small room at the courthouse and run by Mrs. Nellie Buford and Mrs. F.L. Proctor, who opened the collection to the public for a few hours on two afternoons each week.

Several years later, the library moved into a space at the Forrest City Elks Lodge's building near the intersection of South Washington and what was then South Front Street, which later was renamed Court Avenue.

"When the library moved to their space at 108 South Washington, the library was combined with a Woman’s Exchange, which offered a venue for local women to sell their wares, such as baked goods, woven or sewn objects, or other sellable, homemade products," said Toms.

Women who used the space were required to volunteer and open the space six days a week.

"Reportedly, to provide easilyaccessible restrooms to ‘rural’ women during their trips to the city,” said Toms. “The first person to administer the operation at this location was Mrs. Hite, who served there for nearly two years. She was followed by Mrs. Thomas. Mrs. Thomas continued the tradition of the ‘book shower’ teas, which allowed the library’s collection to continue to grow.”

When Thomas resigned in 1926, no one else volunteered to take over the position and the library was closed with a collection between 700 and 800 volumes.

"In March of 1927, a local judge named Sam H. Mann made the proposal to the city that he would give the library $500 a year for the next five years to continue to expand the library’s literary offerings," continued Toms.

Mann required the city to pay for the library's utilization and the salary of a librarian to receive the funds so the city solicited pledges from local businesses to pay $8 a year to raise money for the facility.

The library reopened in 1927 after sufficient funds were raised and the first library board of trustees was created.

"Around this same time, the Elks Lodge sold the building at the corner of Washington and Front to the Arkansas National Guard, who volunteered to continue to offer the space in the building to the library free of charge," said Toms.

In 1932, Mann's five-year agreement ended, and when assessing the benefits versus the cost of the donations, the county judge found the library had expanded to serve the entire county.

"And a better part of the county had been issued a library card," said Toms. "Finding that, thanks to his generous donations, the library had grown to such an extent as to be one of the finest public libraries in the state, Judge Mann agreed to continue the arrangement for another five years."

At the beginning of

1936, an application was submitted to the Public Works Administration for funding to construct a new, purposebuilt library building.

Toms said this locallysignificant tie to the Public Works Administration is one of the reasons the library was nominated.

"The Public Works Administration was created as part of President Roosevelt’s National Industrial Recovery Act, which was passed by the United States Congress on June 16, 1933. The program’s original name was the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works, but it was changed in 1935 to the Public Works Administration or PWA," said Toms.

The agency was to provide grants and loans to local and state municipalities to help fund the construction of new civic structures.

"The agency funded projects such as city halls, courthouses, waterworks, schools, auditoriums, armories, sanitation facilities, bridges/infrastructure, and libraries," said Toms. "Over the life of the program, from July 1933 until March 1939, it provided funding for roughly 34,000 across the country, costing an estimated six billion dollars."

Of those projects, 237 were in Arkansas, of which the Forrest City Public Library was one.

"The stated aim of the program was to ‘promote and stabilize employment and purchasing power’ in areas most affected by the Great Depression," said Toms, adding that the architectural firm of Sanders and Ginocchio of Little Rock was commissioned to create a design for the new library.

Construction of the library was completed in March 1939, and officially opened on Monday, March 20, 1939.

"From the beginning of the process, the site of Dennis Park had been chosen for the future home of the library. The quarter block parcel had been donated to the City of Forrest City in 1929 by Dr. J.W. Dennis of Hot Springs, in honor of his father, who was one of the early settlers of the town," explained Toms. "Dennis donated the land and he specified that the site had to be used for either a public park or a public library. From 1929 until 1938, the site had been home to a children’s playground. However, because it was the only readily available plot of land that the city already owned, it was a natural choice for the new library building.

"Upon its completion, the Forrest City Public Library was one of only a few other Art Deco buildings in the area. The most obvious of these was the 1938 Forrest City City Hall building," said Toms. "As such, the architecture of the library was a rarity in the area, making the few remaining examples all the more significant."

Toms says in 1976 the library expanded to meet growing needs with a small computer lab, conference and archive room and more bookshelf space.

"As there are no signs of that changing in the near future, the library funded by the Public Works Administration and constructed by the people of Forrest City should continue to stand as a symbol of civic pride for many years to come," said Tom.

“…The architecture of the library was a rarity in the area, making the few remaining examples all the more significant.” – J. Mason Toms,

AHPP