The salvation of the gray, weathered building began more than 53 years ago when Liss Williams moved the Glade Store and Post Office from its foundation to his farm to avoid its being flooded as the waters of the White River rose after the dam for Beaver Lake was complete.
The journey back home was slow and arduous along hilly, curvy two-lane blacktop roads through northeast Benton County. It was the culmination of years of work and fundraising thanks to the passion of Liss Williams' children, Stanley and Dorothy Williams and Patricia Heck, and other members of the Glade Historical Society.
To donate to: Glade Community Historical Society, a 501(C)(3)
• Adopt an original foundation stone for $50
• Volunteer for renovation work
• Give tax deductible financial contributions to the Glade Community Historical Society
Sam Reynolds at fallhollar@hotmail.…
The former store and post office building sat unnoticed for nearly four decades, invisible to most passersby in a hay field off Shrader Road outside of Pea Ridge. The wide weathered gray wooden boards stood as silent testimony to the craftsmanship of the carpenters who built it more than 100 years ago.
The building served the members of the Glade Community, about 10 miles south of Garfield, from about 1890 to 1945. After 1945, Heck said there wasn't a post office or store in Glade.
The 20-mile trek began with movers pulling the almost 24-foot-wide building north through the hay field, through a double farm gate onto Arkansas Highway 72 east of Pea Ridge, to Twelve Corners Road where it made the difficult 90-degree turn and then onto Gann Ridge Road to traverse its curves, hills and steep valleys before going onto U.S. Highway 62, then Arkansas Highway 127 to Slate Gap Road.
Stanley Williams, 77, followed the entire journey in his pickup truck, watching carefully.
As the building was settled onto its original foundation stones, recovered from beneath the lake when the water level was low in 2013, Williams recalled the original site about a half mile down the road, now beneath the waters of Beaver Lake.
"When the lake was low ... we were able to get the original foundation stones and move them back to the property," Heck said, adding that there were 52 stones salvaged.
The store originally sat on the banks of the White River before Liss Williams, father of Stanley and Patricia, moved it to property outside of Pea Ridge when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began filling Beaver Lake in the early 1960s.
"Dad moved our house up the hill," Heck said, "and the store was moved to a farm in Pea Ridge."
It cost about $400 to move the store the first time, Stanley Williams said. Now, he said it cost nearly $8,000 to move it.
The application for the Glade Post Office is dated Feb. 2, 1903, Heck said, and was originally signed by Simon McGinnis. Over the years, the post office was on different sides of the river from LaRue to Glade. She said postmasters over the years included: Simon McGinnis (who served twice), George W. Donaldson, Luther Fine, Mrs. Lila Huddleston Raymond Nichols. She said the Glade Post Office was discontinued in 1945.
The Glade, Ark., community was located at what is now the bottom of Beaver Lake, on the opposite shore north of Rocky Branch Marina.
The Glade Community Historical Society was formed as a 501(C)(3) on Nov. 5, 2011, to preserve the history of the Glade Community by researching and gathering stories, oral histories, documents and artifacts.
The original foundation stones are available to adopt, according to members of the society. The stones will remain at the Store/Post Office with the purchaser's name identified.
Once renovations begin, volunteer workers and tax deductible financial contributions to the Glade Community Historical Society will be welcome. Contact Sam Reynolds at [email protected] for more information.
Community on 07/16/2014