Someone has said, "The only constant in life is 'change.'" I have also heard that only two things are certain, "death" and "taxes." Possibly we could add to that short list the idea that continuing change is also quite certain. Sometimes change comes quickly. Sometimes it comes gradually, or is a long time in coming; but it does come. Our old downtown Pea Ridge, the Pea Ridge of the 1900s, is going through some big changes these days. It has happened before, of course, and more than once.
During the past year, after functioning for quite a number of years in the east block of downtown, the city offices and city court have moved to new facilities on Weston Street. The buildings which had served as City Hall, mayor's office and courtroom have been purchased by Roy and Jamie Cotton. We'll soon see what new enterprises develop there. The old Bank of Pea Ridge building, which from 1911 to 1968 housed our town's original bank, and then served for many years as the community Library until the library moved to its new home on North Curtis Avenue, has been purchased by Ray and Betty Easley and is being transformed into an event space to be known as Room 161.
Annabel's Mercantile, after a short stay in the corner building downtown (which I like to refer to as the old Putman Store building) has moved to the former Veterans of Foreign Wars building on North Curtis Avenue, and a new tenant is moving into the vacated space downtown. Across Pickens Street in downtown, on the traditional school grounds, the VFW has constructed an impressive Veterans Memorial, to name and honor our local veterans who have served in the nation's military services across the years. The Lions Club recently agreed to contribute a set of park benches as part of the memorial.
In the west block of downtown, we have recently seen the development of another strong hardware and building materials business as T.H. Rogers Lumber Co. has set down roots. Even the two oldest of the downtown buildings, on the north side of the west block, have been renovated, and new uses are stirring.
I have seen two pictures of downtown Pea Ridge which illustrate an earlier major period of transformation. The first is a 1908 picture, with the camera looking east, showing that at that time all the downtown business structures were of wood frame construction. Many had high front facades where the business names were emblazoned. In that time, downtown Pea Ridge had two hotels, one located on the northwest corner of the main intersection, and one located at the east intersection which we now call East Pickens and North Davis streets, on the corner occupied by Park Motel. A livery barn then stood on the lot now occupied by the former Webb's Hatchery building. That building served several later purposes after the hatchery was discontinued, including a youth center and restaurant businesses.
The second picture, also a fascination to me, is a 1920 picture of the same downtown area. But, by 1920, in the east block, all the old wood frame buildings had been replaced by the concrete block buildings which still stand today. Apparently the formation of the Bank of Pea Ridge, in 1911, began that process of rebuilding. First, the bank built its new building, and following in sequence, all the earlier buildings in the block were moved or dismantled, to make way for the new masonry structures which are so familiar to us. The original Putman Store, the wood frame structure which had long stood at the southeast corner of the main intersection, was actually moved to a new location on the street now called Davis Street, adjacent to the Presbyterian Church, where it served as the heart of the new Putman residence, a substantial house which still occupies the site today.
Also, the years from 1930 to 1950 were years of great change and new building structures in downtown Pea Ridge. Beginning with the dismantling of the old Pea Ridge College building and the construction of the original phase of the red brick school building, the town saw a number of new downtown buildings. Especially after the end of World War II, the Masonic Lodge Building (E.H. Building, now Museum), the new Presbyterian Church, the C.H. Mount Grocery & Feed Store (now Upholstery Shop), Eva Patterson's Clothing and Candy Store, Charles Hardy's Garage & Lions Station, and the original little Fire Station, all changed the face of downtown Pea Ridge. As the past gives way and yields to the developing future, old downtowns everywhere seem to face challenges, but we can hope that as earlier transformations have had positive outcomes, so can today's transformations produce desirable results as well.
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Editor's note: Jerry Nichols, a native of Pea Ridge, is an award-winning columnist, a retired Methodist minister with a passion for history, member of the Pea Ridge Alumni Association and vice president of the Pea Ridge Historical Society. Opinions expressed are those of the writer. He can be contacted by email at [email protected], or call 621-1621.
Editorial on 04/19/2017