AAC F A M I L Y & F R I E N D S
» » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » »
Above: The Lee County Courthouse, a stately Colonial Revival-style building, is the linchpin of the downtown Marianna square. Opposite Page, Left: The Hon. J.O. Foreman was judge when the current courthouse was erected in 1936, as commemorated by this exterior plaque.
History on a Hill
Lee County Courthouse was constructed using New Deal assistance. Story by Mark Christ and
Photography by Holly Hope Arkansas Historic Preservation Program
from several County Courthouse Restoration Grants from the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program and continues to serve the people of Lee County. Lee County’s origins tell an interesting story of Reconstruc- tion politics. William Hines Furbush, a Republican African American member of Arkansas’s General Assembly representing Phillips County, proposed a bill to create a new county from
L 30
ee County’s stately Colonial Revival-style courthouse is the linchpin of the downtown Marianna square, sited on a hill on the north end of the bustling commercial district. Te courthouse has benefitted
parts of Phillips, Monroe, St. Francis and Crittenden counties during the 1873 legislative session. Initial bills, which were de- feated, called for naming the new county “Coolidge” or “Wood- ford” County, but it was not until the name was changed to Lee County to honor Confederate General Robert E. Lee that the bill passed, with Marianna as the seat of the new entity. “And so,” historian Blake Wintory notes, “at the twilight of
Reconstruction in Arkansas, an African American legislator from an African American majority district successfully spon- sored a bill to create a new county named for the military leader of the Confederacy.” Interestingly, Furbush would later return to the General As- sembly — serving as a Democrat. Marianna was a major regional commercial and transporta- tion hub in a bustling cotton-producing area and Lee County’s
COUNTY LINES, WINTER 2016
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52