AACFAMILY & FRIENDS


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Top left: The Conway County Courthouse was built of brick, terra cotta and “Batesville marble” and features Doric columns that are at- tached but only half round. Bottom left: The courthouse interior includes artist Richard Sargent’s mural “Men at Rest,” which was created for the Morrilton Post Office through the U.S. Treasury Department’s Depression-era Section of Fine Arts. It was moved to the courthouse on Jan. 29, 2002. Right: The courthouse plan is rectangular in style, and the interior features marble staircases, steps and wainscoting.


be burned during the Civil War. A new courthouse went up in Springfield in 1869 on the site of the previous building, and it served until the state General Assembly moved the county seat back to Lewisburg in 1873. It would finally move to Morrilton, a destination cemented when the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad (later the Missouri Pacific) laid its tracks through that town. A two-story brick courthouse was built there in 1883-84, and it housed county government until fire destroyed it on Jan. 2, 1927. Attempts to let contracts for a new courthouse resulted in a political brouhaha that continued into 1928 when T.J. Moore, an opponent of those contracts, was elected county judge. An amendment to the Arkansas Constitution approved in the same election allowed counties to hold elections for special taxes to finance jail and courthouse construction, which led to the erec- tion of the current Conway County Courthouse. Te prolific architect Frank W. Gibb of Little Rock, who designed 18 Arkansas county courthouses, was hired to design Conway County’s new seat, and contractor John P. Jones was hired as contractor from among nine bidders. Te building


COUNTY LINES, SUMMER 2016


would cost $97,000, which included the brick, terra cotta and “Batesville marble” used in construction. Te construction supervisor for the project was Sam Davies, who a few years later would be instrumental in the Civilian Conservation Corps’ building of Petit Jean State Park. It was completed ahead of schedule and dedicated on March 30, 1930, a speech-heavy ceremony attended by some 5,000 visitors. Te new courthouse was a striking structure, with Classical half columns highlighting a rectangular plan and an interior featuring marble staircases, steps and wainscoting. Architectural historian Kenneth Story wrote of Gibbs’ design: “Te Conway County Courthouse is the best and possibly the only local example of what can only be termed a transitional interpretation of the Classical Revival style which had swept the nation in the early 20th century. … Te Doric columns are attached and thus only half-round, the pilaster capitals are simple and restrained, and none of the detail projects significantly to interrupt the


See “COURTHOUSE” on Page 38 >>> 37


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