What We Do

Arkansas Civil Air Patrol Headquarters, 2201 Crisp Drive, Little Rock (Pulaski County)

Built 1953

The Arkansas Civil Air Patrol Headquarters (formerly the home of the 123^rd Intelligence Squadron and the Arkansas Air National Guard Armory) is one of the few remaining military-era structures at the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field, the master plan of which indicates its possible future removal. Built in 1953, the Mid-Century Modern building features three flat-roofed sections with bands of awning windows. The building is significant for its association with the military era of the airport, as it originally housed the 118th Reconnaissance Technical Squadron (later renamed the 123rd Intelligence Squadron) and the photographic section of the 154th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron. During the period that the building was occupied by the Arkansas Air National Guard, it played an important role in aerial reconnaissance, most of which was classified information at the time.

The Arkansas Wing of the Civil Air Patrol was created in 1941 after the Arkansas Air National Guard’s 154^th was federalized; its important functions include search and rescue, disaster relief, aerial photography, and a strong cadet program. This building’s unique history merits an evaluation to determine if it is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. Such designation can provide financial incentives for maintenance and rehabilitation of the building so it remains in active use.

Cleburne Hotel, 530 Cherry Street, Helena-West Helena (Phillips County)

Built 1905

The 1905 Cleburne Hotel, a National Register-listed property within the Cherry Street Historic District, was once a bustling “European Plan” hotel in thriving downtown Helena. Named for Confederate General Patrick R. Cleburne, an Ireland native who died in 1874 while leading a charge against the Union Army at Franklin, TN, the Colonial Revival building featured first-floor businesses beneath two floors of lodging rooms. Having endured many years of neglect, the building is now in an advanced state of deterioration—most especially by a severely compromised roof membrane, through which water routinely enters the building in several places. A successful save, as envisioned by community leaders, would see the building transformed to include housing, micro-business, and education.

Bush House, 1516 Ringo, Little Rock (Pulaski County)

Built 1919

This 1919 home at the edge of Little Rock’s Paul Laurence Dunbar School Neighborhood Historic District was individually listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 for its Craftsman-style design by Charles L. Thompson and Thomas Harding, Jr. Although not mentioned in its National Register documentation, the house is among several area residences that are demonstrably important in Little Rock’s and Arkansas’s African American history. Significant residents have included Aldridge E. Bush, National Grand Scribe and Treasurer of the Mosaic Templars of America and son of that organization’s founder; Benjamin Clanton, Assistant Attorney General of Mosaic Templars; and Milton Crenchaw, WWII Tuskegee Airman. In excellent condition at the time of its National Register listing, the property has fallen into severe disrepair and is now on the City of Little Rock’s “unsafe and vacant” list, which makes it even more vulnerable to being torn down.

R. A. Pickens, II, House, 1 Pickens Place, Pickens (Desha County)

Built early 1940s

The Pickens House has for decades been the focal point of the historic Pickens Plantation in southeast Arkansas. The plantation, known as R. A. Pickens and Son Company, was founded in 1881 and remains in the Pickens family, still operating as a farm today. The current Colonial Revival-style home, built about 1940 to replace the original plantation residence, was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2019. Years of vacancy and deferred maintenance have left the home in a state of disrepair; rehabilitation would make it possible to open the building to the public as an educational and cultural center convenient to Highway 65 and the popular Pickens Country Store and Restaurant, which is the plantation’s former commissary.

St. Clement’s Episcopal Church, Natchez Street, Arkansas City (Desha County)

Built 1901

The 1901 St. Clement’s Episcopal Church in the Desha County seat of Arkansas City is significant both architecturally and historically. The Gothic Revival-style, one-room church was built during the heyday of Arkansas City, before the Mississippi River Flood of 1927 altered its landscape and population. The building received a mid-century addition of a former barracks from the nearby Rohwer Japanese-American Relocation Center after its closure in 1945, which adds to the church’s rich history. Both the original church building and the barracks are in varying states of deterioration, and as a result of this, neither are habitable; a former county museum had to close when it was deemed unsafe to protect the artifacts it housed. Funding for stabilization is urgently needed. For many families in Arkansas City, St. Clement’s holds deep personal significance as a site of baptism, weddings, funerals, and other rites of passage. Without immediate efforts to preserve St. Clement’s and the barracks, the memories and history associated with the church will be lost.

High-resolution photos of these properties are available here.