• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

NFS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Rev. 8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES REGISTRATION FORM 1. Name of Property bist-nric name: ___Arkansas Post_________________________________ other name/site number: ___Arkansas Post National Memorial____________ 2 . Location street & number: ___1741 Old Post Road_____________________________ not for publication: N/A city/town: ___Gillett______________________ vicinity: __ state: AR county: Arkansas______ code: _____ zip code: 72055 3. Classification Ownership of Property: Public-Federal Category of Property: Site__________ Number of Resources within Property: Contributing Noncontributing ____ 6 buildings 1 ____ sites ____ ____ structures ____ ____ objects 1 6 Total Number of contributing resources previously listed in the National Register: 0 Name of related multiple property listing: ___________________ 4. State/Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1986, as amended, I hereby certify that this ___ nomination ___ request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property ___ meets ___ does not meet the National Register Criteria. ___ See continuation sheet. Signature of certifying official Date Arkansas Historic Preservation Program____________________________ State or Federal agency and bureau In my opinion, the property ___ meets ___ does not meet the National Register criteria. __ See continuation sheet. Signature of commenting or other official Date State or Federal agency and bureau 5. National Park Service Certification I, hereby certify that this property is: __ entered in the National Register ___________ __ See continuation sheet. ___ determined eligible for the ___________ National Register __ See continuation sheet. ___ determined not eligible for the ___________ National Register ___ removed from the National Register ___________ ___ other (explain): _______________ Signature of Keeper Date of Action 6. Function or Use Historic: DOMESTIC____________ Sub: village COMMERCE/TRADE_______ store, trading house, warehouse GOVERNMENT__________ capitol /courthouse____________. ^ DEFENSE_____________ fortification, battle site_____ Current: RECREATION AND CULTURE Sub: museum/outdoor recreation/monument _____ marker _______ ______ 7. Description Architectural Classification: N/A___________________ Other Description: ________ Materials: foundation N/A______ roof N/A walls N/A_________ other N/A Describe present and historic physical appearance. X See continuation sheet. 8. Statement of Significance Certifying official has considered the significance of this property in relation to other properties: ________________. Applicable National Register Criteria: A, D Criteria Considerations (Exceptions): N/D Areas of Significance: Archeology_______________ Exploration/Settlement Military____________ Politics/Government Transportation_______ Period(s) of Significance: 1686-1803 1803-1860 1861-1865 Significant Dates: 1756, 1779. 1804, 1863 Significant Person(s): N/A________________ Cultural Affiliation: Ouapaw. French Colonial. Spanish Colonial, Earlv Analo-American. Early African American Architect/Builder: _____N/A________________________ State significance of property, and justify criteria, criteria considerations, and areas and periods of significance noted above. X See continuation sheet. 7. Description (continuation) Located in southeastern Arkansas on the north bank the Arkansas, Arkansas Post National Memorial forms the southernmost tip of a level grassland known as the Grand Prairie. When European settlement of this region began, Grand Prairie stood high above the river, and its tall bluffs promised protection from floods. Today the land on which the memorial stands is low in relation to the water level, and forms a peninsula bounded by the waters of Post Bayou, Post Bend, and the Arkansas River (see accompanying map). Due to natural geomorphological processes and construction of the McClellan-Kerr Navigation System on the Arkansas River, many of the historic sites associated with Arkansas Post have been destroyed by erosion and lateral river channel movements or now lie under water. I. The French and Spanish Periods, 1686-1803. Evidence indicates that the original settlement at Arkansas Pest, the De Tonti Pose of 1686, as well as the German Colony projected by John Law in the, 1720s, were established on the southern tip of the Little Prairie, east of the Memorial boundaries. It was not until 1752, when Lieutenant Le Houssaye established a fort on the heights of the Grand Prairie at the location known as Ecore Rouge (Red Bluff), that European settlement reached the area of the present Memorial. Little, is known about the appearance of the La Houssaye fort or the small settlement that grew up adjacent to it. In 1756 the garrison was moved downstream to a new fort near the mouth of the Arkansas where the Spanish took possession in 1771. The civilian settlement at Arkansas Post was never entirely abandoned, however, and in 1779 the Spanish garrison moved back to the Ecore Rouge. The Spanish built a new structure, Port San Carlos III, near the site of the old La Houssaye Fort, and within the present Memorial boundaries. This fort consisted of several small buildings and storehouses, and was surrounded by a reinforced stockade. Although Fort San Carlos II ably withstood a British attack in 1783, it was deteriorating badly by the late 1780s. As the river cut into its northern bank, the bluffs of the Grand Prairie were eroding away, carrying parts of the fort with them. In the 1790s, after years of repair and piecemeal rebuilding, a new fort, San Esteven de Arkansas, was constructed one-half mile back from the river's bank, still within the boundaries of the Memorial. This fort was still standing in 1804 when the Americans took possession of the area. In that year it consisted of a stockade, a house, 36 x 16 ft, a barracks, 50 x 20 ft, a storehouse, 45 x 20 ft, and a kitchen, 20 x 12 ft. Most of the buildings were shingled; the storehouse was elevated on props. The Americans renamed the complex Fort Madison and used it until 1810, when it was abandoned. Today the locations of the La Houssaye Fort of 1752, Fort San Carlos III of 1779, and Fort Esteven del Arkansas/Fort Madison are in the former Arkansas River channel (now McClellan-Kerr navigation pool) off the peninsula to the east. Because of the nature of the erosional process associated with lateral migration of the channel of a meandering river like the Arkansas, we may assume that all physical traces of these forts in locations east of the present bankline have been obliterated. Archaeological investigations prior to the creation of the Arkansas Post National Memorial, however, have demonstrated that physical traces of portions the Colonial townsite are preserved on the lower end of the peninsula. Preston Holder's 1956-57 excavations in this area encountered numerous cultural features containing eighteenth century ceramics. Among cultural features exposed were hundreds of feet of narrow trenches. In 1991 archeologist John Walthall disputed Holder's inference that these trenches are portions of Colonial fortifications, concluding rather that the trenches represent palisade-like fences (a construction technique called pieux en terre or pieux dubout) outlining three domestic compounds flanking streets. Holder also exposed and mapped the complete outlines of two poteaux en terre houses. One of these, Feature 18, was rectangular in shape, measuring 12 ft x 25 ft and divided into three nearly equalized rooms like many eighteenth century French structures in the Mississippi Valley. Archeological collections and field records from Holder's work at Arkansas Post in the 1950s are curated by the Arkansas Archeological Survey, II. The Early American Period, 1804-1862. The civilian village of Arkansas Post, occupied since the 1750s, had grown into a town of about 30 houses by the last decade of the 18th century. Grouped along two main streets, the houses were of a French architectural style, with high-gabled, shingled roofs, tall chimneys, and wide galleries. Anglo-American settlement at Ecore Rouge appears to have been initiated by refugees from the American War of Independence. Balthazar de Villier's 1779 map of the location shows an "American village'' and an "American habitant" on the bluff to the north u£ the fort. The pace of American settlement, however, accelerated after 1804. Several new buildings were* constructed in addition to the older French and Spanish houses, a United States factory, or trading house, was built to the north of the town and in 1810 consisted of a two-story oak frame storehouse and a one-story dwelling house with a pitched roof. Among other buildings of the Early American period at Arkansas Post was the tavern operated by William Montgomery from 1819-1821. Montgomery's Tavern was the meeting place of the first Arkansas Territorial General Assembly in February 1820. This structure may also have been that occupied in the first decade of the nineteenth century by the trading house of Jacob Bright, one of the most prominent traders to the Osages. The establishment of Colonel Frederick Notrebe, a French entrepreneur who came to dominate the town, included a house, a store, a brick store and

Load more

  15

Copy Link