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Arkansas » Delta » Prairie County » Des Arc » Prairie County Courthouse

Prairie County Courthouse

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1913–1914, R. P. Morrison. 200 Court Sq.
  • (Photograph by Claudia Shannon)

This red brick courthouse occupies the foundation of the 1902 courthouse, which burned, and is of the same dimensions and style as its predecessor. The principal facade features a two-story portico with four full-height Tuscan columns set between end pavilions, each capped by a pedimented gable. A square clock tower rises from the center of the roof. String-courses, window hoods, and modillions are the most striking decorative element, delineating the strong line of the cornice and each pediment. Because of numerous fires in early Prairie County courthouses, the county purchased vaults in 1856 to safeguard county records, and vaults have been installed in every courthouse since. Prairie County has a second courthouse in DeValls Bluff, a WPA-funded plain brick building of 1939, but Des Arc is considered the main seat of government for the county.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Cyrus A. Sutherland with Gregory Herman, Claudia Shannon, Jean Sizemore Jeannie M. Whayne and Contributors
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Data

What's Nearby

Community Building (American Legion Hut)

Citation

Cyrus A. Sutherland with Gregory Herman, Claudia Shannon, Jean Sizemore Jeannie M. Whayne and Contributors, "Prairie County Courthouse", [Des Arc, Arkansas], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/AR-01-PR1.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of Arkansas

Buildings of Arkansas, Cyrus A. Sutherland and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2018, 256-256.

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