Howard County Museum (First Presbyterian Church)

Howard County Museum (First Presbyterian Church)

Howard County Museum (First Presbyterian Church) Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, A Division of the Department of Arkansas Heritage
1912. W. Hempstead St. at S. 2nd St.

Despite its early-twentieth-century construction date, this small, wooden cross-gabled church presents an intriguing blend of two nineteenth-century styles, Gothic Revival and Stick Style. Gothic Revival elements include the dominant three-story bell tower with a heavy, castellated roofline, below which are pairs of trefoil-topped pointed-arch openings lined with louvers, and two large arched windows on the south and east elevations subdivided into smaller windows by jigsawn tracery. Stick Style elements appear in the exaggerated exposed framing elements of the little gabled entrance at the base of the tower, and especially in the elaborate bargeboards of the front and side gables, which echo the arched theme. The interior continues the design theme with exposed wooden beams and brackets for the ceiling. The church vacated the building in 1975, and it is now owned and operated by the Howard County Historical Association as a museum with exhibits focusing on the history of Howard County.

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