Listed in Arkansas Register of Historic Places on 04/05/23

SUMMARY

The Cotton Boll Stadium is being nominated to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places with local significance under Criterion A for its associations with the Public Works Administration for the work they completed at the University of Arkansas at Monticello. There have been some alterations to the stadium that keep it from being eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, such as the addition of the press boxes to the top of the stadium as well as the addition of the stucco to the exterior of the stadium, but it still meets the eligibility requirements for the Arkansas Register. Even with the addition of the press boxes to the stadium as well as the stucco to the exterior of the stadium, the stadium still is a significant place within the community of the University of Arkansas at Monticello and is still in use today for sports competitions that are held at the university.

HISTORY OF THE PROPERTY

The district of Arkansas was created in 1806, and Arkansas Territory was established officially in 1819. The first territorial government was established in the same year, 1819, and it was established at Arkansas Post. Arkansas became the twenty-fifth state to join the union on June 15, 1836. Drew county was established on November 26, 1846, and it was the fifty-second county created in the state of Arkansas. When Drew County was originally created it was divided into six townships Marion, Union, White, Smith, Osceola, and Bartholomew.[1] The county grew in great numbers between the year of 1850 to 1860. The population reached its maximum in 1890 to about 15,000 people in the population. The population in Drew County today is close to what it was in 1890, the population today in Drew County is around 17,000 people. In the beginning stages of the establishment of Drew County, the center of trade, business, culture, and court was not Monticello, the original town was called Rough and Ready Hill. It was not until later that Monticello became known as the center of the county.

The city of Monticello came to be by the donation of land to Drew County for a new townsite. Fountain C. Austin and his wife, Polly, donated 83.02 acres of land to the county on June 9, 1849.[2] Between 1849 and 1851 the 83 acres of land were surveyed, and the original town of Monticello was built on the acreage. The remaining pieces of land were sold by the county commissioners for town lots.  On December 20, 1852, the town of Monticello was incorporated.[3] After the town was incorporated and the original town was established, there were other contributions of land in the 1850s, and the town expanded. The town name of Monticello was thought to have been named after Thomas Jefferson’s estate, Monticello. Most of the founders and original people of the town Monticello came from Virginia backgrounds. There have been other theories on how the town of Monticello got its name, but this theory is the only theory that has some proof to back up the thought process. The town of Monticello is the biggest town south of Pine Bluff in the southeast part of the state of Arkansas. The town of Monticello played a major role in the commerce, agricultural, and timber industry. The fact that Monticello was big in commerce, agriculture, and the timber industry allowed for the town to grow as much as it did. During the Civil War, Drew County experienced many tragedies to buildings and other architecturally significant properties. During 1870-1871 there was a construction of the new courthouse in the town of Monticello, the courthouse was built in the Second Empire Style, which symbolized the community’s recovery from the war.[4] The population of Monticello climbed after the war, and Monticello slowly became a commercial and industrial center. In the late 1890s Monticello had turned into the center for business, social events, and politics. The town was very prosperous for farmers and also became the place for people who owned plantations. The population was at its peak in Monticello in 1910. After this the prices of cotton began to fall, and expansion slowed down until the 1920s and 1930s. The courthouse was torn down and the new one was built in 1932. After the second World War, agriculture declined, and the town was slow to recover.[5] Since then Monticello has not been the same with their agriculture and overall booming city. They have lost a lot of their historical properties either due to fire or lack of appreciation. But you can still see glimpses of what the town use to be.

Drew County always has had a big emphasis on education, even before the county was established. It is believed that there were already two schools in existence before the county even began, these two schools were known as Rodgers Schoolhouse and Gaster Schoolhouse. Rodgers Schoolhouse was located near Union Ridge as early as 1836.[6] Gaster Schoolhouse was located on Gaster Hill and was established by 1842.[7] Once the county was established there was an introduction of another school in the county, which was known as Brandon School. Brandon school was located near Rock Springs and was credited with having a large number of students in the school. The first college in the county was established in 1859, and it was established by the act of a state legislature. The university was known as Phi Kappa Sigma Male College and was organized by Professor James William Barrow. The college was named after the fraternity of the college founder James Barrow, and it is thought that the level of education may not be more than high school level. The college served as a hospital and storage for the Confederate troops during the Civil War before it was burned down by the Federal troops in 1864. There was also a female academy that was started in 1857, in Drew County. The name of the school was Rodger’s Female Academy. It was in a two-story building, by what is now the elementary school. The school was highly credited and closed due to the Civil War. After the war was over, the school reopened as Wood Thompson School for Boys. Eventually, the school became co-educational, and then became known as Thompson High School. Once public school became authorized, this became the first free school in Drew County, and the school is now known as W.C. Whaley Elementary School. There were other schools in Drew County before the Civil War, these schools included, Lacy Female Institute, Fountain Hill Academy, and the Norton School at Branchville. The first ever boarding school was introduced in Drew County, this boarding school was the first of its kind in the area and attracted girls from up and down the Mississippi River as well as Texas. The school was founded by Dr. W. D. Kersh and his wife Jane Moore Kersh, the couple came from South Carolina to establish this kind of school in Arkansas. [8] This school offered advanced courses in math, science, and English but also taught music and etiquette. The school was very successful and managed to stay in operation around thirty years.

After the end of the Civil War there was an emphasis on the expansion of private schools in Drew County. Garner’s Academy was located near Rock Springs in the late 1860s, the school was established by Professor W.A. Garner. There was the Monticello Male Academy, which opened on the northeast corner of East Jackson and South Edward Street. Stephen Gaster was a student at this school and there is a receipt that shows that he paid $31.13 for 36 weeks of schooling at the Male Academy.[9] People would also open private schools in their own homes as well after the Civil War. For example, there was a private school that was opened in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Von Mengershausen. This family opened a private school in their home, shortly after their arrival to Monticello in 1876. The school taught young people about music and other educational pursuits. Marie Von Mengershausen’s husband was a trained musician from Germany and he taught the music. Their daughter Matilda taught the piano.

In the 1890s Hinemon University was established, this allowed for education to be expanded beyond the elementary years. This was a prominent school and was located where the current Monticello High School is located today. The school was run by the superintendent, which was John H. Hinemon. Hinemon also had help from J. E. Erwin, with running the school. The school was highly accredited by students, the town of Monticello had many highly respected people who attended this school. Some of those people would include respected teachers, doctors, preachers, as well as cultured women.

The first public school board in Drew County was created in 1870, and the president of the school board was James A. Jackson and R. F. Hyatt was the secretary. The first free school was established later in 1876, this free school was three months at a time. Later, the nine-month free school began in 1883.[10] The public-school board acquired Hinemon University in 1910, they then changed the name of Hinemon University to Monticello High School.

It is safe to say that there was a large emphasis on education in Drew County, this can be seen with the amount and diversity between the schools that have been in the county since before the county was founded. There were also a numerous number of successful doctors, women, preachers, and teachers that attended these schools throughout the history of Drew County.

The University of Arkansas at Monticello is currently a four-year college that is in the county’s largest city, Monticello. The school was originally founded in 1910, by an act of the General Assembly of the state of Arkansas that took place in 1909. The act was established to better serve the educational needs of the southeast area of the state of Arkansas. When the school was originally founded it was not called the University of Arkansas at Monticello nor was it a four-year university. The school was originally called the Fourth District Agricultural School, and the school opened to the public on September 14, 1910.[11] The school received a name change in 1925 and became known as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of the Fourth District. Following the name change in 1925, the university was accredited its junior college status three short years later in 1928. About ten years later the University went under and new name and was referred to as the Arkansas Agricultural and Mechanical College. By 1940, the college had received its accreditation to be classified as a four-year university.[12] Arkansas Agricultural and Mechanical College became part of the University of Arkansas system on July 1, 1971. The university is overseen by the University of Arkansas board of trustees, who oversees the universities that are under the University of Arkansas umbrella. In 2003, The University of Arkansas at Monticello, expanded to include vocational schools into their program.[13] These programs are held at Crossett and McGehee at the UAM Schools of Technology.

The Public Works Administration, which helped in the funding of some of the college’s construction in the 1930s, was created by the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933. The act’s purpose was to encourage national industrial recovery, to foster fair competition, and to provide for the construction of certain useful public works, and for other purposes.[14] The Public Works Administration (PWA) was formed in 1933 and remained in effect until 1943. The PWA was created to work on projects such as highways, buildings, natural resource conservation, flood control, housing, and energy projects, as well to get Americans working again after the Great Depression. President Roosevelt selected the leader of the PWA, a man named Harold Ickes. The overall goal of the PWA was to get a start on getting the economy to roll again after the Great Depression. They were looking to get people jobs by creating projects for the people to work on. The projects were to be funded by loans and grants.  Over the 10 years that the Public Works Administration was in effect it contributed 3.8 billion dollars to over 34,000 projects.[15] There are numerous big projects that were completed by the PWA, some of these projects include the Triborough bridge in New York, Grand Coulee Dam, Key West’s overseas highway, and many more. The PWA did not only do major projects there were many smaller projects that they completed as well. In the state of Arkansas over the 10-year span there were at least 235 projects completed.[16] In the 235 projects, there were 124 projects related to city water and sewer projects. All the city water and sewer projects in Arkansas were financed by $9,280,449 in grants and loans.[17] There were twelve courthouses, nine city halls, and eleven county and city jails constructed with $2,118,987 in grants and loans. The rest of the projects included assistance from the PWA. The most expensive project that was funded by the PWA was the Saline County Hospital, this project in total cost $1,769,000 in grants and loans from the PWA.[18] There are at least 25 Arkansas properties that were funded by the Public Works Administration that are currently on the National Register of Historic Places.

Within Drew County there are nine projects that were completed by the PWA. These works include a fence, Monticello City Hall, Monticello Arts Building, The University buildings at UAM, the Tillar Gymnasium, Tillar Waterworks, and another university building at UAM. In these nine projects there was a total of $645,245 in loans and grants that were dispersed by the PWA. The biggest project in Drew County was the university buildings that were completed on the Campus of the University of Arkansas at Monticello, this project totaled $280,926.

Within the university buildings that were funded by the PWA at the university in Monticello, there was a football stadium that was built. The stadium was named the Cotton Boll Stadium, and the construction began in January 1937. The architect for the stadium was Arthur Neal McAninch, Arthur was an architect from Little Rock, Arkansas. He started practicing in 1929 under the guidance of J. R. Petter, before taking over the firm in 1932.[19]  He later partnered with another architect to create a firm in 1941, and this lasted until 1945 when the partnership dissolved.  McAninch then created another partnership called McAninch and Mahnker. This partnership went on to design buildings across Arkansas. The Cotton Boll Stadium was designed in the Art Deco style. The stadium features reinforced concrete walls and is one- and one-half stories tall. The roof is composed of metal, it is flat, and has no roof features. The west side of the stadium is made of concrete and covered with stucco, this side features tall, stepped archways. There are windows above the archways, that are close to the press boxes. The Cotton Boll stadium has been a part of the University of Arkansas at Monticello since 1935 and has been an important part in the university’s history. The stadium has been there through the university’s three name changes. The first being Agricultural and Mechanical College of the Fourth District, to the name Arkansas Agricultural and Mechanical College as well as its four-year accreditation in 1939, to being part of the University of Arkansas system in 1971. Even though the stadium is not completely original, due to the addition of the press boxes and the new stucco that has been applied to the outside of the stadium that has changed the texture of the stadium. It is still a very important historical structure, that has a significant impact on the University of Arkansas at Monticello as well as its students and faculty.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROPERTY

During the 1930s, the PWA played a significant role in the carrying out of improvements in Drew County.  The PWA helped with several projects in Monticello, including the City Hall, several projects at the University as well as other municipal improvements. The Cotton Boll Stadium was an important facility at the University, and it continues to be used regularly today as part of the University’s athletic programs.  The PWA’s involvement in the construction of the Stadium, along with other facilities on the campus, allowed for the University to have a madern, up-to-date campus in the 1930s.

Even today, several of the facilities that were aided by the PWA are still in use at the UAM campus. The Fine Arts Building, several dormitories, a surviving faculty house, and the Science Building were all projects of the PWA.  As a result, due to its important associations with the PWA’s work in Drew County, and also for its importance in the history of the University, the Cotton Boll Stadium is being nominated to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places with local significance under Criterion A.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

“About.” Historic V. C. Kays House. Accessed October 11, 2022. https://kayshouse.astate.edu/about-2/.

Christ, Mark K. “Public Works Administration.” The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture, June 24, 2022.     https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/public-works-administration-6281/.

DeArmond, Rebecca. Old Times Not Forgotten: A History of Drew County. Little Rock Arkansas: Rose Publishing Company., 1980.

Holly, Donald. Historic Overview of Monticello Arkansas. Little Rock Arkansas: Arkansas Historic Preservation Program.1984.

Lisa, Thompson. “Public Works Administration (PWA), 1933-1943.” Living New Deal, March 3, 2017. https://livingnewdeal.org/glossary/public-works-administration-pwa-1933-1943/.

“The University of Arkansas at Monticello Homepage.” UAM History, 2003. https://www.uamont.edu/about/history.html.