Listed in Arkansas Register of Historic Places on 09/02/98

Summary

The Emma Elease Webb Community Center has served the African-American community of Hot Springs from the 1930s up to the present.  The building housed nurses and bathhouse attendants employed in the Woodmen of Union Building on Malvern Avenue in Hot Springs during the 1930s, and in 1945 it became a community center servicing African-American youth and men’s and women’s organizations, a function it fulfills to this day.  For its role in providing shelter, and recreational organizational opportunities for the African-American community in Hot Springs, the Emma Elease Webb Community Center is being nominated to the Arkansas Register under Criterion A with local significance.

Elaboration

The Emma Elease Webb Community Center was organized by John Lee Webb of Tuskegee, Alabama.  In 1904, after completing his education at Tuskegee Institute and working briefly in Marianna, Arkansas, as an employee of the Indiana and Arkansas Lumber Company, he moved to Mississippi to work as a successful contractor.  While in Mississippi he became involved in fraternal organizations and was appointed Grand Lecturer for the Masons of Mississippi.  During the Reconstruction period, many black fraternal organizations emerged.  Soon new legislation began to require that fraternal organizations make a deposit of $10,000.  This forced the termination of many fraternal groups.  By 1913 John Webb was in a position where he could offer the $10,000 needed by the Supreme Lodge of the Woodmen of Union which was headquartered in Hot Springs.  Thus began the relationship of John Webb to Hot Springs and the Community Center.

In 1923 John Webb had become a resident of Hot Springs and taken an active role in the Woodmen of Union organization as Supreme Custodian.  Under the supervision of Webb, the Woodmen of Union Building at 511 Malvern Avenue was constructed.  The W.O.U. Building housed a hospital, bathhouse, printing shop, dental office, a beauty shop, and a newsstand, all of which were staffed by Hot Springs African-American residents.  In the 1930s John Webb bought a building at 433 Pleasant Street to serve as a school and dormitory for nurses and bathhouse attendants at the W.O.U. Building.  Prior to becoming a dormitory the c.1918 brick building had been a neighborhood grocery store, restaurant, drug store, and offices.

In 1945 the Emma Elease Webb Community Center (dedicated to Mr. Webb’s daughter who died in 1943) was formally incorporated.  The Center was supervised by the Alpha Art Club and was a gathering place for African-American men’s and women’s organizations, such as the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs, the Arkansas Beauticians’ Association, the N.A.A.C.P., Men’s Civic League, Undertakers’ Association and Black Businessmen’s League.

A swimming pool was installed on land to the northwest of the Center in 1955.  The pool stayed in operation for forty-two years through the donations of Hot Springs citizens but in 1997 the swimming pool and playground areas was sold to the City of Hot Springs for the expansion of the Hot Springs Civic and Convention Center.

Historical and Architectural Significance

The Emma Elease Webb Community Center on Pleasant Street has been a fixture in Hot Springs since the early 1900s and has served the African-American community of Hot Springs since the 1930s with shelter, education and recreational opportunities for those who needed a place to meet, away from troubles at home or on the streets.  For these reasons, the Webb Center is being nominated to the Arkansas Register under Criterion A with local significance.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.  May 4, 1996.

Bowers, Rodney.  “Center’s Future Uncertain.”  Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.  May 2, 1996.

Clark, Glenn.  The Man Who Talks With Flowers.  (George Washington Carver), Macalester Park Publishing Co., St. Paul, Minnesota.  1936.

Cline, Inez E., and Palmer, and Mark, Fred.  “Belvedere.”  The Record.  1992.

Documentation currently on file at the offices of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program.

Donner, Rebecca.  “Webb Center Plans to Beautify City with Outdoor Mural.”  Hot Springs Sentinel-Record.  August 13, 1993.

Duke, Tammy.  “Super Senior Lives Life of Service.”  Hot Springs Sentinel-Record Senior Scene.  June 30, 1996.

Griggs, Sutton E.  Triumph of the Simple Virtues or the Life Story of John L. Webb.  Messenger Publishing Co.  1936.

Howe, Edna Lee.  “A City of Racial Harmony.”  Hot Springs Sentinel-Record.  February 22, 1959.

Information submitted by Cheryl Batts, Hot Springs.  November 1997.

Johnson, Carol.  “No Sale, Officials Tell City.”  Hot Springs Sentinel-Record.  May 6, 1996.

Smith, Charles Wagner.  “Letters to the Editor.”  Hot Springs Sentinel-Record.  October 20, 1991.

World Book Encyclopedia, 1996, Vol. 19.  “Tuskegee University.”