Listed in Arkansas Register of Historic Places on 12/07/05

SUMMARY

The Jim and Lizzie Bell Horn House at 15 Old Bank Road in New Blaine is being nominated to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places under Criterion C with local significance as a well-preserved example of a dogtrot style house. Because it was moved about three miles from its original location, it must be reviewed under Criteria Consideration B: Moved Properties. The fact that it has been moved also precludes it from being listed in the National Register. Nevertheless, it has been beautifully renovated with respect for its historic integrity. The house was passed down through three generations of the Jim Horn family until his descendants donated the property to its renovator, Mary Gehring. This nomination is being submitted to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places under the multiple property listing, “Historic and Architectural Resources of New Blaine, Arkansas, 1920-1940.”

ELABORATION

Before 1900 travel in Logan County was difficult and slow. Rough dirt roads, dusty in the summer and muddy in the winter, made long trips uncomfortable and unpopular. Road crews had only primitive equipment to maintain the routes that wound around the county’s mountains. For this reason most people tended to stay in or around their home or community, venturing out only for an occasional trip to town. Likewise, children often remained in close interaction with their parents even after they married. The dealings between Jim and Lizzie Horn and their daughter, Alberta, are indicative of this phenomenon.

James Alexander “Jim” Horn (1857-1955) married Sara Elizabeth “Lizzie” Bell Horn (1862-1955) and they had eight children: Alberta Jane, James Wesley, Sara Etta, Pearl Lee, Gean Bell, Clarence Jefferson, Fred Ancil, and Effie Exie. When Alberta, the first-born, married Iven Burnham in 1896, Iven and a Mr. Koch built the house that is described in this nomination. Sometime in the early 1900s, Alberta’s parents, Jim and Lizzie, expressed interest in purchasing the house and the 40 acres on which it sat. Iven and Alberta agreed to the deal and the house and its acreage became associated with Jim Horn.

When the Horns died, their granddaughter, Ethel Dotson Kelley and her husband Robert Lee “Bob” Kelley inherited the property. Ethel was the daughter of Jim and Lizzie’s third child, Sara and her husband Marion Dotson. Upon the death of Ethel and Robert, the property passed to their daughters Wilma Sue, Ila Trene, and Iva Jean.

By this time the house was deteriorating and in need of repair. Wilma, Ila, and Iva had seen the restored Iven and Alberta Horn Burnham House, and desired that their great-grandparents’ house to be similarly refurbished. They donated the house to New Blaine citizen Mary Gehring, who funded and oversaw the work on the Burnham place.

Gehring, who made a hobby out of restoring old homes, went to work on the Jim and Lizzie Bell Horn House with special consideration for historic authenticity. Work was completed by November 1998, and Gehring hired Combs Movers relocate the house to New Blaine from its original location on a remote hillside on Methodist Youth Camp Road. The house now serves as a museum and is open to the public for viewing at no charge.

SIGNIFICANCE

The Jim and Lizzie Bell Horn House at 15 Old Bank Road in New Blaine is being nominated to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places under Criterion C with local significance as a well-preserved example of a dogtrot style house. Because it was moved about three miles from its original location in 1999, it also qualifies under Criteria Consideration B: Moved Properties. The fact that it has been moved also precludes it from being listed in the National Register. Nevertheless, it has been beautifully renovated with respect for its historic integrity. This nomination is being submitted to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places under the multiple property listing, “Historic and Architectural Resources of New Blaine, Arkansas, 1920-1940.”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Gehring, Mary. Telephone interview. 29 July 2005.

Logan County Historical Society, Logan County, Arkansas: Its History and Its People. Dallas: Taylor Publishing Company, 1987.