Listed in Arkansas Register of Historic Places on 08/03/16

Summary

Building 116 was constructed in 1941 as the telephone exchange building for the larger Southwestern Proving Ground facility. The Southwestern Proving Ground was an important World War II military facility used as an airfield for bombers and a testing ground for artillery shells and air bombs. During WWII the telephone was the major form of real-time communication. This building connected the entire proving ground, along with its counterparts and the rest of the country. Building 116 of the Southwestern Proving Ground is being nominated to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places with statewide significance under Criterion A, for its associations with World War II-era military activity in Hempstead County as well as its association with the early audio technology developments of the Klipsch Company. It is also being nominated under Criterion C, with local significance, for its design, which adhered to prevailing trends in military architecture on the eve of World War II.

Elaboration

Hempstead County was officially created in 1819 under the provisions of an act of the Missouri Territory legislature. Originally, it stretched from the Little Missouri River south to the Louisiana State Line and west to the boundary with the Indian Territory. The county was named after Edward Hempstead, the first Congressional delegate from the Missouri Territory.[1] Initially, Hempstead County’s seat of government was located in Washington, but once the Cairo & Fulton Railroad’s line was constructed through the county, the center of the county’s commerce and business moved to land adjacent to the new rail corridor. The new community grew out of a workmen’s camp for the railroad and was named Hope after the daughter of James Loughborough, the railroad’s land commissioner.[2] The first passenger train came to the community on February 1, 1872, and the railroad drew the town’s plat and began selling lots on August 28, 1873. [3] Hope was officially incorporated on April 8, 1875, and by the 1880s, Hope’s population was 1,233.[4] Throughout the first part of the twentieth century, the community kept growing, reaching a population of 6,008 by 1930.[5] Eventually, after several controversial elections, in 1939 the Arkansas Supreme Court declared Hope Hempstead County’s new county seat.[6]

Southwestern Proving Ground

In June of 1941, it was announced in the local paper that Hope was to become the site of a “Big War Plant.”[7] The news was so momentous for the local community that Senator George Lloyd Spencer sent the local paper a telegram that read as follows:

I have communicated with the War Department several times yesterday and today. They now authorize me to announce that a site north of Hope has definitely been selected for the proving ground.

The area will be five miles wide and 15 miles long and will cover approximately 37,000 acres.

The contract will be let as quickly as possible with the hope that work may be started by July 15.

The project will represent an expenditure of approximately 15 million dollars and construction will employ 4,000 or 5,000 persons. It will permanently employ 500 or more.

I am gratified that Arkansas has received this additional plant and am particularly pleased that my home county was selected. Governor [Homer] Adkins should be given full credit for his help in this matter.[8]

The Southwestern Proving Ground and its sister facility, the Jefferson Proving Ground in Indiana, were important components of America’s World War II efforts on the home front. As tensions escalated in Europe in the late 1930s, it became more and more of a reality that the United States would likely enter the conflict. During the escalation of tensions, even though the United States was not actually at war, it was still involved in the war effort by providing war materials to its Allies. In preparation for such an event the U.S. Government instituted the National Defense Program, which provided factories for the manufacture of munitions, airplanes and tanks. The National Defense Program is what directly led to the construction of the Southwestern Proving Ground in Hope as it was used to test those products for the war effort.[9]

A map of the proposed construction site of the new proving ground was released in June of 1941. This map showed that the new facility would cover 37,650 acres of land encompassing private landholdings of 244 individuals and firms and 937 acres of state-held property.[10] The land needed for the development of the Southwestern Proving Ground was acquired by the Real Estate Department of the War Department through condemnation proceedings for those sections that were needed to do immediate work. Each person’s land was appraised and then negotiations were undertaken with the land owner to determine the amount of compensation that they would receive for the land, any improvements, and for the crops that were growing. Evacuation of the residents began in July 1941, and a total of 404 families were eventually relocated by the July 24th deadline.[11]

The development of the Southwestern Proving Ground was initially greeted with tremendous enthusiasm by the local community due to the economic impact that it would bring to the area. However, criticism did arise from the area’s residents, especially during the confusion associated with the relocations. In addition, it was also rumored that Senator Spencer had encouraged the placement of the facility to encompass his farm in the area. The editor of the Hope Star at the time, Alex Washburn, understood the need for the facility in terms of United States defense, but also understood the plight of the people who were displaced by the construction. He wrote that, "... anybody can see things about the Proving Ground to break your heart - but it is admittedly the biggest thing in South Arkansas since the El Dorado oil boom in 1921 ..."[12]

The construction of the Proving Ground site and its buildings was awarded to the W. E. Callahan Construction Company, which began hiring 4,000 construction workers on July 15, 1941. Interestingly, the subsequent owners of several of the proving ground properties continued to use surplus Callahan Construction Company letterhead as note paper through 1948.[13] The architects and engineers for the project were Howard, Needles, Tammen & Bergendorff of Indianapolis, and among their employees were Herb Blemker, chief engineer in building the Jefferson Proving Ground, and one of his assistants, Harry Fritchie. The project director was W. K. Mellyor, and he worked out an agreement with Senator Spencer to guarantee preferential treatment of local citizens in consideration for jobs.[14]

A staggering variety of buildings was necessary to operate the entire facility. Hundreds of buildings ranging from powder magazines and turret houses to shop buildings and a hospital were constructed to carry out the various missions and operations at the installation. In addition, residential buildings were needed, which included at least one barracks building (Building #208) and officer’s quarters (Buildings #300-319), which comprise the Southwestern Proving Ground Officers Quarters Historic District (NR 7.8.2008).[15] Building 116, which was constructed as the Telephone Exchange Building was built during this large building campaign. The building was constructed to the standards required by the military, although it is unusual due to its proximity to the firing line and testing area. The structure was reinforced with a deep, concrete foundation and tall basement space as well as steel structural elements.

Due to the December 7, 1941, bombing of Pearl Harbor, the opening festivities at the Proving Ground were delayed, and it was not until April 5, 1942, that Hempstead County residents were able to pass through the gates. In a two-hour period, 1,250 cars carrying 6,250 people passed through the gates, although nobody was allowed to leave their cars. Washburn wrote in the Hope Star that:

Sunday's visitors who, celebrating Army Day, were permitted to go through the completed SPG saw there a graphic example of American efficiency and speed - for what was rolling prairie and timberland only last August is today a functioning war plant. …But the record will show that the SPG location here was announced May 1941; executive officers began arriving in July; workers were hired in August and the first gun fired January 1,1942. …Like our Anglo brothers over in England, we Americans languish slow in the arms of peace - rise slowly to the act of war. But brother when we get going! [16]

The designs of buildings constructed on military testing facilities across the country just prior to World War II were greatly influenced by military architectural standards established at Picatinny Arsenal. Picatinny Arsenal, a 6,500-acre military installation established in 1880 near Dover, New Jersey, “earned a reputation as the Army’s authority on the manufacturing of ammunition” by the end of World War I.[17] In addition to manufacturing ammunition, Picatinny Arsenal’s research and development facilities provided plans and training for the construction and operation of other munitions facilities during World War II.[18]

Most buildings were originally designed using “permanent, fireproof” construction methods like concrete foundations and floors, internal concrete walls, concrete or steel framing, and infill walls of hollow clay tile. On May 20, 1942, the War Production Board adopted a directive intended to establish tighter priorities for construction. Even defense related construction would receive approval only if it followed specific guidelines. Approval was given if: it was essential for the war effort; postponement of construction would be detrimental to the war effort; it was not practical to rent or convert existing facilities; the design for the structure was of the simplest type. All construction should be of the cheapest, temporary character and should use materials which were most plentiful.[19] Building 116 of the Southwestern Proving Ground echoed these requirements, even though it predated this official mandate and was reinforced due to its proximity to the bomb test area.

On May 7, 1945, Germany surrendered and on August 14th Japan surrendered, bringing an end to World War II and also bringing an end to operations at the Southwestern Proving Ground. By August 20, the proving ground was ordered closed within 30 days and by September the only staff present would be a skeleton crew to write up final reports. The Army declared the proving ground surplus property but in December 1945 the sale was stopped as the city of Hope was told it would be given ownership of the Southwestern Proving Ground airport. The remaining acreage would fall under the policies of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and the Surplus Property Corporation.[20]

After the Southwestern Proving Ground was closed and declared to be surplus, the War Assets Administration came in to clear the property of military supplies and equipment as well as any remaining explosives. The land and all the buildings on it were then sold to the Hope Development Corporation, which in turn, sold the property to industrial companies and citizens. Despite the fact that the Southwestern Proving Ground is no longer in operation, this building’s utilitarian design gives observers the feeling of its historic use. Many of the buildings on the Southwestern Proving Ground have been destroyed over the years, but there are still a few nearby including the Southwestern Proving Ground Officers’ Quarters Historic District (NR 7.8.2008), which consists of twenty homes built in 1941 as officers’ quarters, and the Southwestern Proving Ground Airport Historic District (NR 6.10.1999), which consists of several airplane hangars.

Paul Wilbur Klipsch

Paul Wilbur Klipsch was born on March 9, 1904, in Elkhart, Indiana, as the only child of Oscar Colman Klipsch and Minna Pearl Eddy. After Klipsch graduated from El Paso High School, he enrolled at New Mexico State University, where he was a member of the university band and the school’s rifle team.[21] Following his graduation from New Mexico State University, Klipsch went to work for General Electric designing radios. In 1928 he responded to a notice on the GE bulletin board and ended up with an opportunity to travel to Chile for three years to maintain electric locomotives. Upon his return to the United States, Klipsch entered Stanford University. He graduated from Stanford with the degree of Engineer and started work as a geophysicist for two Texas oil companies. Soon, World War II broke out and Klipsch was inducted into the army as a commissioned officer due to his time in the ROTC program at New Mexico State University during his undergraduate work. He was initially sought out by the army for his expertise in engineering and was quickly posted to the Southwestern Proving Ground near Hope, Arkansas, where he would be promoted to the rank of Lt. Colonel.[22]

During WWII, Paul Wilbur Klipsch served as the chief engineer and second in command of the Southwestern Proving Ground. During his time at the Southwestern Proving Ground, Mr. Klipsch ran the chronograph department across the street from Building 116 where he generated high speed photographs of projectiles in flight in order to record the performance of various projectile designs.[23] He also patented the testing method for the 105mm Howitzer shell to eliminate the “duds” that were previously falling on our own troops. After World War II, Mr. Klipsch became widely recognized as a pioneer in the field of audio engineering.

After World War II, Paul W. Klipsch started his loudspeaker manufacturing business in Hope, Arkansas, initially creating each unit he sold by himself out of a small shed.[24] In 1948, he hired his first employee and in May of 1948, Klipsch purchased Building 116 to serve as his main production facility. On May 3, 1948, Klipsch moved into Building 116 and started to grow what would become one of the oldest speaker companies in the United States.[25] During the period from 1948 to 1952, his small building served as the main factory, office, and research laboratory of Klipsch & Associates. [26] Quickly, the Klipsch & Associates Company became well known for their high quality corner speakers, known as the Klipschorn.

In 1952, Klipsch moved much of his production into the building across the street, where he had worked during World War II, which is still used as the company’s United States manufacturing center. During the years 1953 to 1981, Building 116 was used as the main engineering facility. During the building’s use by Klipsch & Associates, some of the world’s earliest stereo recordings were recorded in the structure.[27] In 1981 the building became the Klipsch Museum of Audio History. In 1983, Paul W. Klipsch was inducted into the Audio Hall of Fame for his contributions to speaker design and distortion measurement. In 1997, he was inducted into the Engineering and Science Hall of Fame, which recognizes those who have improved the quality of the human condition through an individual contribution using engineering and scientific principles.[28]

The Southwestern Proving Ground Building 116 was an important component of the Southwestern Proving Ground. Building 116 was an integral part of the facilities needed at the proving ground and an essential building needed for basic communications, both internally and externally. As such, it remains as an important reminder of the work done in Arkansas to support America’s effort during World War II. It also serves as an important landmark in early audio technology, as the production factory and research laboratory for Paul W. Klipsch. The building continues to be owned by the Klipsch company and is currently used as a museum of audio history, dedicated to the role of Klipsch in the development of the audio industry.

Statement of Significance

Building 116 of the Southwestern Proving Ground is important for its association with World War II-era military activity in southwestern Arkansas. The Southwestern Proving Ground was an important World War II military facility used as an airfield for bombers and a testing ground for artillery shells and air bombs. Building 116 of the Southwestern Proving Ground is being nominated to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places with statewide significance under Criterion A, for its associations with World War II-era military activity in Hempstead County as well as its association with the early audio technology developments of the Klipsch Company. It is also being nominated under Criterion C, with local significance, for its design, which adhered to prevailing trends in military architecture on the eve of World War II.

Bibliography

Barrett, M. and Klementovich, M. Paul Wilbur Klipsch – The Life…The Legend. Danbury, CT: Rutledge Books, Inc. 2002.

Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Southern Arkansas. Chicago: The Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1890.

Information on Oakhaven provided by the Honorable Summer Bright, Mayor of Oakhaven. In the files of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program.

Kent, Carolyn Yancey. “World War II Ordnance Plants.” The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture. Butler Center for Arkansas Studies. August 26, 2014. Accessed June 1, 2016.

Shiver, Harry W., ed. Hope’s First Century: A Commemorative History of Hope, Arkansas. Hope, AR: Hope Centennial Committee, 1974.

Turner, Mary Nell. “Hempstead County.” The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture. Butler Center for Arkansas Studies. November 19, 2015. Accessed June 1, 2016.

Turner, Mary Nell. “Hope (Hempstead County).” The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture. Butler Center for Arkansas Studies. May 28, 2016. Accessed June 1, 2016.

Turner, Mary Nell. “Southwestern Proving Ground, 1941–1945.” Journal of the Hempstead County Historical Society (Spring 1986): 3–41.

Hope, Holly. Southwestern Proving Ground Airport Historic District National Register Nomination. Arkansas Historic Preservation Program Files.

James, Elizabeth A. Maumelle Ordnance Works Bunker #4, Maumelle, Pulaski County, Arkansas. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. Files of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program.

Klipsch Company Archives, Compiled by Jim Hunter, Klipsch’s Hope Manufacturing Center.

Kuranda, Kathryn M. et.al. “Military Construction and Wartime Logistics.” Historic Context for Department of Defense World War II Permanent Construction. Prepared by R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Inc., Maryland for U.S, Army Corps of Engineers, Maryland, June 1997.

Manucy, Albert C. Artillery Through the Ages: A Short Illustrated History of Cannon, Emphasizing Types Used in America. Washington D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior, 1949.

“Paul W. Klipsch,” http://www.klipsch.com/founder, accessed June 1, 2016.

Roberts, Joseph. The Hand-Book of Artillery: For the Service of the United States. New York: D. Van Nostrand, 1860.

Silva, Rachel. Southwestern Proving Ground Building #129, Oakhaven, Hempstead County, Arkansas. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. Files of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program.

Thurber, Pamela with Sandy Norman, Donald C. Jackson, and Robie S. Lange. Historic American Engineering Record NJ-36 for Picatinny Arsenal. (Washington, D.C.: 1982-84) Internet; available from http://memory.loc.gov/. Accessed May 13, 2009.

Wilcox, Ralph. Southwestern Proving Ground Officer’s Quarters Historic District National Register Nomination. Arkansas Historic Preservation Program Files.

Worrell, Katie. Southwestern Proving Ground Building #4, Oakhaven, Hempstead County, Arkansas. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. Files of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program.

[2] Ralph Wilcox, Southwestern Proving Ground Officer’s Quarters Historic District National Register Nomination, Arkansas Historic Preservation Program Files.

[3] Mary Nell Turner, “Hope (Hempstead County).” The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture, Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, May 28, 2016, Accessed June 1, 2016.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Ralph Wilcox, Southwestern Proving Ground Officer’s Quarters Historic District National Register Nomination, Arkansas Historic Preservation Program Files.

[8] Mary Nell Turner, “Southwestern Proving Ground, 1941–1945,” Journal of the Hempstead County Historical Society (Spring 1986): 3–41. The Southwestern Proving Ground supplemented the Jefferson Proving Ground located about 5 miles north of Madison, Indiana.

[9] Ralph Wilcox, Southwestern Proving Ground Officer’s Quarters Historic District National Register Nomination, Arkansas Historic Preservation Program Files.

[10] Turner, “Southwestern Proving Ground, 1941–1945,” Journal of the Hempstead County Historical Society. Holly Hope,Southwestern Proving Ground Airport Historic District National Register Nomination, Arkansas Historic Preservation Program Files.

[11] Holly Hope,Southwestern Proving Ground Airport Historic District National Register Nomination, Arkansas Historic Preservation Program Files.

[12] Ibid.

[13] Klipsch Company Archives, Compiled by Jim Hunter, Klipsch’s Hope Manufacturing Center.

[14] Holly Hope,Southwestern Proving Ground Airport Historic District National Register Nomination, Arkansas Historic Preservation Program Files. Turner, “Southwestern Proving Ground, 1941–1945,” Journal of the Hempstead County Historical Society.

[15] Ralph Wilcox, Southwestern Proving Ground Officer’s Quarters Historic District National Register Nomination, Arkansas Historic Preservation Program Files.

[16] Turner, “Southwestern Proving Ground, 1941–1945,” Journal of the Hempstead County Historical Society, p 14.

[17] Kathryn M. Kuranda et.al. “Military Construction and Wartime Logistics,” Historic Context for Department of Defense World War II Permanent Construction, Prepared by R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Inc., Maryland for U.S, Army Corps of Engineers, Maryland, June 1997.

[18] Pamela Thurber, HAER NJ-36 for Picatinny Arsenal, p. 5.

[19] Ibid.

[20] Holly Hope,Southwestern Proving Ground Airport Historic District National Register Nomination, Arkansas Historic Preservation Program Files.

[21] “Paul W. Klipsch,” http://www.klipsch.com/founder, accessed June 1, 2016.

[22] Ibid.

[23] Ibid.

[24] Ibid.

[25] Ibid.

[26] Ibid.

[27] Ibid.

[28] Ibid.