Listed in Arkansas Register of Historic Places on 11/06/02
SUMMARY
The Jonesboro Post Office in downtown Jonesboro, Arkansas, is being nominated to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places with local significance under Criterion A for its association with the Jonesboro Post Office from 1906 to 1913 and its association with the growth of Jonesboro.
ELABORATION
In 1882 several railroad lines arrived in Craighead County. In 1890, two of these railroad lines came through Jonesboro because it was the center of the timber industry in the area. Jonesboro quickly became the county seat that same year the railroad arrived. The word spread that Jonesboro was booming. With the arrival of these railroads came businesses, people, and money. Two blocks from the railroad line, Z. T. Matthews had a building constructed at 110 East Huntington to be used as the Jonesboro Post Office. A five-year contract was signed, but the Post Office remained at this location until 1913. Then it moved three blocks south to the corner of Church and Jackson.
The 1906 Jonesboro City Directory shows the Post Office situated at 110 E. Huntington. Historical photos indicate that by 1908 the Post Office was well established. Situated two blocks from the railway station, hundreds of letters and postcards traveled in and out of the Post Office daily to post offices around the nation. The Post Office remained at this location until 1913 when it moved down the street.
The 1917 directory had the building listed as vacant. In 1919 Cooperative Supply Company moved into 110 E. Huntington. Belt’s Music Store occupied the building from 1923 to 1926. The 1927 directory listed 110 E. Huntington as unoccupied. In 1930 the Gulf Refining Company Service Station was at this location. Circa 1930 a fire partially destroyed the building. Around 1935 repair work was done, and they decided to make the building into two offices, 108 and 110 East Huntington. At this time 108 E. Huntington was known as the Square Deal Store, which sold general merchandise, and 110 was the Bevos Barber Shop for one year.
From 1936 to 1944, 110 E. Huntington was vacant, and 108 also became vacant in 1936. In 1947, Whidden Appliance Co. and the doctor’s office of J. W. Ledbetter shared the building. In 1951, Whidden stayed in 108, but Robert Packard, an osteopath, replaced Ledbetter at the 110 address. By 1953, Packard remained at this address and 108 became John R. Park’s Jewelry. In 1956 Clara’s Beauty Shop moved into 108 E. Huntington and Arkansas Music Shop moved into 110. Clara’s remained at this location through 1980. In 1959 Beltone Hearing Service moved into 110 E. Huntington and remained here until 1980 also. In 1981, 108 E. Huntington was Ruth’s Beauty Salon and 110 was the Benedictive Art Studio No. 2. In 1990, Ozark Hearing Aid Service moved into the building.
In June of 2001, Joe Clay Young, IV, bought the building from Union Planter’s Bank. In October 2001, he received a bid to begin renovation work to bring the structure back to its original design. The amount of effort that went into preserving the original structure was overwhelming at times. The top half of the façade had to be completely supported as the windows and entryway were reconstructed. When plans were drawn for the design, no historical photos had been found. However, after the building had been completed and was brought to the attention of the public, a single photograph was brought forward. Unfortunately the renovation work had been completed and two aspects of the building are not true to the original structure: the side windows because they are crowned with transoms and the front façade because it is not recessed. Construction work was finished in March of 2002 and Marion Berry, United States Congressman, has rented the building under a contract of ten years.
SIGNIFICANCE
Although the loss of too much original material precludes National Register listing, the building is still important to the history of Jonesboro. Therefore, the Jonesboro Post Office is being nominated to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places with local significance under Criterion A for its direct association in the growth and expansion of Jonesboro, Arkansas, and for its association with the United States Post Office.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Stuck, Charles A. 1960. The History of Craighead County. Stuck Publishing.
Jonesboro City Directories from the following years: 1906, 1911, 1913-1914, 1917, 1919, 1923, 1927, 1930, 1935, 1936, 1939, 1944, 1947, 1951, 1953, 1956, 1965, 1970, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1980-1982, 1984, 1990