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

Summary Paragraph

Wilson House sits on the corner of West Spring Street and North A Street in Centerton, Benton County, and is being nominated to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places under Criterion C with local significance for its Colonial Revival architecture and as one of the oldest remaining brick houses still extant in Centerton. The house was built circa 1905 by Larkin Wilson on one of the original plats deeded to Centerton when it was surveyed in 1900. The original 1900s porches were both replaced by Craftsman-style ones around 1925, and the northern one has since been demolished once more. Despite the loss of the northern porch, the Colonial Revival details, especially the front door and symmetrical front façade, are still visible. In addition, the Wilson House represents a significant financial and material investment by the Wilson family in an up-and-coming rural area. All the interior and exterior walls, as well as the foundation, are constructed in brick, which were all hand-moulded. The sandy finished texture, seam lines, irregular size, and other imperfections are characteristic of hand-molds. The bricks, intact interior finishes, and Colonial Revival façade mark the Wilson House as a remarkable property from the 1900s in Centerton and is therefore being nominated to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places.

History of the Property

Benton County, in the northwest corner of Arkansas, borders both Missouri and Oklahoma. Its rich supply of timber and fresh water attracted European settlers in the 1820s who came by the military roads and cattle drive routes linking Missouri and Fort Smith.^[1] Adam Batie was the first recorded settler, arriving around 1830 near the town of Mayville.^[2] Other families from Tennessee and Virginia, including the Reddicks, Sagers, and McKissicks, soon followed.^[3] By 1836, the county had enough population to become its own county separate from Washington County, and Benton was incorporated later that year. The county seat was established in Bentonville which constructed a courthouse and a post office that same year.^[4] Most of Benton County’s residents practiced farming as their main occupation. Their focus shifted to cash crops with the introduction of tobacco by Kentucky migrants, which was the primary cultivation until the 1880s when tobacco’s price drop necessitated yet another turn to higher paying crops like strawberries, apples, and peaches. The number of farms planting tobacco and fruit nearly doubled following the Civil War and the population grew to almost fourteen thousand by 1870.^[5]

The construction of the St. Louis - San Francisco Railway (Frisco) and other railway lines in the 1880s vastly expanded the market Benton farmers’ produce could reach and resulted in a booming agricultural economy. Apples fueled the economic expansion, and in 1901, Benton County produced 2.5 million bushels of apples, making it the largest apple producer in the country.^[6] The Arkansas & Oklahoma Railroad (A&O) between Bentonville and the city of Rogers gained the name “the Fruit Belt Line” due to its association with Benton County’s fruit production.^[7]

Centerton, located five miles west of Bentonville, was established as a railroad stop for the A&O’s line between Rogers and Grove, Oklahoma, which was completed in 1898.^[8] The land for the town of Centerton was acquired from Dioclesian Jackson, a land speculator who had large holdings all over Benton County. He had received the land as part of a bounty land warrant due to veterans of the War of 1812 from the U.S. government around 1840.^[9] Although the land had been granted to veterans, most were not residents of Arkansas and never claimed their land. The unclaimed land was sold off at tax sales and land speculators like Jackson purchased huge tracts of bounty land to sell later at a profit.^[10] Jackson sold the land that became Centerton which was surveyed in 1900. The town was laid out that same year and finally incorporated in 1914.^[11]

The town attempted to diversify its industries prior to the Great Depression. Apple production peaked by 1919 at five million bushels, but by 1936, however, most of the orchards were gone due to blight.^[12] Centerton farmers attempted to branch into poultry and dairy farming, and other enterprising individuals drilled wells looking for oil with little success. It wasn’t until the 1950s that Centerton began to recover economically from the decline of the apple industry, largely due to the success of the poultry industry and the establishment of Walmart Inc. in nearby Bentonville.^[13]

The Wilson House is located on part of the original 160 acres that Dioclesian Jackson bought and changed hands many times between 1839 to 1900.^[14] Jackson sold the land to James McKissick for $350 in a warranty deed on August 3, 1839.^[15] McKissick ran a plantation on the lands he acquired, and the Centerton property stayed in the family for around 50 years. In 1894, the land was sold to Mary E. Pace, who was living with her daughter, Dora, and son-in-law, Edward C. Rozar.^[16] The road in front of the house was named Rozar Road after Edward, but was later changed to its current name of A St.^[17] John Bayless and William R. Felker, owners of the Arkansas & Oklahoma Railroad Company, then purchased the land in January 1900.^[18] They, in turn, sold it to Larkin L. Wilson in 1902 for $75.^[19] At one point, Wilson paid taxes on the property which was valued as high as $800. Most other properties in the area were valued from anywhere between $10 to $90, and the increase in valuation was likely due to the construction of the house by Lark Wilson, Larkin’s son, between 1902 and 1905. The house was standing by 1910, when a postcard shows the house along with two large wooden structures, possibly a barn, barrel stave mill, or a vinegar plant.^[20] Wilson forfeited the property to Carrie Roltan in 1905 for $525.^[21]

Frank Ernst bought the house in 1917 and lived there until his death in 1944, whereafter his wife sold the property to M. E. and Dee Featherston.^[22] From the Featherstons, it went to H. H. & Mary Patterson in 1948.^[23] Then Mark and Myrtle Dana acquired the house from Mary Patterson in 1956.^[24] Mark and Myrtle left the house to their daughter, Margaret Dana Passmore, in 1969.^[25]  Margaret Dana Passmore died in 1994 without a will, and the house went to her sister’s children who are working along with their cousins to restore the house.^[26]

Statement of Significance

The Wilson House was constructed as a Colonial Revival, one of the most enduring styles in American architecture and evident in every decade since the 1880s, and exhibits many of the classic details of a Colonial Revival: the accentuated front door that is centered on the façade with symmetrical window placements, brick masonry, a brick chimney, and a two-story floorplan. Almost one-third of Colonial Revivals built prior to 1915 had a hipped roof and full-width porch and were called a “classic box.”^[27] While the Wilson House can be placed within this subtype of Colonial Revivals, the bay window on the east façade and side porch are uncommon details. The side Craftsman-style porch was likely added around 1925, when the north porch was demolished and replaced, and the east porch was added. The north porch was then demolished a second time in the 1990s, though the concrete posts remain and the shadow of the original porch is evident on the brick facing. Despite the loss of the original north porch, the Colonial Revival features of the house are still clearly visible.

The Wilson House represents a significant financial and material investment by the Wilson family in an up-and-coming rural area. The bricks used to construct the house were hand-moulded, evidenced by seam lines and other imperfections from the molds. Making a single brick was a time-consuming and costly process prior to mechanization in the 1900s.^[28] Clay would be harvested from known deposits in the area and processed to remove aggregates and other unwanted detritus. The clay would then be pressed into a square wood mold that was coated in sand to prevent the brick from sticking to the side. The sand created a distinct texture on the outside and is one of a hand-molded brick’s defining characteristics.^[29] A professional bricklayer could make between 3,500 and 5,000 bricks in a single day.^[30] The bricks would be left to dry for a few days before they were stacked in a cylindrical shape and fired. The fire was kept burning for a period of a week, and after the bricks were cooled, they were ready to be used.^[31]

The Wilson House’s bricks show evidence of being field fired, likely on the property or nearby. Due to the lack of temperature control in a field fire as opposed to a kiln, the bricks placed nearer to the fire were harder than the bricks placed on the edges. Occasionally, some burned so hot that the silica materials inside the clay were vitrified, creating an almost glaze-like surface on the brick. The harder bricks were used for exterior finishing walls while the softer bricks were used for interior masonry work. Some bricks on the Wilson House’s exterior walls show scorching and partial vitrification, while the interior bricks are softer and more brittle; both are hallmarks of field-fired brick. The Wilson House, with its 2,300 sq ft, required upwards of sixteen thousand bricks, which would have taken months to mold, dry, and fire.^[32]

The amount of time and material needed to construct the Wilson House was enormous, and represented a notable display of wealth, especially in rural Centerton in the 1900s. The hand-molded bricks and intact interior finishes mark the Wilson House as a remarkable and intact property. With its noteworthy Colonial Revival features and its status as one of the oldest houses remaining in Centerton, the Wilson House is being nominated to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places under Criterion C with local significance.

Bibliography

“Abstract of Title, Lot One (1) in Block 13. 0.26 ac. Parcel No. 06-00155-000.” Benton County, Arkansas. In the files of the Benton County Circuit Clerk's Office.

Black, J. Dickson. History of Benton County 1836 - 1936. Little Rock, AR: International Graphics Industries, 1975.

Boundary Survey for Robert Harris, Centerton, Benton County, Arkansas, June 19, 2017.           Survey completed by S. Craig Davis, Engineering Services, Inc., Springdale, Arkansas.

“Certificate 3932 of the Register of the Land Office to Dioclesion Jackson.” U.S. General Land Office Records, 1775-2015. Available at: http://glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx?accession=AR0920__.311&docClass=STA&sid=djv4xued.boc. Accessed 28 Dec. 2022.

Hanley, Diane. Postcard History Series: Washington and Benton Counties. Charleston SC: Arcadia Publishing, 1998.

Holley Jr., I. B. “The Mechanization of Brickmaking.” Technology and Culture. Vol. 50, No. 1 (Jan., 2009), pp. 82-102. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/40061568. Accessed 06 Jan 2023.

Jameson Architects. “RE: Mark and Myrtle Dana House, Existing Condition Report and Recommendations.” Email, 23 Aug. 2010.

Kent, Carolyn Yancey. “Military Land Grants.” Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Last updated 03 June 2022. Available at: https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/military-land-grants-6978/. Accessed 28 Dec. 2022.

“Legal property description, Lot one (1) in Block thirteen (13), in the Original Town of Centerton, 0.26 ac (11,398 sf, more or less), Parcel No. 06-00155-000.” Benton County, Arkansas. In the files of the Benton County Circuit Clerk's Office.

Lord, Allyn. “Benton County.” Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Last updated 11 Nov. 2022. Available at: https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/benton-county-748/. Accessed 28 Dec. 2022.

Lucas, Rev. Silas Emmett. The Goodspeed Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwestern Arkansas: Benton, Washington, Carroll, Madison, Crawford, Franklin, and Sebastian Counties. Chicago, IL: The Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1889.

McAlester, Virginia Savage. A Field Guide to American Houses. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2013.

Original Plat of Centerton – 1903 Atlas. CD-ROM. Benton County Archives. In the files of the Benton County Historical Society.

Old World Bricks. “History of Bricks.” Available at: https://www.oldworldbricks.com/history-of-bricks/. Accessed 30 Dec. 2022.

Rom, Roy Curt. “Apple Industry.” Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Last updated 02 Nov. 2022. Available at: https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/apple-industry-2098/. Accessed 30 Dec. 2022.

Shiloh Museum of Ozark History. “Railroads in Northwest Arkansas History.” Available at: https://shilohmuseum.org/project/working-on-the-railroad/. Accessed 30 Dec. 2022.

Teske, Steven. “Centerton.” Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Last updated 15 Apr. 2022. Available at: https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/centerton-benton-county-829/. Accessed 28 Dec. 2022.