The JEFFERSON COUNTY COURTHOUSE
(open 9-5 weekdays), Barraque St., facing Main St., erected in 1858, has
been remodeled and enlarged three times without loss of the original
modified-Georgian lines. Stone steps rise directly from the sidewalk to
the gray-brick walls. Terraced roofs slope from a central clock tower
capped by a green dome. In the building are stored records dating
back to court sessions held at Joseph Bonne's log cabin.
The
PORTIS HOUSE (private), 216 E. 2nd Ave., was occupied in ante bellum
days by the Taylor and Portis families, both prominent among Pine Bluff's
plantation aristocracy. The one-and-one-half story structure was built of
hand-hewn lumber in 1844 by slave labor. Cypress columns and half-columns
support the porch roof, and tall brick chimneys rise on each side of the end
gables. Two magnolias in the yard are flanked by crape myrtles said to be
a half century old.
The PINE BLUFF COTTON OIL MILL
(open on application), Michigan St. at Missouri Pacific tracks, manufactures
cottonseed oil, meal, and cake in several two-story buildings.
The PUBLIC LIBRARY (open 9-7 weekdays, 9-9 Sat.), NE corner 5th
Ave. and Chestnut St., is a cream-colored brick structure completed in 1931.
Included in its 55,000 volumes is a collection of historical documents in French
and Spanish.
The THOMPSON HOUSE (private), 519 W.
Barraque St., erected about 1860, is a survivor of the mansions built in Pine
Bluff during the slave and steamboat days. The design is of the late Greek
Revival period, with four columns in the portico and two recessed columns.
A heavy oak door, framed by fanlights and side lights, swings on hand-wrought
brass hinges. Windows are set in groups of three; two narrow openings on
each side of a wide middle sash. A red trumpet vine mantles the southwest corner
of the house, and three oak trees shade the landscaped grounds.
The BOCAGE HOUSE (private), 1 1115 W. 4th Ave.,
is set back from the street in a grove of oaks, one of which, a pin oak, is said
to be the largest tree in Pine Bluff. The two-story white-frame structure,
built in 1866, has steep gables and exceptionally wide eaves. A double
porch is faced on the lower floor by a series of French windows with
old-fashioned green shutters. Inside the small central hall is a 21-step
circular hanging stairway.
The BEN PEARSON INC. BOW AND ARROW
FACTORY (open to archers; guides), 4th Ave. and Orange St., in a
two-story brick building once occupied by a sorghum mill, has been furnished
with machinery for manufacturing archery equipment. After the bows have
been shaped from rough wood and walnut hand grips have been glued to the center,
workmen sand the weapons to correct proportions. In this operation the
sander carefully follows the grain-- even to the extent of leaving knots on the
surface-- to avoid weakening the wood. In testing the finished product for
strength and curvature, a magnified shadow of the drawn bow is thrown on a
screen to exaggerate latent defects.
Good bow woods, which need
not be straight-grained, include Oregon yew, lemonwood from Cuba, and bois
d'arc, found in Arkansas. Target arrows are made of Oregon cedar,
hunting arrows usually of birch or fir. To insure uniform length, balance,
and weight, all arrows pass through the manufacturing processes in sheaves of
twelve. Fletching of the arrows is done by girls, who glue split turkey
feathers to the butts,; men then burn the feathers to a desired pattern with an
eletrically heated wire.
The WHEELER LUMBER MILL (open
9-4 workdays; guides), W. 2nd Ave. and US 65, stands back from the road
behind huge stacks of lumber. Using timber from the near-by forests, the
NORTON-WHEELER STAVE MILL turns out staves and heads for barrels, and finished
wood for furniture factories.
OAKLAND PARK, Pullen St.,
covers 64 tree-shaded acres at the northwest edge of the city. A cress-grown
stream, crossed by many foot bridges, wanders across a 9-hole golf course
(greens fee 25¢, second round 15¢) in which it serves as a water hazard.
The stream broadens into a pool with miniature willow-covered islands and
empties into a lake stocked with bass (fishing 50¢ a day). Near a
circular turtle pond is a small zoo. The park was made by converting a
city dumping ground in 1931, and now includes shelters, picnic tables, barbecue
pits, a swimming pool (10¢ and 15¢), tennis courts (10¢ per person an
hour), a baseball field and grandstand, cabins for Boy and Girl Scouts, and
Oakland Tavern, used for dancing (free, weeknights; 40¢ Sat.).
In the ROMAN CATHOLIC CEMETERY, N. Cedar St. at Pullen St., are the
graves of many early settlers, including some of French blood. Here is the
Grave of Sarasen, a highly respected Quapaw chief who died in 1832 at the age of
97. An inscription on his tombstone recounts an incident of pioneer days--
the kidnapping of two white children by an unfriendly tribe, and their rescue by
Sarasen.
The ARKANSAS AGRICULTURAL, MECHANICAL AND NORMAL
COLLEGE (open 8-4 schooldays, Sept-June), at the north edge of Pine
Bluff on US 79 (L), is a State-supported institution for higher education of
Negroes. About 450 students attend classes in the $500,000 plant, most of
which has been erected since 1929. On the north side of the quadrangle is
the Library, noteworthy for its functional architecture and its decoration.
Horizontal lines dominate the buff-brick exterior; doors are of glass and
chromium; floors and interior walls are painted pale blue and gray.
In 1873 the Arkansas general assembly authorized the establishment of a Negro
Branch Normal College in Pine Bluff, mainly because the town was near the center
of the State's Negro population. Two years later Professor J.C. Corbin
taught the first class (seven students) in a rented frame building. The
school had a slow growth, and from 1882 through 1894 awarded only ten A.B.
degrees. Agriculture was first taught here in 1902, though in 1891 a
woodworking shop, a foundry, forge, and machine shop had been in operation.
Periodic financial difficulties were largely responsible for limiting the
curriculum almost entirely to college preparatory work until 1929. In that
year, under the direction of a new president, John Brown Watson, the program was
expanded to include four-year, degree-granting courses.