The Van Buren Historic District encompasses eight blocks of historic buildings along Main Street in

Van Buren, Arkansas Van Buren ( ) is the second-largest city in the Fort Smith, Arkansas–Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area and the county seat of Crawford County, Arkansas, United States. The city is located directly northeast of Fort Smith at the Interstat ...

. Many of the structures are pre-1920 Victorian and

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...

buildings closely related to the history of commerce in the city. Positioned between the city's train depot and the

Arkansas River The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in the western United Stat ...

, the businesses constituting the Van Buren Historic District have played a vital role in the history and economy of the city and region. The district was placed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

as a National Historic District on April 30, 1976.

Properties in the district

Crawford County Courthouse

The Crawford County Courthouse, originally built in 1842, is the oldest operating courthouse west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

. Following a fire in 1876, the courthouse was rebuilt using the original walls that survived the blaze. Doric columns, a three-story clock tower with bell, cast roof rises and a classic portico constitute the building's facade. Wings flank the building to the southeast and northwest. A fountain featuring Hebe and 1832 log schoolhouse used by

Albert Pike Albert Pike (December 29, 1809April 2, 1891) was an American author, poet, orator, editor, lawyer, jurist and Confederate general who served as an associate justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court in exile from 1864 to 1865. He had previously se ...

are located on the courthouse grounds, as well as the Confederate soldier monument in front of the structure.

Confederate monument

The Van Buren Confederate Monument was listed on the

in 1996 as part of the Civil War Commemorative Sculpture Multiple Property Submission.

Hebe fountain

Originally placed in 1908 by the Women's Village Improvement Society, a gold-painted iron statue of Hebe, the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

goddess of youth and happiness, has remained on the Crawford County Courthouse lawn ever since. The Women's league of Van Buren raised funds, and the original Hebe was replaced after falling to disrepair. In 2003, a bronze-cast statue was unveiled and the original was placed in the Crawford County Museum. The original steel cap around the fountain was restored and returned to service.

Albert Pike School

One of the oldest buildings in Arkansas, the log schoolhouse on the southwest portion of the courthouse grounds was built circa 1820. It was used by

, a schoolteacher from the northeast who moved to western Arkansas in 1833. Pike did not teach at the school long before moving to

Little Rock ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

, where he became involved in politics, law, and the ''

Arkansas Gazette The ''Arkansas Gazette'' was a newspaper in Little Rock, Arkansas, that was published from 1819 to 1991. It was known as the oldest newspaper west of the Mississippi River. It was located from 1908 until its closing at the now historic Gazette ...

''. Pike would go on to become a noted poet and writer in addition to serving as a general for the

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...

, most notably serving at the

Battle of Pea Ridge The Battle of Pea Ridge (March 7–8, 1862), also known as the Battle of Elkhorn Tavern, took place in the American Civil War near Leetown, northeast of Fayetteville, Arkansas. Federal forces, led by Brig. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis, moved south ...

. He also served the

Freemasons Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

as Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite's Southern Jurisdiction and established lodges throughout the South following the war. Pike later refused an honorary degree from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, a school he had been accepted to but elected to become a teacher rather than attend.

Images

File:Crawford County Bank.jpg, Building formerly used by the Crawford County Bank, 2006 File:Vanburenn.jpg, Historic downtown, 2009 File:VBUREN 13-06-2010 08-37-10 a.m. 4000x2248.jpg, Visitors Center, 2010 File:Anheuser-Busch Building, Van Buren, Arkansas.jpg, The Anheuser-Busch Building, 2011 File:Citizens Bank 001.jpg, Second Citizens Bank building, 2013

References

{{Authority control Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Arkansas Buildings and structures in Van Buren, Arkansas National Register of Historic Places in Crawford County, Arkansas