The Arkansas Historic Preservation Program will be hosting its next Walks Through History Tour in Siloam Springs' downtown district on Saturday.
The tour will begin at 11 a.m. at the Crown Hotel, historically known as the Lakeside Hotel, and will explore the downtown area, which is roughly bounded by University Street, Broadway Street and Sager Creek. It is free and open to the public.
The AHPP, which is an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage, holds monthly Walks Through History Tours at various historic sites and districts around the state, according to the organization's website, www.arkansaspreservation.com. Mark Christ, community outreach director for the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, will be leading the tour, which is expected to last between one and two hours.
AHPP is partnering with Main Street Siloam Springs, the Chamber of Commerce and the Siloam Springs Museum to host the walk. The Walks Through History are cosponsored by the Arkansas Humanities Council.
Christ said that the walking tour explores at least some history on all the buildings in the downtown district. Christ worked with the Siloam Springs Museum to find a number of historic photos, so at many buildings he will be able to show what the building looks like now in comparison with 100 years ago.
"Part of the tour will be talking about how buildings change over time," he said.
The downtown district was mainly developed between 1896, when the railroad arrived, and 1940, and contains a significant number of buildings dated to that period, according to the AHPP website. It also includes City Park, the location of the springs that gave the city its name. Notable buildings on the tour include the First National Bank building, which was built in 1890 in the Romanesque Revival style, and the 1881 Lakeside Hotel (Crown Hotel), which is one of the city's oldest commercial buildings.
The core of the downtown district is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Christ said. The city is unique because it has one of only two Grand Army of the Republic Monuments in the state, he said.
"Siloam Springs has a really great downtown," Christ said. "The buildings are great examples of nineteenth and twentieth century commercial architecture."
Christ said the AHPP has two tour programs -- Sandwiching in History, which focuses on Central Arkansas, and the Walks Through History Tours in the other regions of the state. The Walks Though History program not only encourages heritage tourism, it also helps community members realize the treasures they have in their own backyards, he said.
"Sometimes people take what they have in their own town for granted when actually they have some really cool stuff," Christ said.
For more information about the AHPP and the tour visit www.arkansaspreservation.com.
General News on 08/09/2017