About Searcy's Old Searcy Arkansas

Having saved several old pictures of houses in Searcy from being thrown away forever, I wondered where they were located. I kept the photos in my car and tried to identify them. Here's another one on a street in Searcy Arkansas.

Looks as if this house has a shingle roof. It is obviously not new because the shrubs are so big but the builder must have been taking pictures of houses he'd done. The house plans were also in the soon-to-be-discarded pictures that I saved.

Here is the house today. Super sleuths, blogging buddies, do you remember it?

Two more pictures contributed by my blogging buddy, Anita Hart. Her mother is in each of them and they were traveling. The first picture shows the ladies in Hot Springs Arkansas in the mid 50's. She has the identity of some of them. Her mother, Corrine Hart, Inez Pickens (Dean of Women at Harding College), Margurrite O'Bannion (Exec. Secretary to Dr. George Benson), Myrtle Roberson (owner of the Rendezvous Restaurant), and an unknown lady with the long fur tails.

The long furs were so popular then. I think the more furs you had, and they still had the heads on them, the more money you had.

Personally, I never had any fox or fur heads and tails.

They definitely had to have on high heels (but not as high as today's!) hats and gloves and the little purses that matched the shoes.

That was during a time when fashion dictated the length of the dress. It appears that fashion said to have the skirt about mid-calf and these ladies, who loved to be fashionable, followed to the inch!

The next picture finds girls at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis TN. They are actually on top of the Peabody. That's where the famous Peabody ducks live.

For those who have never heard of the Peabody, it is famous for the ducks who march into the lobby to spend the day swimming in the fountain and basking in the love and adoration of the guests at the hotel. At the end of the day they march back up to their home on the roof.

A red carpet is laid down for the little ducks to walk on.

They again have on their hats and probably gloves are somewhere present. Two-toned pumps must have been in style. No doubt the purses matched the shoes. Corinne Hart, our famous one, is second from our right. Looks like slightly askew hats may have been the rage!

Having inherited a few old pictures of Searcy Arkansas houses that a widow was throwing away, I have posted a few on these blogs to see if Searcy residents recognize them. The designer of the houses had taken photos and saved the photos and the floor plans. Once he died the widow wasn't keeping them. I kept them from being lost forever.

Here's another picture of a newly built house.....or at least one that wasn't very old.

And here is the same house today. It appears largely unchanged, doesn't it. Those little trees really grew!!!

A friend of mine, eons ago, was preparing to move and had a lot of things to throw away. Being a scavenger, I claimed some of it. One thing she had was several pictures and floorplans of houses in Searcy that had been designed and built by her husband. I guess they were built probably in the 40's and 50's. The houses were not fancy. I kept the pictures in my car for a long time and tried to find which ones they were because they were not addressed.

Here's one of the old pictures.

And here's the way it looks today. Anyone remember it? Interesting to compare, isn't it?

Driving through old Searcy Arkansas, which is being restored and revived, I notice the tall old buildings with the little chimneys on the side. Nearly always the building is taller in the front and slants down toward the back and these little chimneys are at intervals.

This old building has been restored with an architectural firm and a law firm having done the makeover. The brick squares above the store fronts look almost like they could have been ventilation. Then we have the two rounded filled-in brick spots on the side. Explain away if you can.

The one on the right has been restored nicely and it also has the slanted roof and chimneys. The building that says auction has also, I think, now got a new front which I need to photograph.

Here's a closeup of the brick architecture on the front of the two buldings. Nice, isn't it?