About Searcy's Old Searcy Arkansas

This historic house is barely on the East side of Searcy on a corner lot with huge trees. So many trees, in fact, that pictures are difficult. I believe it is called the Margaret Pope house. Correct me, Searcy readers, if I'm wrong.

I drive by it daily and wonder why it didn't sell a few years back when listed for close to $80,000. It has been through a lot, however, in the years since it exited the Pope estate.

The Pope estate had a big sale. My friends attended even though I was working and couldn't. They bought the mirror that is behind my desk in my office. Lots of people have sat in front of me and looked at themselves in the mirror behind me.

However, I digress.

I marvel at the four chimneys on the house! Here are two of them. The other side of the house has two more.

Having shivered beside a fireplace for heat as a child, I can imagine having four chimneys in a relatively small house was a sign of wealth.

The house is also stucco, I believe. Stucco is not common in our area.

Finally, the house has a neat old building behind it. One of my friends will surely tell about the old car that was in it and never driven and a tree grew up so high that they couldn't get the car out.

I learned a lot about roof coverings from this building. You see tar-paper, I believe, underneath, and then tin on the top of the tar-paper.

Haven't we come all the way back around now with so many houses having metal roofs again.

I hope the wrecking ball doesn't come for this old house for a long time. However, the lot is perfect for apartments.

My Searcy readers have said enough of those shoe blogs. Give us another history blog.

They just want a challenge. So here it is. I've had this picture for awhile but have never heard any discussion about it. It says Sanitarium Searcy Ark on the front.

Was this dated back to tuberculosis sanitariums? Searcy had one? If so, where was it and what happened to it.

Another possibility was that it was some sort of relaxing spa? Look at the ladies in fancy duds. Note the tennis net in the front. Bet they had dirt courts for sure! Perhaps they came for the healing waters of Spring Park springs.

I'm listening, Searcy....................................

These pictures are like a Norman Rockwell painting. Rockwell could have made a great magazine cover. It would show very deserving small-town soldiers visiting home and posing beside the bank. He'd have put in the weeds growing beside the sidewalk, the car in the background, the wrinkles in the uniforms, and even the cracks in the street.

My dad, at my wedding, wore his tie poked into the shirt like these guys. He never wore a tie but when he put one on for the big night, I was quite frankly mortified. Evidently, according to these guys, it was a fashion during WWII, for which my father was drafted. I'd never seen such a fashion.

Rockwell would have made the sign in the back readable. I'll have to depend on Searcy Arkansas historians to tell me what the sign said. They can also name the guys if they know them.

This picture is showing our queen of Searcy, Corrine Hart, who grew up in Searcy and helped Searcy grow up. She lived to be over 100. She is Anita Fuller's mother and Anita supplied this photo.

Where is she posing? I think it is the statue that is on the Court Square. I went there today and took a picture of Searcy as it is today. I got the statue seat, the lamp and possibly the three windowed building in the background.

I'll wait for my Searcy experts to tell me whether I'm right or not. This picture shows the South side of the Court Square.

The lamp post certainly looks similar.

It's great to go in and explore the history of Searcy in White County Arkansas.

I can almost see Corrine sitting on this pedestal and flinging her purse on the pedestal also.

Seems as if Security Bank, which is now First Security Bank, was a lovely building where lots of photos were taken. First Security Bank in Searcy Arkansas has just remodeled this bank to look original as in these pictures.

These two ladies are posing at the same spot.

The first lady below in the fur coat (which we're afraid to wear now) is unknown unless some of my readers can identify her. Notice the old city lamp post reflected in her picture. Reportedly these antiques were later on sold and replaced with more modern ones. What's that thing under the lamp post?

The second lady is our famous Corrine Hart, Anita Fuller's mother, who lived to be 100 and actually suggested the name Security Bank. Notice at the end of the street is First Methodist Church, a landmark and still in existence

Of interest to the fashion conscious, note the shoes.....almost the same.....gotta have fashion just as we have today! And the skirts then had to be the same length to be in style.