Searcy, AR

So many photographs of this building exist.

Probably lots of paintings too.

But this Pollard painting done in 1997 showed up in my files as I was looking for something else. If you have never seen it you'll love it! I believe it was done to dedicate the White County Veterans Memorial on May 30, 1998. 172 names are on this Memorial.

Glenn Pollard is a Searcy artist with a studio at 1213 East Race in Searcy Arkansas. Stop by to see his magnificent art work.

We know what the phone service is like today. Do we ever! There's a phone attached to every person's ear and the person is likely to like that phone better than they like you.

BUT!

Let's review the phone service in 1916. This is typed from a 1916 Bell Telephone Directory shared by Jim Bohannon who grew up in Searcy but now lives in Montana.

LONG DISTANCE SERVICE.

TO MAKE A LONG DISTANCE CALL;

Signal the operator in the regular way and ask for "Long Distance." When "Long Distance" answers, give her the telephone number from which the call is made, and the name of the person calling. Then give the number of the telephone desired (if known), the city or town and the State. If a particular person is desire, give his name. If the number of the telephone desired is not known give the firm name or the name and initials of the person under whose name the telephone is listed, and, if possible the street address.

MESSENGER CALLS:

If the person desired has no telephone a messenger will be sent to his address to request him to come to a telephone provided the party calling guarantees payment for the messenger service. The exact amount disbursed for messenger service will be charged in addition to the Company's tariff rates.

APPOINTMENT CALLS:

Appointment to talk at a specified time may be made by notifying "Long Distance" of the time at which the connection is desired. No extra charge will be made for appointment calls (except for messenger service--when such service is involved), but the Company can not guarantee the completion of the connection at the exact time specified.

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The page goes on to explain collect calls, reports, rates and charges, and request for charges. A lot of these we who are older may remember. I do remember having a kid call collect and ask for someone not at home in order to assure me (free) that they'd arrived at their destination safely. We didn't intend to cheat the phone company but did intend to try to save money on long distance.

The directory continues and lists the people, their numbers and their addresss. Guess who had phone # 1?

Yarnell, Pro, Co, 122 N. Spring St had # 1 and J. S. Yarnell, 208 E Race had phone # 2.

Palace Billiard Hall, 117-119 N Spring St. had phone number 3!

Several folks had the address "farm." Guess they were not in city limits.

With so many people now dropping their land lines and being listed in a directory perhaps we should all start saving our phone directory from year to year. Thanks, Jim, for sharing this look back almost 100 years ago.

Oops, I did it again. I bought another old postcard from ebay. It shows the South side of Searcy's court square and I find the piano shop of interest. I can't tell for sure but it is probably Pope's Piano. See if you can tell.

Luke Jones, who wrote historical articles about Searcy before he left us to live in a bigger city, had the best article about John Dee Pope in the Daily Citizen on Sunday, July 11, 2010. I saved it!

It says that Mr. Pope was friendly and OH! SO! Strong! Reportedly, on a day in November 1934, he appeared outside his shop, hefted a piano into his truck and sped off towards Wynne. When he got there he lept from the truck and carried the 502-pound piano into the customer's house___by himself! And it was on his 73rd birthday.

The Searcy Sleuth question is whether this does indeed show the J. D. Pope Piano Shop or is this another one.

How little we think about concrete now!

But way back sometime in Searcy Arkansas Mr. T. W. Holston was advertising his Atlas Cement business. We have very few rotting plank walkways now and even fewer muddy foot paths.

Wonder if this was a picture of a house in Searcy Arkansas?

This blotter is for sale right now on ebay and the ebay presentation says that the blotters were distributed each month because evidently a new one was needed monthly. For $4 it can be yours.

Dorothy Warden, our historical oracle supreme, does a column in the Searcy Daily Citizen each Saturday and she mentioned in one of her columns an airplane bungalow at the corner of Fir and Center Streets.

I hustled over to that street and saw nothing that looked like an airplane. Sleuth Anita googled it and found this description of the house style.

The Airplane Bungalow style dates from the early 1900s and became
very popular in Los Angeles in the mid-teens.

The Airplane Bungalow is a residential style that grew out of the
Craftsman movement. The Craftsman movement grew out of the
English Arts and Crafts Movement, which emphasized natural materials,
hand-craftsmanship, and honesty of design, often typified by the
exposure of structural building elements. In California, this movement
often incorporated elements of Oriental design. The Bungalow building
type met the need to create a smaller, easy to maintain structure for the
turn of the century middle class.

The Airplane Bungalow is similar to the Craftsman Bungalow, but the
Airplane Bungalow is characterized by a “pop up” second floor, usually
of one or two rooms. Both have a low-pitched, gabled roof, oversized
eaves with exposed rafters, and bands of windows.

The Airplane Bungalow is typically found with Craftsman or Prairie style
elements.

I took a picture of the house and I've always thought it was a lovely house. The court house says it was built in 1915 so it would be built around the time specified. I think the name Arts and Crafts Style is just better known.

Here's the house. See what you think. Have any memories of this one, Searcy Sleuths?