LITTLE ROCK—The
Prairie Grove Airlight Outdoor Telephone Booth at Prairie Grove in Washington County has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places,
the country’s official list of historically significant properties, Arkansas Historic Preservation Program Director Frances McSwain announced today.
The Prairie Grove Airlight Outdoor Telephone Booth, located on the southwest corner of East Douglas and Parker streets, was built around1960 and features aluminum and glass construction.
“The Prairie Grove Airlight Outdoor Telephone Booth represented a new direction in the design of telephone booths,” according to the National Register nomination. “Instead of wooden booths that were found inside hotels, drug stores, or other businesses in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Airlight Outdoor Telephone Booth was developed specifically for outdoor use. Its aluminum and glass construction was durable enough to stand up to the elements and the amount of glass along with the louvers on the sides allowed its namesake elements – air and light – to flood the booth.”
For more information on the National Register of Historic Places program, write the AHPP at 1500 Tower Building, 323 Center St., Little Rock, AR 72201, call the agency at (501) 324-9880 [TDD 501-324-9811], send e-mail to [email protected] or visit www.arkansaspreservation.org.
The AHPP is the Department of Arkansas Heritage agency responsible for identifying, evaluating, registering and preserving the state’s cultural resources. Other agencies are the Arkansas Arts Council, the Delta Cultural Center in Helena, the Old State House Museum, the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center and the Historic Arkansas Museum.