 |
| Arkansas City Commercial Historic District |
ARKANSAS CITY COMMERCIAL HISTORIC DISTRICT, ARKANSAS CITY, DESHA COUNTY
SUMMARY
The Arkansas City Commercial District is being nominated under Criterion A with local significance for its direct association with the early commercial era of Arkansas City and under Criterion C with local significance as having the only surviving examples of the many two-story masonry commercial buildings that once serviced this once thriving river port.
ELABORATION
In 1838, Desha County was formed from Arkansas County in the new state of Arkansas. The first county seat was at Napoleon, a river port located at the conflux of the Arkansas and Mississippi Rivers. Because Napoleon frequently flooded, the site was abandoned in the 1870s. The county seat was moved to Arkansas City in 1877 and has remained there. During the late 1800s Arkansas City was a major port on the Mississippi River, hosting such famous steamboats as the Robert E. Lee and the Kate Adams. Because of its location, Arkansas City became a booming commercial center for river traffic, agriculture, and the timber industry of southeast Arkansas. At its most prosperous, Arkansas City boasted a population of almost 10,000, with three lumber mills, planing mills, a grain elevator, an opera house that seated 400, several cotton gins, a cotton compress, two hotels, and fourteen saloons.
Because of its early stature as a thriving river port, Arkansas City boasted many fine commercial buildings. Unfortunately, with its decline as the commercial center for Desha County, many of these impressive structures have been lost. The Cotham Drug Store, the Red Star Grocery, and the Ramus Brothers Market are the only surviving relics of the once prosperous commercial district in Arkansas City.
The Cotham Drug Store, constructed c. 1900, is important in that it was a part of the turn-of-the-century construction that served the then thriving business community in Arkansas City. The known uses as a grocery and meat market, post office, drug store, and the upstairs, at one time having housed a restaurant, show the versatility and significance of its purpose.
The Red Star grocery was constructed by John George Reitzammer in 1900 and was continuously occupied by the Reitzammer family as a grocery and bakery until it was sold in 1979. John George Reitzammer was born in Losurah, Bavaria in 1846 and migrated with his family in 1870. He worked as a laborer in Cincinnati, Ohio and Louisville, Kentucky before locating in Arkansas City in 1882. He established two bakery and grocery stores, both of which burned, before constructing the Red Star Grocery Building.
John and Annie Reitzammer had six sons and one daughter. They were all involved in the rich history of Arkansas City. George, Jr. was captain and pilot of a stern wheel steamer, which towed logs to one of the lumber mills in the city. Ed operated the city drug store and served on the city council. William served as deputy postmaster and was elected Desha County Circuit Clerk. Reinhault was involved in the Ramus Brothers Market, served on the Arkansas City Council and served also as Desha County Coroner. Louis also served as assistant postmaster and owned a drug store.
Leonard Reitzammer was the youngest of the boys and after serving as an infantryman in World War I came back to Arkansas and acquired ownership of the Red Star Grocery, which he continued to operate until his death in 1979. His wife Verna, served as postmaster in Arkansas City for over thirty years. Anna, the only daughter, was an accomplished pianist, married an attorney in Arkansas City and remained involved in the affairs of the city.
Not much is known about the Ramus Brothers Market other than that is was built in 1910 and housed a market on the first floor and an apartment on the second floor. The importance to the historical significance of this building was its construction style--poured concrete. No existing structures or remnants of other buildings in Arkansas City show a similar method of construction. As the known heirs of the Ramus family departed Arkansas City in the late 1950s, little is known of their history.
The Arkansas City Commercial District, consisting of the Cotham Drug Store, the Red Star Grocery, and the Ramus Brothers Market is being nominated to the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion A with local significance for its direct association with the early commercial era of Arkansas City and under Criterion C with local significance as having the only surviving examples of the many two-story masonry commercial buildings that once serviced this once thriving river port.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Information and materials submitted by Robert S. Moore, Jr., November 1998.
Taped interview with Mrs. Verna Reitzammer, 1997.
Reitzammer, Louis. Desha County Historical Society 1991-92 Programs. Fall 1992.
Reid, Naylor. Desha County Historical Society 1979 Programs. Summer 1980.
Reitzammer, Verna P. "The George Payne Story Desha." County Historical Society. Fall 1992.
Desha County Today Edition, The McGehee Times. Vol. 13, No. 2, April 29, 1937.
Stuart, C. C. Arkansas City, Arkansas, The Front Door of Arkansas Nestled in the Arms of the Mississippi River. 1969.
The Goodspeed Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Eastern Arkansas. Chicago, Nashville and St. Louis: The Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1890.
Herndon, J. T. The Annuals of Arkansas. Volume 1.
|
