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- Ozarks Ramble, November 8
- Women in Preservation
- Destination Downtown Recap
- Annual Membership Meeting
- New Board Members
- 2025 Most Endangered Places List
- Advocacy Updates
- In Memoriam: Charles Witsell, Jr.
- Save the Dates
- Thank You to our Partners and Sustainers
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From the Executive Director
Greetings, Members and Friends!
I hope this finds you well. It's fall in Arkansas, and change is in the air! After more than a decade at the historic First Presbyterian Church in North Little Rock, Preserve Arkansas's office is moving back across the Arkansas River. Thanks to the generosity of Pace Burt and Rick Goddard, we are moving into space at the newly rehabilitated VA Hospital, now the Flats at SoMa, in Little Rock. We invite you to come by and say hello after we're settled.
During Destination Downtown, we announced the return of Arkansas's statewide historic preservation conference - save the date for the Arkansas Preservation Conference, October 21-23, 2026, in Hot Springs!
Keep reading to learn about our activities from the past quarter and upcoming programs. I hope to see you on the Ramble and at the Arkansas Preservation Awards!
Thank you for your support,
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Rachel Patton
Executive Director
| | Preservation Ramble, Nov. 8 | |
Join us on Saturday, Nov. 8 for our annual Preservation Ramble! This year, we’ll travel up U.S. Highway 65, highlighting the unique communities along its winding route from the foothills of the Ozarks to the Buffalo National River. Stops include the historically African American community of Twin Groves; Marshall, with its Buffalo River Historic Jail and Museum and Kenda Drive-In; and Gilbert, with its collection of early 20th century buildings and the Buffalo River itself. Meals, snacks, and beverages are included on the motor coach; drive-along tickets are also available and include lunch and dinner along with guided site tours.
Learn more and get your tickets here.
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Join us on Tuesday, October 14 at 3:30 PM for a talk by Dr. Juliet E. Morrow. Dr. Morrow (Washington University, 1996) joined the Arkansas Archeological Survey in 1997. She has directed investigations of dozens of sites in the Midwest and Midsouth, including large-scale excavations at the Martens Clovis camp in St. Louis County, Missouri; the Late Mississippian Greenbrier town near Batesville, Arkansas; and the National Geographic-funded King Mastodon site in Jonesboro. With assistance from colleagues, students, volunteers, and the Arkansas Archeological Society, she’s investigated and preserved many significant places, including historic and modern cemeteries throughout northeast Arkansas. She currently teaches archeology and anthropology courses at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro.
Click here to register for Dr. Morrow's talk.
Watch previous Women in Preservation talks on our YouTube channel here.
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Dr. Juliet Morrrow has been part of the Arkansas Archeological Survey since 1997 and teaches courses in archeology and anthropology at Arkansas State University. | | In September, the regional Main Street conference, Destination Downtown, was held at El Dorado. Preserve Arkansas was excited to partner with our friends at Main Street Arkansas to present a “preservation education track,” which featured five sessions with speakers from across the country who spoke on topics ranging from sustainability and deconstruction to using AI in heritage preservation work. We were thrilled to have standing-room-only crowds and feel this bodes well for our upcoming revival of the Arkansas Preservation Conference, taking place in Hot Springs, October 21-23, 2026! Save the dates! | | Main Street Arkansas Director Greg Phillips presides over the closing session of Destination Downtown, where the 2026 Arkansas Preservation Conference was announced. | | Annual Membership Meeting | |
During Destination Downtown, we held our annual membership meeting at El Dorado’s historic First Presbyterian Church. Members old and new gathered to network, learn about Preserve Arkansas's activities and upcoming plans, and vote on new and renewing board members.
Meet our new board members below. They are probably familiar faces!
| | Welcome to our new board members! | | |
Patricia M. Blick has dedicated more than 30 years to the field of historic preservation, serving at the national, state, and local levels. Her career includes roles with some of the nation’s most significant preservation organizations, such as George Washington’s Mount Vernon, the White House Historical Association, U.S. Army, Maryland Historical Trust, U.S. Department of Agriculture, City of Annapolis, Historic Annapolis Foundation, Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, and the Quapaw Quarter Association. She currently works for Downtown Dwellings in Little Rock, a firm specializing in multifamily housing within historic properties. In 2023, Patricia was honored as Preservation Advocate of the Year by Preserve Arkansas. She and her husband, David, live in Little Rock. Their daughter, Campbell, graduated from Little Rock Central High School in 2025 and now attends college in North Carolina.
Bob Kempkes retired last year after 38 years as co-founder and principal of Taylor/Kempkes Architects in Hot Springs. The firm has received numerous awards over the years, including the National Preservation Honor Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation for their work on the Mountain Valley Water Building and the public/private partnership with Hot Springs National Park for the revitalization of the Quapaw Bathhouse. In 2018, Bob Kempkes and Anthony Taylor received the Parker Westbrook Award for Lifetime Achievement from Preserve Arkansas. Bob has been a member of the Arkansas State Review Committee for Historic Preservation since 2005 and currently serves as its chairman. Though retired from active practice, Bob still provides historic preservation consulting services for clients pursuing State and Federal Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits.
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On Sept. 12, Preserve Arkansas announced its 2025 Most Endangered Places list, which this year comprises six properties, including an early Argenta building, a downtown Fayetteville neighborhood, a remote African American church at Pickens, a Hot Springs home believed to be the oldest of its kind, a Little Rock building important for its aviation history, and a historic Fayetteville cemetery.
Learn more about the properties here.
| | The Faucette Building at 400 Main Street in North Little Rock's Argenta Historic District is vacant and in need of rehabilitation. The property is for sale. | | |
In-district Site Visits for Members of Congress
During the August Congressional Recess, Executive Director Rachel Patton and Preserve Arkansas VP of Advocacy Lori Filbeck-Hart led tours of preservation projects for congressional staff in the offices of Sen. John Boozman, Rep. French Hill, and Rep. Steve Womack. Rep. Hill's staff toured the historically significant and endangered Scipio A. Jones House in Little Rock, which could benefit greatly from federal grant programs funded by the Historic Preservation Fund. Sen. Boozman's and Rep. Womack's staff toured the office of Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects on Dickson Street in Fayetteville. PSW rehabilitated the buildings using federal and state historic tax credits. These visits demonstrated the importance of preserving Arkansas’s historic places and highlighted the value of federal preservation grants and tax credit incentives. We greatly appreciate the support of our elected officials in continuing these vital programs!
See pics from the Scipio A. Jones House here.
See pics from the Polk Stanley Wilcox office visits here and here.
| | L to R: Kathryn Wright, Lori Filbeck-Hart, Mark Herrmann, Jimmy Harris, and Craig Curzon tour the newly rehabilitated office of Polk Stanley Wilcox in Fayetteville. | | |
St. Joseph's Home, NLR
Preserve Arkansas joins St. Joseph Center of Arkansas (SJCA) and the state's preservation community in mourning the loss of St. Joseph's Home in North Little Rock, a 1910 building designed by Charles Thompson. Under the management of SJCA, the property became a community gardening and food hub, offered studio space for artists, and hosted myriad group retreats and events. After a fire damaged the iconic building in March, its future was uncertain. Despite our outreach to Bishop Taylor and elected officials (and the efforts of many others), the Diocese of Little Rock decided to demolish the building and terminate SJCA's lease of the property. The Diocese plans to construct a new seminary on the site.
Please follow SJCA on social media for the latest updates on their journey to find a new location.
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Fayetteville Rezoning Denied
In early August, the Fayetteville City Council denied an appeal by Chicago-based developer Core Spaces seeking to rezone property in the Duncan/Hill Neighborhood for construction of a 700+ unit student housing complex. Preserve Arkansas provided written opposition to the rezoning, and board member Lisa Skiles and Executive Director Rachel Patton testified against it. If it had been allowed to move forward, this project would have resulted in the demolition of two National Register-eligible properties, the Putman House and Beverly Manor Apartments; displaced neighborhood residents; and exacerbated the loss of Fayetteville's unique historic character. This downtown neighborhood was included on Preserve Arkansas's 2025 Most Endangered Places list.
| | Putman House on Hill Avenue, Fayetteville | | In Memoriam: Charles Witsell, Jr. | |
| |  | We mourn the loss of architect and pioneer preservationist Charles Witsell, Jr. He died on June 28 at the age of 81 after a long battle with Parkinson’s Disease. A founding member of the Historic Preservation Alliance of Arkansas, now Preserve Arkansas, Charles was involved in historic building restoration projects throughout the state for decades. As a founder and principal at WER Architects, Charles mentored numerous young people, who later went on to have careers in historic preservation. Beyond his work as an architect, he contributed significantly to our knowledge of Little Rock’s history and historic places by co-authoring How We Lived: Little Rock As An American City and Architects of Little Rock: 1833-1950. Charles and his wife, Becky, have done so much to preserve our state’s historic places, performing hands-on preservation work on their own homes and hundreds of others. They have both been recognized with Preserve Arkansas’s Parker Westbrook Award for Lifetime Achievement. Furthermore, Becky and Charles generously endowed a fund at Preserve Arkansas to support preservation education and training opportunities. In 2025, the Becky and Charles Witsell Endowment for Preservation Education and Training helped finance a historic timber-framing workshop at Historic Cane Hill in Washington County and awarded scholarships for Arkansas residents to attend a stained glass restoration workshop at the Belvedere School in Hannibal, MO, and the Destination Downtown conference in El Dorado.
| | Thank you to our Partners and Sustainers! | | |
Bray Sheet Metal
MAHG Architecture
Williams & Dean Architecture | Interior Design
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Ms. Christina Aleman and Mr. Adam Smith
Dr. George Betts
Jim and Kathy Boyette
Gary and Ann Clements
Courtney Crouch, Jr. and Brenda Crouch
Courtney and Amber Crouch
Fred Dietrich, D.D.S.
Paul Dodds
John C. Edwards
John and Tricia Greer
Gabe and Katherine Holmstrom
Tommy and Christy Jameson
Scott and Amber Jones
Jill Judy and Mark Brown
Bob Kempkes and Mary Matthews
Tim Maddox, AIA
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The Honorable Pat and Mrs. Ellen McCabe
Carl H. Miller, Jr.
John K. Mott, FAIA
Jack Moyer and Elise Roenigk
Justice David and Mrs. Carolyn Newbern
Mark and Cheri Nichols
Leslie and Robin Reeves
Emily Jordan Robertson
Aaron Ruby and Veronica Lilly
Rose Schweikhart
Martin and Kara Smith
Breck and Anne Speed
The Honorable Mark Stodola
Anthony Taylor and Michelle Strause
Ross Toyne
Dr. Charles and Mandy Welch
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Our mailing address is:
P.O. Box 305, Little Rock, AR 72203
Call us at 501-372-4757.
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