Listed in Arkansas Register of Historic Places on 09/02/98
SUMMARY
Built in 1881, the Cross Roads School and Masonic Lodge is a two-story, wood-frame Plain Traditional building. The building is not currently eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places because of exterior material changes that include aluminum replacement windows throughout, asbestos plate siding over the original weatherboard, and concealment of a doorway. Inside, many modern alterations have been made, but the original chamfered support posts remain intact. There are no intact outbuildings associated with this property.
ELABORATION
The Crossroads School and Masonic Lodge was constructed in 1881 near the Pine Bluff Road and was originally known as New Hope School. The building was constructed to replace a deteriorating building constructed in 1879. The Mooneyville Masonic Lodge, chartered in 1876, helped fund the construction of the new school building and thus secured for themselves a meeting room on the second story. By the early 1890s the New Hope School was identified as Cross Roads School and was part of School District #37. Although in 1889, Goodspeed does not mention the school directly, a reference is made to: ". . . four secret societies, all Masonic--Sheridan, Moonyville [sic], Taylor and Bethlehem." In 1929, Crossroads School consolidated with Sheridan, and the building was converted to community use. The building is presently used by area residents as a place to hold meetings and is still used by the Mooneyville Masonic Lodge #345.
SIGNIFICANCE
Although many changes were made to the building over the years, much of the historic fabric is intact under the existing materials. Two-story Plain Traditional school buildings such as the Cross Roads School and Masonic Lodge are becoming increasingly rare in Arkansas. For these reasons, the building is being nominated to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places under Criterion C. The present caretakers have expressed an interest in the restoration of the building to its historic appearance.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Goolsby, Elwin L. and Graves, Bobbie Nelson. SHS, The First 100 Years, a History of the Sheridan School District #37, 1879-1979.
Grant County, Arkansas, School Board Records, 1877-1884. Grant County Museum Archives.
Interview with Noel Gentry, November 1997.
Goolsby, Elwin L. Our Timberland Home, a History of Grant County. Rose Publishing Company, Little Rock, Arkansas. 1984.