Listed in Arkansas Register of Historic Places on 12/04/13
SUMMARY
The Eureka Missionary Baptist Church is being nominated to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places under Criterion A with local significance for its association with the life of the African American community of Hot Springs. It is being nominated with a period of significance of 1906-1963. This begins with the construction date of the current building, and continues to the 50-year cut-off because of the church’s ongoing importance to the local community.
ELABORATION
The town of Hot Springs, located in the Ouachita Mountains, has been a location of bathing for many years. Some of the earliest bathers came to the area in the 18thcentury, and by the mid-19th century, a resort town had begun to grow up around the springs. Some of the earliest bathhouses were built in the 1830s, at which time the federal government set aside land at Hot Springs for the purpose of protecting a natural resource. The town was incorporated in 1851, and named the seat of Garland County in 1874. While the years from 1830 to 1870 were rather lean for the spa community, development began to take off after 1870. Railroads were built to connect Hot Springs to Malvern and Little Rock, and the town’s prestige grew. Hot Springs became a resort community second to none in the United States, and flourished until the 1960’s when gambling was outlawed in the town.[1]
The African American community of Hot Springs was present nearly from its beginning, with the earliest settlements dating to the 1860s. For many years, the business hub of this community was on Malvern Avenue. The African American businessmen and the many workers from the bathhouses spread out throughout the southern and eastern sections of the city, building churches and communities that have continued to thrive into the present. One example is the Pleasant Street Historic District, which was listed on the National Register in 2003. This community was a thriving black community anchored by businesses on Malvern Avenue, churches like Visitor’s Chapel AME, and community facilities like the Woodsmen of the Union Building built by John L. Webb.[2]
Like elsewhere in Arkansas, the African American community in Hot Springs struggled to get equal treatment. Separate bathhouses were created for African Americans like the Crystal Bathhouse and the Pythian Bathhouse. African Americans also struggled to get parity in educational resources in Hot Springs. As one person wrote in a dispatch to theFreeman in 1894 titled “Nothing in Politics for the Negro,” “Our school system is very poor indeed. The whites are elaborately prepared for educational work among their children, while there is comparatively no provision at all for the colored. Still all is supposed to be fostered by the same management.”[3] Many African Americans, lacking equal access to education, turned toward the growing community offered by their local church groups, like the Eureka Missionary Baptist Church, for inclusion.
As part of the ever growing and flourishing African American community, a group of families that lived in the areas of Gaines Street and Eureka Street decided to construct a church. The Eureka Missionary Baptist Church was organized on May 5, 1883, and has continued to serve the community of southeast Hot Springs since. The church initially held their services under a brush arbor with Reverend B. B. Dilloney as pastor. Reverend Dilloney was the pastor for several years at the church, with a small but dedicated membership. The church had 19 members, and they decided that it was time to build a church. So, a lot was selected and the first church, a frame one-room building, was erected near the site of the present building. By 1906, under Reverend Dilloney’s leadership the membership of Eureka Missionary Baptist Church had grown to 32. At this time the church began to look for a place to build a bigger sanctuary.[4]
In 1906, a new pastor was elected for the church. Reverend Barrack was chosen to lead the congregation, and would do so for six years. It was under his leadership that the current brick church was built. The lot for the church was purchased from Simon and Mary Schultist for $200, and construction was begun in 1906. The church was not completed until 1907, and a church parsonage was also added in 1907. The church had many interim pastors in the years between 1912 and 1944. Many of the interims served for no more than two years, many only for one year. During this time the congregation continued to grow, and to serve the local community. In 1944, Reverend M. T. Tucker was elected pastor of the church. He served as pastor for 31 years, creating the educational department of the church, and organizing the Volunteers (a group dedicated to doing work in the local community).[5] Between 1925 and 1940 the church was added onto. This likely corresponded with the opening of the educational department, providing additional space for church classes at the rear of the church.[6] It was also under Reverend Tucker that the basement of the addition was opened as a kitchen space. Under Reverend Tucker the church’s numbers welled. He converted three hundred thirteen members, baptizing one hundred ninety-eight of them.[7]
Tragedy struck the church on May 5, 1979, the anniversary of the congregation’s founding. On that day a fire broke out and burned most of the church. Attempts to put out the fire were made, and the brick envelope of the building was not destroyed. However, the congregation was without a home for a year while construction was done to rebuild the interior spaces of the church. While the interiors were lost, the parishioners decided to re-build inside the existing brick walls, and the church appears today much as it did before the disastrous fire.[8]
The Eureka Missionary Baptist Church has been an important art of the African American Community in Hot Springs since its founding in 1883, and has been a venerable public institution in its current building since 1906. Because of this importance the church is being nominated to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places under Criterion A with local significance.
[1] Sandra Taylor Smith, “National Register Nomination for the Pleasant Street Historic District,” Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, 2003.
[2] Smith, “Pleasant Street.”
[3] Gatewood, Willard B., Jr., ed. “Arkansas Negroes in the 1890s: Documents.” Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Vol. 33, pg 318-319.
[4] DOE packet info.
[5] DOE Packet info.
[6] Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps.
[7] DOE packet info.
[8] DOE packet info.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Gatewood, Willard B., Jr., ed. “Arkansas Negroes in the 1890s: Documents.” Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Vol. 33, pg 318-319.
Information on Eureka Missionary Baptist Church, Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, Little Rock, Arkansas
Sanborn Map Company. “Sanborn Fire Insurance Map for Hot Springs National Park.” June 1915, Sheet 29.
Sanborn Map Company. “Sanborn Fire Insurance Map for Hot Springs National Park.” 1925, Sheet 38.
Sanborn Map Company. “Sanborn Fire Insurance Map for Hot Springs National Park.” January 1950, Sheet 38.
Smith, Sandra Taylor. “National Register Nomination for the Pleasant Street Historic District.” Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, 2003.