Listed in Arkansas Register of Historic Places on 03/04/98
SUMMARY
The North Arkansas Wood Products Kiln is a simple twentieth century industrial building, but its hand-laid veneer of local crystals differentiates it from
others of its type. The hands that laid the stones for the building were those of Searcy County people who worked at the factory . In fact the furniture
works provided a major boost to the economy of the area. During World War II the owner, Earl Martin of Kansas City, obtained a contract with the federal
government to make munitions boxes. Mr. and Mrs. Martin were also major contributors to the civic and educational life of St. Joe and surrounding communities.
Due to its integral role in the local economy, its connection with the war effort, and its association with the Martins, the North Arkansas Wood Products
Kiln is being nominated to the Arkansas Register with local significance under Criterion A. It is also being nominated under Criterion C for its vernacular
stone architecture.
ELABORATION
Searcy County was established in 1835. It was renamed Marion County in 1836 but was reclaimed out of that county in 1838. The site of the North Arkansas Wood Products factory lies on land in Searcy County filed for a mining claim in 1900. The ore mine established on the spot by James Craig was the Gray Eagle. By 1910 the mine was named The Kansas Lead and Zinc Company and was being auctioned off for failure to pay taxes. Mr. G.B. Brown bought the 160 acre tract in 1913 and leased it for twenty years for mining. About that time a railroad was constructed about two and a half miles from the NAWP site, and the town of St. Joe was born. In 1941 a descendent of G.B. Brown sold six and a half acres to Earl and Florence Martin.
Earl Martin operated a wood products factory in Kansas City. While on a fishing trip to the Buffalo River near St. Joe he noticed the surfeit of timber in the area. He had been thinking about transporting lumber to Kansas City but after he had caught a few fish and pondered on the dilemma of the cost to export, he determined that it would be cheaper for him to move his factory to Arkansas. During the time Martin was working to build up business for his relocated factory, he worked as an instructor of woodwork at Arkansas Tech in Russellville. On top of these duties he had a salaried job to which he commuted from Rainbolt Mountain in St. Joe.
His big break came in 1943 when the federal government gave him a contract to manufacture powder boxes. During the war he had a peak employment roster
of 100 people working in two shifts to complete powder drying racks for Naval Ordnance. Martin executed the final stages of construction on the boxes
in the living room of his house next door to the plant. In 1943 the Perfection Sales Company in St. Joe began marketing an upholstered chair called
the Perfect Chair Kit that could be assembled by hand, thus saving the customer half the cost of a pre-assembled chair. The framework of the chair
was sawed and marked by North Arkansas Wood Products Company, then purchased by the Perfection Sales Company. NAWP was kept busy turning out upholstered
furniture frames, studio couch arms, bookcases, rockers, occasional chairs and “Rol-A-Way” chairs for children. Sculptor Domenic Zappia came to Earl
Martin in the early 1960s when he needed laminated basswood for a lifesize sculpture of the Last Supper. There was a sawmill in operation on the site
and the factory grew to a busy furniture plant and soon included the large main plant building, an assembly building, two wells, a furnace and short
guage rails to transport lumber from the sawmill to the kiln. By 1946 the plant employed 40 to 50 persons and required an additional 35 men to log
and saw the lumber. At peak seasons when operating at full capacity, the plant was staffed by over 60 people and at times used three shifts to keep
the plant going around the clock. The kiln , completed in 1946, was a Moore steam cross-circulation lumber dry-kiln with a capacity of 90,000 feet
of lumber. It was heated with a steam boiler fueled with mill waste and sawdust while eleven 48-inch fans provided cross circulation. Railroad cars
traveled on a short length of rail to the sawmill where green lumber was loaded onto them. They would then roll into the kiln, fully loaded for drying.
In the early 1960s the Martins felt it was time to make a decision on remaining in St. Joe. The Searcy County Industrial Development Corporation held a meeting to decide whether to assist the Martins with raising finances for construction of a building that would be more suitable for the size of their operation. A decision was reached that they would construct a new building financed by a loan from the SBA and the remainder to come from residents of the St. Joe and Marshall areas. In the end Martin opted for a move toYellville where railroad and water facilities would keep their factory operating more efficiently and local leaders would be able to provide them with the funds needed for a new facility. The North Arkansas Wood Products Factory property was sold in 1974.
SIGNIFICANCE
For over forty years the North Arkansas Wood Products Company was a catalyst for the economic well being of the people of Searcy County. The factory directly
contributed to the war effort during World War II through the manufacture of powder boxes for Naval Ordnance. NAWP was considered to be a model business
and the significance of this particular plant in this particular place was that the area was not congruous for growing anything but timber. It further
steadied the economy by keeping the rural population from dropping any more than it already had by the beginning of the war. The kiln was a central
part of this operation that contributed so significanctly to the northern areas and population of Arkansas. For the part that it played, the North
Arkansas Wood Products Kiln is being nominated to the Arkansas Register under Criterion A. For its unusual vernacular stone construction which was
completed from native materials on site by local workers, it is being nominated under Criterion C.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Information submitted by Donna Ellis, February, 1998.