Army and Navy General Hospital makes endangered list

A June 2019 file photo of the main building of the former Army and Navy General Hospital. - Photo by Grace Brown of The Sentinel-Record
A June 2019 file photo of the main building of the former Army and Navy General Hospital. - Photo by Grace Brown of The Sentinel-Record

The Army and Navy General Hospital's uncertain future put it on Preserve Arkansas' 2020 list of the state's Most Endangered Places, the nonprofit dedicated to preserving the state's architectural and cultural resources said Friday.

Executive Director Rachel Patton said prospects for the imposing Mission/Spanish style building that has overlooked the Central Avenue Historic District since 1933 appear dim as the July 1 date for it reverting to the U.S. Department of Defense approaches.

The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007 as the Army and Navy General Hospital Historic District. It was listed Friday as one of the state's Most Endangered Places, an unenviable designation but one Preserve Arkansas said will raise public awareness about the property's uncertain future.

The main building at 105 Reserve St. has been in limbo since last May, when Arkansas Rehabilitation Services, the state agency responsible for the building until June 30, announced the end of the residential job training program that had been housed in the 200,000-square-foot building and 20-acre campus since 1960.

No funding is in place to secure the campus or keep the utilities on after June 30, and ARS said in March that it's no longer looking for a tenant to take over occupancy.

"The main building is still in good condition," Patton said, noting the campus that opened in the 1880s was the country's first general hospital for Army and Navy patients and the only one chosen for its proximity to thermal waters.

"It's just the prospect of being abandoned and left empty for an indefinite amount of time is scary. Buildings tend to deteriorate if they're left empty. There's a potential for it to be vandalized or for someone to break in and set a fire. There's also the natural processes of deterioration.

"We don't want that to happen. It would be a waste and a shame for it to sit there and be allowed to deteriorate. We need to find a use for that property and not let it go back to the Department of Defense with no plan and not being able to get cooperation from them."

Possible soil or groundwater contamination from storage drums and underground fuel tanks listed in a December report from the phase one environmental assessment further complicates the building's future. The report recommended a subsurface investigation to determine the extent of contamination.

Placement on the endangered list isn't a death sentence, Patton said.

"The point of this list is to raise awareness of the places and let people know about their significance and the fact they're endangered," she said. "Then it becomes an advocacy priority for our organization as we work to try and save these places. There are success stories and places that have come off the list."

Nominations solicited from people and organizations inform the list, Preserve Arkansas said in its Friday news release. Other additions announced Friday included the Bank of Carthage in Dallas County, the Grapette Building in Camden, the Henry Brothers Store in Jacksonville, the Old Jail Log Cabin in Lafayette County, the Old Pocahontas High School/Old Rock Building and Plummer's Station in Conway County.

Local on 05/02/2020

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