LITTLE ROCK–The Arkansas Historic Preservation Program’s next “Walks Through History” tour will visit the Keo Commercial Historic District on April 15.
The tour will begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday, April 15, at the Cobb Gin Complex at Main and Fleming streets in Keo. The area of Keo was known by three historic names – Cobbs, Lafayette Township, and Dunham Station – until it eventually morphed into one when the railroad began to exert its influence. The commerce of Keo was driven by cotton, and two cotton gin complexes anchored the boundaries of Main Street. The Morris Cotton Gin on the north was built circa 1940 and consists of the gin, two seed houses, and a scale house. The Cobb Cotton Gin complex to the south contains twenty-two structures dating from the turn of the century to the 1950s. This complex includes a tenant house, commissary, water tank, and fire hose house, among other industrial structures.
In the “Walks Through History” program, which is co-sponsored by the Arkansas Humanities Council, AHPP historians each month provide free guided walking tours of historic structures and districts across Arkansas. Most tours begin at 11 a.m. on Saturdays. The American Institute of Architects offers two HSW continuing education learning unit credits for members who attend a “Walks Through History” tour.
Other 2017 “Walks Through History” tours will be May 13, Downtown Hope Commercial District, co-sponsored by the Hope-Hempstead County Chamber of Commerce; June 9, Arkansas Tech University, co-sponsored by the Pope County Historical Society and Arkansas Tech University; July 15, Downtown Searcy, co-sponsored by the White County Historical Society; August 12, Siloam Springs Downtown Historic District, co-sponsored by Main Street Siloam Springs; September 9, Mountain Home Commercial Historic District, co-sponsored by the Baxter County Historical and Genealogical Society; October 14, Camp Chaffee Historic District, co-sponsored by the Chaffee Crossing Historic District; November 11, Dumas Commercial Historic District, co-sponsored by Main Street Dumas, and December 9, El Dorado Commercial Historic District, co-sponsored by Main Street El Dorado.
All tours are free and open to the public. For information, call the AHPP at (501) 324-9880, write the agency at 1100 North Street, Little Rock, AR 72201, send an e-mail message to [email protected] or visit www.arkansaspreservation.org. The Walks Through History program is co-sponsored by the Arkansas Humanities Council, which seeks to promote the understanding, appreciation, and use of the humanities in Arkansas. The humanities include the study of history, literature, ethics, philosophy, language, and the various legal, cultural, religious, and folk traditions – past and present - that define the human condition.
The AHPP is the Department of Arkansas Heritage agency responsible for identifying, evaluating, registering and preserving the state’s cultural resources. Other agencies are the Arkansas Arts Council, the Delta Cultural Center in Helena, the Old State House Museum, the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, the Historic Arkansas Museum and the Arkansas State Archives.