March | 2019 | History Sidebar

Last December, the Arkansas Review published my photo essay on erasure in the Mississippi River Delta region. This post expands on one of the entries in my essay: “Juxtaposition.” The entry featured a photograph of three historic properties in Helena, Arkansas: Centennial Baptist Church in the foreground; the recently reconstructed Civil War-era Fort Curtis in the middleground; and, the historic Moore-Hornor House in the background.

This image offers a window into the roles race and power play in how Helena prioritizes historic preservation.

Juxtaposition. October 2018. Photograph included in Arkansas Review photo essay.

The Moore-Hornor House dates to 1859 and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The property is carefully restored and it is used for educational and recreational programs. Helena’s tourism literature touts the property as a “Helena Civil War attraction.”

Moore-Horner House, April 2017.

Moore-Hornor House and interpretive panel, October 2017.

Fort Curtis was an important Union Army encampment during the Civil War. During the 150th anniversary of the conflict, Helena began marketing its Civil War heritage and funds were raised to reconstruct the fort. The site opened in 2012 and it is operated by the Delta Cultural Center, a unit of the Arkansas Department of Heritage.

Fort Curtis, April 2017.

Fort Curtis, October 2017.

Ft. Curtis, October 2017.

Centennial Baptist Church was designed by congregant and African American architect Henry James Price. Begun in 1895 and completed ten years later in 1905, the church was designated a National Historic Landmark for its association with Dr. Elias Camp Morris (pastor, 1879-1922) and as an African American religious institution. When the building originally was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1987, it was in “good” condition and it also was historically significant for its Gothic Revival architecture. The church has been closed for 20 years because the building is deteriorating.