Curran Hall, also known as the Walters-Curran-Bell House, is a historic house at 615 East Capitol Street in

Little Rock, Arkansas Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...

. It was built in 1842 for Colonel Ebenezer Walters. The single story house is built in the

Greek Revival Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

style with Doric pilasters at the entrance way. Two auxiliary buildings, constructed at about the same time as the main building, were moved and attached to the rear of the house in 1891. The house is significant as one of the few remaining

antebellum era The ''Antebellum'' South era (from ) was a period in the history of the Southern United States that extended from the conclusion of the War of 1812 to the start of the American Civil War in 1861. This era was marked by the prevalent practi ...

landmarks in

Little Rock Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...

. It served as the home of pre-

Civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

Arkansas Supreme Court Justice George Watkins.

Jacob Frolich Jacob Frolich (November 15, 1837 – April 25, 1890) was a Bavarian-born, American politician who served as Arkansas Secretary of State from 1879 to 1885. He served as a colonel in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He w ...

purchased the home after the war, who would become a post-

reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...

Arkansas Secretary of State. Before that, however, Frolich, an opponent of the reconstruction Arkansas government and fearful of reprisals, fortified Curran Hall with trap doors and placed his livestock inside the house at night. Frolich was indicted for the murder of a reputed informant for the reconstruction government and fled to Canada, but later returned and was acquitted of the charge. In 1976, the house was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. It was acquired by the City of Little Rock and the Little Rock Advertising and Promotion Commission in 1996, renovated, and opened as an information center in 2002.

References

Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Arkansas Greek Revival houses in Arkansas Houses completed in 1842 Houses in Little Rock, Arkansas National Register of Historic Places in Little Rock, Arkansas Historic district contributing properties in Arkansas {{LittleRockAR-NRHP-stub

See also

References