The Hempstead County Courthouse in Hope, Ark., was built in 1939, only a year after the city of Hope beat out Washington, Ark., in a vote for county seat.
Hope had been campaigning for the title for six decades. Prior to 1939, the courthouse was located in Washington, Ark., a town known to many as historic "Old Washington."
The courthouse is located at the northwest corner of Fifth and Washington streets in Hope. The five-story masonry structure was designed by the Little Rock firm of McAninch and Anderson, and built in 1939 with funding from the Public Works Administration, a Depression-era federal jobs program.
It is an example of art deco architecture with an entry framed by a series of molded concrete panels, separated by inverted chevrons.
The panels depict a variety of industries and professions, including construction, mining, medicine, defense, electricity, farming and brick making. Chevron paneling is repeated in the cornice. The interior of the building is virtually unaltered, except for two courtrooms on the upper floors, which required complete renovation following a lightning-induced fire in 1979. The 1939 building has had a large jail added, but this was done in a sympathetic manner to the original's design.
The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.
Fire has threatened the Hempstead County Courthouse twice.
On Dec. 12, 1947, the boiler caught fire. A sheriff's deputy turned off the gas and contained the fire before structural damage occurred. On July 10, 1979, lightning struck the courthouse, starting a fire that gutted the third-floor courtroom. The fire followed the completion of a $30,000 renovation to divide the large third-floor courtroom. Court resumed in the building on April 22, 1980, following a $265,000 reconstruction project.
The fate of this courthouse is unknown, however, as a move is planned in the near future.
The county plans to move all courthouse business to the Farmer's Bank and Trust Building at 200 East Third St., Hope.
Like many courthouses built during the 1930s by the WPA, signs of age are surfacing.
The existing courthouse has asbestos and the roof leaks. It also is not in compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act standards for bathrooms. When the courthouse was built in 1939, the standards didn't exist.