Historic Homes
The Historic Homes of Gov. Elisha Baxter and His Family
Elisha Baxter moved to Batesville in 1852. He was elected mayor in 1853 and state representative in 1854, serving until 1860.
During the Civil War, Baxter served as colonel of the 4th Arkansas Mounted Infantry (Union). He became Chief Justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court in 1864.
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In 1872, Baxter was elected Governor of Arkansas, defeating Joseph Brooks in a controversial election that resulted in the Brooks-Baxter War.
After leaving office, Baxter returned to Batesville, where he died in 1899. He is buried at Oaklawn Cemetery.
253 N. 8TH ST.
Gov. Baxter built this I-House as his home in 1888 when he moved into town from Catawba Hall a bit to the north. The house retains the symmetry and central gable typical of I-Houses in this area and adds two handsome bay windows on the lower floor, now obscured by the screening on the porch.
709 AND 749 ROCK ST.
Gov. Baxter bought these two T-shape cottages from John Glenn in 1893. When he died in 1899, the Governor left #709 to his son Edward and #749 to his son Millard, and they remained in the family until the 1940s. Edward Baxter’s home retains its original form, while Millard’s has been extensively remodeled.
788 E. MAIN ST.
Gov. Baxter owned 788 E. Main Street from 1859 to 1870. The present structure, a traditional “I house,” may be an enlargement of the original one-story antebellum structure. The hipped roof, with a small central gable featuring Victorian ornamentation, and the Chippendale balustrade along the front porch are particularly handsome.
961 AND 987 E. MAIN ST.
Gov. Baxter and his brother Taylor Baxter built these antebellum homes in the 1850s and sold them to Judge William Byers just before the Civil War. Both show the result of remodelings over the ensuing decades. The house at 961 E. Main now appears in the “American Foursquare” style, with its two-story block form and pyramidal roof. That its second- story windows are not mounted precisely over its first-story windows is a clue that it did not begin its existence in this form. 987 E. Main, though remodeled in the Colonial style in the 1940s, is still clearly an “I-House,” a two-story, central-hall house with one room on each side of the hall on both floors and usually a one-or-two story addition on the rear. Its braced-frame construction, observed in a recent renovation, confirms its antebellum origin.
748 E. MAIN ST.
Gov. Baxter built this house in 1888 for his daughter Katherine Miller “Kitty” Baxter and her young husband Newton Alexander, following the I-House form and floorplan used in his new 8th St. home. The Ionic columns, shingle work, sidelights and transom at the front door, and bay window dress up the house, while the bungalow style roof, a replacement after a fire, conflicts with its 19th-century origin.
749 AND 753 E. COLLEGE ST.
Gov. Baxter’s grandchildren, the son and daughters of Newton and Kitty Baxter Alexander (748 E. Main), built and lived in these homes. “Tut” Alexander built the Cottage Revival stucco house at 749 in the 1920s; it was later the home of his sister Wallace Alexander Stokes. Newtie Alexander Grammer was a long-time resident of the bungalow at 753, which dates from the 1910s.
Victorian Homes of Batesville Arkansas
Victorian houses are defined by the era in which they were built: the reign of Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1901. The Industrial Revolution had recently transformed the world and gave rise to new technologies, techniques, and materials for building. Batesville’s Victorian homes are marked with the highly decorative features, ornamentation, and imaginative details that are the signature of the Victorian age.
Name | Address | Year |
|---|---|---|
John W. Ferrill House | 919 E. Main St. | 1901 |
McNairy-Nash House | 238 Chesnut St. | 1896 |
I.N. Barnett House | 728 E. Main St. | 1893 |
Charles Mosby House | 492 Bates St. | 1890s |
Lawrence-Metcalf House | 679 E. Boswell | 1890 |
Bevens House | 807 E. Boswell | 1890s |
John Quincy Wolf House | 845 E. Boswell | 1890 |
Bartlett-Kirk House | 910 E. College St. | 1890 |
Bevens-Dorr House | 715 E. Main St. | 1880s |
Fitzhugh House | 843 E. Main St. | 1889 |
Handford Houses | 658 & 659 E. Boswell | 1888 |
Alexander House | 748 E. Main St. | 1888 |
Governor Baxter House | 253 N. Eighth St. | 1888 |
Stokes House | 737 E. Main St. | 1887 |
Shannon House | 231 Charles St. | 1883 |
Baxter Cottages | 709 and 749 Rock St. | 1881 |
McClure-McGinnis House | 538 E. Boswell | 1880s |
Stone Cottage | 357 S. Seventh St. | 1880s |
Warner House | 822 E. College St. | 1880 |
Maxfield-Evans House | 808 E. Main St. | 1880s |
Edward Dickinson House | 672 E. Boswell | 1880 |
Byers-Lawrence House | 732 E. Boswell | 1876 |
Luster Urban Farmstead | 487 E. Central St. | 1874 |
Morrow Hall | Arkansas College | 1873 |
Moore-McCaleb House | 828 E. Main St. | 1872 |
Wycough-Jones House | 683 Water St. | 1872 |
Ball House | 710 E. Main St. | 1870s |
Carrigan-McGuire House | 888 E. Main St. | 1857 |
Brewer House | 788 E. Main St. | 1850s |
Baxter-Wood | 961 E. Main St. | 1850s |
Baxter-Byers | 987 E. Main St. | 1850s |
Glenn House | 623 Water St. | 1849 |
Garrott House | 561 E. Main St. | 1842 |
843 E. MAIN ST.
J. B. Fitzhugh acquired this home in 1889 and enlarged a five-room residence into a magnificent Queen Anne mansion, complete with three turrets, a sunburst in the second-story gable, and a keyhole- shaped stained glass window. Some time after the turn of the century, it was remodeled to its present appearance with its Colonial Revival porch. The home retains a large lot through the block, which most houses on Main Street once had, and the original sandstone retaining wall in front.
658 AND 659 E. BOSWELL
Built in 1888 by the Handford brothers, these two homes are mirror images. They illustrate a fine array of Queen Anne features, including irregular massing, shinglework on the second floor, stained glass, and wrap-around porches with lathe-turned posts, cut-wood brackets, and sawn wood balusters.
561 E. MAIN ST.
Built in 1842, the Garrott House is a story-and-a half Georgian. Its 1840s features include brace frame construction, random width heart pine flooring, pegged doors and mantel, and original woodwork. Late Victorian features are the 1880s stone kitchen addition, the two-over-two front windows, the fretwork around the eaves, and faux marble mantels on the west side. It was the first building in Batesville listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
623 WATER ST.
This antebellum “I house” was built in 1849 and originally occupied by Soulesbury Institute, a Meth-odist School. It was reportedly used as a hospital during the Civil War and then converted to residential use and enlarged with a bay on the left and a rear ell. It was designated a National Historic Site by the General Conference of the United Methodist Church in 1990.
888 E. MAIN ST.
One of Batesville’s few remaining antebellum homes, the original part of this “I house” was built in 1857. Its two-story portico and arched Italianate windows are rare in Arkansas. Front gate posts of native limestone are original. Extensive additions were made to the rear of the house and incorporate the original smokehouse into the home.
788 E. MAIN ST.
A house was built on this site during the late 1850s. The present structure, a traditional “I house” may have been an enlargement of the home’s original one-story structure. The hipped roof, with small central gable featuring Victorian ornamentation, and the Chippendale balustrade of the front porch are particularly handsome.
987 AND 961 E. MAIN ST.
These homes, from the 1850s, were once owned by Gov. Elisha Baxter and his brother. Both show the result of remodeling over the ensuing decades.
683 WATER ST.
Built in 1872, this house is unique in Batesville for its extensive use of stained glass. The house was originally three stories with Queen Anne towers and ornate dormers, but after a fire in 1913 the roof was replaced. It was repainted in historic colors in 1981.
710 E. MAIN ST.
This I-House dates from the 1870s. Its arched windows show the popular Italianate style of the Victorian period. Though a house was on this site before the Civil War, it was incorporated into or replaced by this house when it took its present form 150 years ago.
672 E. BOSWELL
Built in 1879-80 this Gothic Revival house (pictured on the brochure front) has steeply pitched gables, pointed arches, and sawed balustrades around the porch and porch roof. Its ornate millwork is a quintessential feature of the Victorian era.
