Three local properties listed on National Register of Historic Places

The Highway A-7 Ditch No. 6 Bridge, which was built in 1922. (Photo provided)

LITTLE ROCK-- Three Poinsett County properties have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the country's official list of historically significant properties.

The newly listed properties are the Highway A-7 Tyronza segment at Tyronza, the Highway A-7 Ditch No. 6 bridge at Tyronza and the Highway A-7 bridges -- historic district -- in Marked Tree.

The Highway A-7, Tyronza segment, was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places with local significance under Criterion C for its engineering. Highway A-7, Tyronza Segment, is the longest and most intact portion of the 1922 alignment of Highway A-7 in Poinsett County. The Tyronza segment of Highway A-7, which is approximately 1.25 miles long, still retains its original 1922 concrete pavement. The highway section was the main automobile route in that part of Poinsett County from the time of its construction in 1922 until the current U.S. 63 was built to the southwest of it in 1967. As a result, it is therefore eligible for nomination under Criterion A for its association with the development of Arkansas highway culture.

The Highway A-7 Ditch No. 6 Bridge was nominated for its association with the development of highway infrastructure in Poinsett County during the 1920s. The Highway A-7 Ditch No. 6 Bridge, which was built in 1922, was part of an effort to develop a spur of the Ozark Trail from southeast Missouri, to Memphis, Tennessee. It illustrates the importance of providing good infrastructure for automobiles, something that was sometimes difficult in the swampy areas of Eastern Arkansas. The bridge continued to be used as part of Highway A-7 (later U.S. 63) until the current U.S. 63 was constructed in 1967.

The bridge was also nominated as a good example of early twentieth-century bridge-building technology. The Highway A-7 Ditch No. 6 Bridge illustrates early reinforced concrete bridge design. The decorative detailing and delicate proportions, along with the combination of a steel plate-girder span to cross the longer distance of Ditch No. 6, illustrate the small amount of traffic that the bridge needed to handle along with the limited knowledge of concrete bridge construction available at that time.

The Highway A-7 Bridges Historic District is being nominated to the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion A with local significance for its associations with the development of highway infrastructure in Poinsett County during the 1920s. The three bridges in the district, which were all built between c.1922 and 1928, were part of an effort to develop a spur of the Ozark Trail from southeast Missouri, to Memphis, Tennessee. They illustrate the importance of providing good infrastructure for automobiles, something that was sometimes difficult in the swampy areas of Eastern Arkansas. The bridges continued to be used as part of Highway A-7 (later U.S. 63) until the current U.S. 63 was constructed in 1967.

The Highway A-7 Bridges Historic District, Marked Tree was being nominated to the National Register of Historic Places for its good examples of early twentieth-century bridge-building technologies. The bridges in the district that date to 1922 illustrate early reinforced concrete bridge design. The decorative detailing and delicate proportions, along with the combination of a steel plate-girder span to cross the longer distance of Ditch No. 1, illustrate the small amount of traffic that the bridges needed to handle along with the limited knowledge of concrete bridge construction available at that time. Bridge #580, on the other hand, which dates to 1927-1928 and exhibits massive proportions, illustrates how far bridge design (and automobile traffic) had come in a short period of time. Built as a likely replacement for a bridge destroyed in the 1927 flood, Bridge #580 improved on the deficiencies of earlier designs to provide a much improved reinforced-concrete bridge.

The Highway A-7 Bridges Historic District was nominated under the multiple property listing "Historic Bridges of Arkansas" and under associated historic context "Early Transportation Era."

For more information on the National Register of Historic Places program, write the AHPP at 1500 Tower Building, 323 Center St., Little Rock, AR 72201, call the agency at (501) 324-9880 [TDD 501-324-9811], send e-mail to info@arkansaspreservation.org or visit the AHPP's Internet web site at www.arkansaspreservation.org.

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 Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center and the Historic Arkansas Museum.