Members of the Baxter County Quorum Court approved transferring ownership of the historic Wolf House property at Norfork to the Department of Arkansas Heritage at the court’s regular monthly meeting Tuesday.
County Judge Mickey Pedergrasss, who was back in his normal place after missing the meeting last month due to health reasons, said he wanted to make sure that people understood that the county was not selling the property, and the Department of Arkansas Heritage would be only be assuming management and upkeep of the building and property. The agreement will be written, Pendergrass said, so that the county would have the first right of refusal to reassume its current role if the Department of Arkansas Heritage wanted out of the agreement at any point.
The deed to the property was turned over to the county by the Wolf House Memorial Foundation in 1999, and the county assumed the upkeep of the building and grounds.
It is felt the transfer to the Department of Arkansas Heritage will help ensure the upkeep of the structure and also holds out the promise of increasing visitation to the site. Judge Pendergrass said the type of arrangement being proposed is “something we have been wanting to do for many, many years”.
The two-story log structure stands on a hillside overlooking the juncture of the White and North Fork Rivers. It was built in the 1800’s and was the first seat of government for what was then Izard County.
Izard County was created in 1825 and the next year, Jacob Wolf was elected representative to the General Assembly of the Arkansas Territory. In October 1828, he successfully passed legislation to locate the permanent government at what was then called Liberty, a settlement that had grown up around Wolf’s homestead.
Wolf is said to have donated land to the county for the courthouse site and then secured the contract for building the structure now known as the Wolf House.
According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture, Wolf built a two-story log house with a central breezeway on the first level — typically called a dogtrot — to serve as the courthouse. The large upper level room that extends over the breezeway served as the courtroom. Judges and lawyers traveled from distant parts of the territory to appear at the regularly scheduled county and territorial court sessions. The lower level housed the county clerk’s office. John P. Houston, brother of American legend Sam Houston, is said to have served as county clerk.
In the late 1930’s, the Wolf House came under public ownership and was maintained by local residents. In the 1960’s, the house was taken over by the Elna M. Smith Foundation. The foundation restored and furnished the house with a public dedication held in May 1966. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
Baxter County took ownership of the historic structure in 1999 and obtained a grant from the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program that permitted the building to be restored to its appearance when it served as a territorial courthouse.
It reopened to the public in 2002.
In other business Tuesday, the justices voted to appropriate almost $10,000 to the County Road and Bridge Department Budget. The money was derived from the sale of road materials and signs during the month of September.
Because Heather Knight-Loftis is unable to complete her five-year term on the Baxter County Library Board of Commissioners, the justices confirmed the appointment of Bobbi Brown to complete the terms that will expire in 2021.
The justices also approved the reappointment of Kevin Bodenhamer and J.B. Dewey to three-year terms on the Mountain Home Rural Fire Protection District Board of Commissioners.
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