Old Independence Regional Museum

Housed in the historic National Guard Armory, the Old Independence Regional Museum features semi-permanent and changing exhibits that explore the history of county and the surrounding region. The museum opened in 1998 and houses around 19,000 items in its collection including textiles, photographs, tools and equipment, and transcripts of public records. The armory was built in 1936 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

From 1924 to 1936, the local National Guard unit held drill exercises on the second floor of a commercial building on Main Street. By 1935 it was clear that it was too small. As a result, Captain Robert W. Crisp of the 154th Observation Squadron sent a letter to a federal agency called the Works Progress Administration (WPA) requesting that an armory be built. The WPA was one of several federal agencies tasked with boosting the national economy during the Great Depression. It provided funds to communities to employ workers and build large-scale projects. This is how the armory was built.

The armory is constructed of locally sourced, hand-cut sandstone and was designed in the Gothic Revival and Art Deco styles by Dutch architect Pieter Blaauw. Local stonemasons and members of the National Guard built it. The building's most notable features are the parapets on the southeast and northeast sides of the building that hide the barreled roof, large pilasters (columns), and windows that follow the line of the parapet on the northeast facade.

The National Guard unit, Company L (which later became Company B after World War II), moved into the armory in 1937. Over the years, the armory was not only used by the National Guard, the community used it as well as meeting and event hall. In this way the armory became an important community gathering place for many years. Company B occupied it until 1976 when they moved to new location. The building's next owners used as storage space. In 1995, they donated it to the Old Independence Regional Museum, which had already been established in 1993 and was in the process of searching for a building.

Barnett, Paula Harmon. "Old Independence Regional Museum." Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Last Updated 29, 2014. https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/old-independence-regional-museum-3730.

Hope, Holly. "National Guard Armory." National Park Service - National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. May 29, 1998. https://catalog.archives.gov/OpaAPI/media/26142411/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_AR/98000579.pdf.