Hempstead County Courthouse (1939-2022)

In 1939 the county seat of Hempstead County was moved to Hope, Arkansas. The Art Deco building was officially presented to county officials on April 30, 1940. The construction of the building was funded in part by federal money from the Public Works Administration. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994 and was used as the main offices of the county until May 2022.

The Art Deco building was officially presented to county officials on April 30, 1940. The construction of the building was funded in part by federal money from the Public Works Administration. B.W. Edwards, a local building contractor connected to Hope Brick Works, was the contractor for the building of the new courthouse. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994 and was used as the main offices of the county until May 2022.

Since the formation of Hope in 1875, a continual struggle for the county seat occurred over 60 years in Hempstead County. With Hope’s population already close to doubling the community of Washington, a petition was raised to move the Hempstead County seat in 1879. After the first election defeated the measure, another loss in a second election in 1882 resulted in controversy when a judge assigned the election date as November 7th and then moved it to October 26th the day before the October date. This caused confusion, and the state Attorney General ruled the election was legal.          

Washington survived a third election in 1910 when almost a thousand votes were thrown out because they had not paid the poll tax. A fourth election in 1914 saw a pro-removal victory, and county records were actually moved to Hope. But the Arkansas Supreme Court allowed for an audit of the election, which was nearly impossible as an election official claimed he had been robbed of all ballots and books while strolling down a street in Hope. But anti-removal attorneys discovered the number of votes from Hope’s township were double the actual number of registered voters, and the Supreme Court ruled a voter must be a resident of his precinct, and the county seat was moved back to Washington in 1916.

A fifth election in 1938 again saw victory for pro-removal, and once again the matter went to court. A final appeal to the Arkansas Supreme Court resulted in a ruling that Hope would become the new county seat of Hempstead County. In 1940, records were moved to the new courthouse in Hope.

Hope has remained the county seat of Hempstead County to the present day. Originally the county jail was located on the top floor of the courthouse along with an apartment for the County Sheriff and his family. Later in the 1990s, a new county jail and detention center was built next door to the courthouse. Due to deterioration and maintenance issues a new courthouse building was purchased for the county in 2017 to be located in downtown Hope. Offices at the 1939 Hempstead County Courthouse were moved out of the building by May 2022 into the new courthouse.

Turner, Mary Nell. History of the 1939 Hempstead County Courthouse. Journal of the Hempstead County Historical Society, ser. Winter 1985, vol. 9, no. 1, p. 35 - 45.