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On December 15, 1818, Hempstead County was formed as part of Missouri Territory. Later on March 2, 1819 it became part of Arkansas Territory. Hempstead County was one of the original five counties that formed Arkansas Territory. It stretched as far east as modern day Union County and then went all the way west to the current into portion of southeast Oklahoma and northeast Texas. The county seat of Hempstead County was established at the log home of John English that was situated along Marlbrook Creek. On June 28, 1819, twenty-five men met at his home to organize a court of common pleas for the county of Hempstead. The home of John English was situated along the main road, the Southwest Trail, that went directly through the community of Marlbrook. James M. Stuart was elected the first County Clerk of Hempstead County and Alexander Walker as Sheriff. It was at this location that the first grand jury of the county was formed and various litigations between early settlers to the area were settled. Road commissions were also formed to lay out road paths in the county to connect the county seat to other towns, such as Fulton on the Red River. By 1824 the county seat was moved seven miles southwest down the Southwest Trail to the community of Washington to the tavern of Elijah Stuart.

Marker to site of first courthouse of Hempstead Couty

Hempstead County -- Encyclopedia of Arkansas

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This was the site of the first courthouse for Hempstead County. Hempstead County was founded on December 15, 1818. The courthouse was established in the log home of John English located along the Southwest Trail in the community of Marlbrook, just south of the modern community of Blevins, Arkansas.

Hempstead County Courthouse (1818-1824)

Hempstead County was established on December 15, 1818 and was one of the original five counties of Arkansas. Visit the sites of all of the courthouse of Hempstead County. 

Sometime around 1818, Elijah Stuart built a log tavern on this site that was located on the Southwest Trail, the major route from Little Rock to Fulton on the Red River. Built in the same vicinity as the Methodist Ebenezer Campground, the building would serve as the county courthouse of Hempstead County in 1824. The tavern replaced the first courthouse that met in the log tavern of John English in Marlbrooke (7 miles northeast of Washington). His tavern was located on Washington City Block 8.James Black served as deputy sheriff for Hempstead County in the 1820s and also served on court juries that met at the tavern for court business. He later served the county as a road overseer, deputy jailor and a member of the local civilian police patrol for Ozan Township in Hempstead County. As a  Blacksmith he was also paid by the county to repair various items owned by the county (e.g. locks, chains, etc). Today, the First Baptist Church is located on the site where the tavern was located. This property is privately owned and not affiliated with Historic Washington State Park.

Early settler, Elijah Stuart built a log tavern on this site that was located on the Southwest Trail. In 1824, the tavern served as Hempstead County's courthouse when the county seat moved to Washington. James Black served Hempstead County in many capacities and conducted court business at Stuart's tavern on many occasions. Today the site is the location of the First Baptist Church of Washington. This property is privately owned and not affiliated with Historic Washington State Park.

Elijah Stuart's Tavern

The first building to hold county business was John English’s log cabin located 7 miles north in Marlbrook. When the county seat moved to Washington in 1824, it was held in Elijah Stuart’s log cabin, located just one block down from the future courthouse. By statehood in 1836, this two-story Federal-style structure was built to be the first proper courthouse for Hempstead County. The courtroom takes up the entire lower floor, with two massive pillars painted in faux marble to support the upper floor. Upstairs was mostly taken up by offices, with one room for the town’s masonic lodge, Mt. Horeb Lodge No. 4. Originally founded under the Grand Lodge of Alabama, this lodge was one of four that founded the Grand Lodge of Arkansas and featured many of the town’s most important people as its members.The courthouse served as a public space for events and special meetings, including debates as to whether to secede from the union following Abraham Lincoln’s election in 1860. Although Washington initially voted to remain, Lincoln raising troops to deal with the attack at Fort Sumter forced another meeting, at which John Gratiot famously walked to the front of the room and threw down the American flag. The building served as a recruiting station for volunteer militias and Confederate Army musters. After Union forces sacked Little Rock in 1863, the Confederate state government fled south to Washington. In September 1864, a session of the legislature was held to settle state business, and the building has become known as the Confederate State Capitol Building. Following the war, the Reconstruction government decided to build a larger brick courthouse across town, and the building became a schoolhouse for the next 40 years. The previous lodge was no more, but New Mt. Horeb Lodge No. 695 started meeting upstairs.By the 1920s, the courthouse was in deteriorating condition. The United Daughters of the Confederacy successfully campaigned the state to fund the restoration of the building in 1929. When the Pioneer Washington Restoration Foundation began in 1957, the 1836 Courthouse was one of the featured sites. The building came into the state’s hands with the establishment of Historic Washington State Park in 1973. A restoration in the mid-1990s restored the original four rooms upstairs and a second stairwell, and removed a port-a-face the U.D.C. had added for decoration.

One of the oldest Federal-style buildings standing in Arkansas, the 1836 Courthouse was the first proper courthouse in Hempstead County. It hosted one of the founding members of the Arkansas Grand Lodge, Mt. Horeb Lodge No. 4. In 1864, the county courthouse housed a special session of the Confederate General Assembly, following the government’s flight from Little Rock. After county business moved to the new 1874 Courthouse, the structure served as a schoolhouse for the next 40 years. In 1929, an effort was made to preserve the structure as a historic site, as it is today.This building is available on guided tours.

1836 Hempstead County Courthouse 

Following the Civil War, Hempstead County’s Reconstruction officials voted to replace the frontier-era 1836 Courthouse. The Italianate design is believed to have been influenced by the Alamance County Courthouse in North Carolina. Contractor Ezekiel Treadway, following the architectural plans of Green and Son of Little Rock, completed construction in January 1875. The circuit court and the county clerk’s offices were located downstairs, with most of the other rooms rented out to county officers and attorneys. Most of the second floor was taken up by the county courtroom, with jury rooms in back. Citizens climbed one of two staircases in the center hallway to go upstairs, and oil lamps mounted to the doorways lit the hallways until the building was electrified in 1918. Two upstairs platforms, one at either end, allowed officials to walk out and address large crowds. A cupola, designed to hold a clock, was centered on the roof, but a clock was never installed. In 1946, a tornado damaged the copula, so badly, it was removed. By 1925, a lack of space caused the county to build an annex onto the rear, which has visible differences in the walls, floorboards, and exterior brick.The courtyard was surrounded by a fence intended to keep roaming animals and livestock out, but gates were impractical for a public building, so local handyman William Moses was paid $6 to install six staircase-type stiles in the fence. Moses also electrified the building and installed a well in the courtyard. Wrought-iron benches were spread throughout the yard, and cedar trees lined the sidewalks to the front door while catalpa trees sat on either side of the building. The courtyard served host to numerous social gatherings for the town of Washington. A small brick building in the rear served as holding cells for the court.Shortly after its founding in 1875, Hope’s rapid rise in both population and stature as a railroad town led to campaigns to move the county seat there. The battle was fought over five contentious election campaigns until Hope finally won in 1939. After county business moved out of the building, the Washington School District took over in 1941.The Washington School District would use the building until they moved to a modern structure in 1976. In the 1980s, the building became the Visitor Information Center for Historic Washington State Park, and housed the Southwest Arkansas Regional Archives. A 1997 renovation restored the courthouse to its nineteenth century look, including the restoration of risers in the courtroom, and the copula on the roof.

The 1874 Courthouse replaced the 1836 Courthouse as the home of Hempstead County’s government, serving in that capacity until the county seat moved to Hope in 1939. This Italianate brick building housed the county court upstairs, with the offices of the county officials downstairs. This building is the Visitor Center for Historic Washington State Park and free admission to all visitors when open Tuesday--Sunday from 8am--5pm. Exhibits, park information, gift shop, and restrooms are located at this building.

1874 Hempstead County Courthouse (Visitor Information Center)

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.

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.

Hempstead County Courthouse (1939-2022)

Due to many repairs and maintenance of the 1939 Hempstead County Courthouse, it was regularly discussed across the county that a new courthouse was needed to meet the needs of Hempstead County. In 2017 Farmers Bank and Trust offered a three story bank building in downtown Hope for purchase to Hempstead County to be used as a new courthouse. On December 20, 2017, Hempstead County signed a purchase agreement with Farmers Bank and Trust to purchase their bank building in downtown Hope, Arkansas for $1.5 million dollars. On Tuesday, March 3, 2020, a 1% sales tax increase was approved by citizens of Hempstead County in a special election that would last for two years. The additional funds from the tax would go to support the renovations of the bank building to be suitable for use as a courthouse building. The building went through extensive renovations and the grand opening of the courthouse was celebrated on May 19, 2022.

On December 20, 2017, Hempstead County signed a purchase agreement with Farmers Bank and Trust to purchase their bank building in downtown Hope, Arkansas. The building would become the new courthouse of the county. The building went through extensive renovations and the grand opening of the courthouse was celebrated on May 19, 2022.

Hempstead County Courthouse Tour

Hempstead County Courthouse (1818-1824)

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