Weldon structures named to NRHP

The Weldon Gin Company Historic District in southern Jackson County has just been named to the National Register of Historic Places.

The old depot building, which sits right along Highway 17 in the tiny farming community, has been listed for years.

There are actually several old buildings still standing in town.

I wrote about the community for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's Three Rivers Edition back in the summer of 2004. In fact, it was the first piece I wrote for the section. Here is a small part of the story:


The community is a mere shadow of what it was in years past, with all its stores, mills, cotton gin, brick kiln, church and school.

But its charm remains with many of the old buildings that still stand, some in surprisingly good shape.

"It has a little bit of character because of the old buildings," Ralph McDonald, a native now living in nearby Newport, noted.

One of its buildings, the train depot, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Another, the old cotton gin, still houses all the machinery used to gin cotton.

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I'm getting ready to write about the gin company being placed on the historic register for the Three Rivers Edition.

In the meantime, take a look at what www.arkansaspreservation.org has to say about the gin company.