Southern Arkansas University Buildings – Magnolia AR

Description

“The Cross and Nelson Hall Historic District, located on the campus of Southern Arkansas University, Magnolia, Columbia County, is being nominated to the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion A for its association with the Public Works Administration’s work in Columbia County, a social works project of the 1930s.  Cross and Nelson Halls were one of two PWA-built projects in Magnolia, and the most intact remaining project constructed by the PWA.  As a result, the buildings best exemplify the PWA’s work in Magnolia during the 1930s.  It is also being nominated under the multiple property listing “An Ambition to be Preferred: New Deal Recovery Efforts and Architecture in Arkansas, 1933-1943.”

…Funding for Cross and Nelson Halls came from Federal grants and loans totaling $140,000 allotted September 25, 1935. The actual contract amount for the buildings was $129,133 priced on December 12, 1935. However, construction did not begin until March 13, 1936, and was finished November 21, 1936.”