Tower's Past Not Enough For Future

In the preservation of historic buildings, it is often close to impossible to raise both the attention and financial backing needed to succeed. Preservationists are always fighting against time and inertia. The odds are almost never in favor of keeping the past in the present.

Today, though, we're thinking about a structure -- we can't even call it a building -- on the shores of Beaver Lake. Nearby is an elaborate amphitheater built by one of the most colorful characters in Northwest Arkansas history. But that theater is under water except on rare occasions of summer drought. The structure above water isn't nearly as fascinating as what's submerged, but it is what remains of the famed Monte Ne resort created by William "Coin" Harvey in the early 1900s.

Harvey was a businessman, author and politician who lived from 1851 to 1936. He authored "Coin's Financial School," a fictional tale that advocated silver as the nation's financial basis, and it was a great success. He was heavily involved in the unsuccessful presidential campaign of William Jennings Bryan in 1896. It was during that campaign he found Northwest Arkansas, and bought land to develop a resort on what he dubbed Monte Ne. Hotel Monte Ne was completed in 1901, followed a few years later with other hotel buildings. He promoted tourism to the area, and built a rail spur that brought visitors to Monte Ne, where they were ferried across a lagoon in an Italian gondola to the hotels. He also announced plans to preserve human knowledge for future generations in a 130-foot "pyramid," but it was never built. He did build the amphitheater, which was where he founded the Liberty Party in 1931. The party nominated him to run for president in 1932, but he lost.

Now, back to that structure. Oklahoma Row was a large hotel on the property, anchored by a three-story concrete tower that stands today as the most prominent, constantly visible reminder of Harvey's business and eccentricities. It's owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which controls Beaver Lake since its construction flooded most of Monte Ne in the 1960s. Preservationists for years have wanted to save that structure, but it sits graffiti-covered and fenced like a penitentiary.

If someone were to suggest building this tower on the shores of Beaver Lake today, we can't imagine anyone supporting the idea. The corps, which has devoted no money to preservation or even demolition, has invited a local effort for preservation and converting it into something useful. Although Coin Harvey is an interesting and eccentric part of Northwest Arkansas history, nobody feels so strongly they want to write a check.

There seems to be nothing happening to support the sentimental desire to preserve this concrete tower. No passion exists in the community. And so it sits as what it has become, a trashed-out eyesore.

The community has had decades to do something with Harvey's tower. We wish preservation could happen, but wishing doesn't get the job done, and this tower is nothing to be proud of.

Without a plan and funding, and recognizing the status quo is unacceptable, we're left with one option: The corps should find a way to get rid of the tower.