The 1986 form nominating Rabbit's Foot Lodge to the National Register of Historic Places describes how the area was settled in the 1840s, but Springdale didn't flourish until after 1881, when the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad came through.
"From that time, until well into the 20th century, the area prospered, and the population grew in response to the thriving fruit industry. Springdale boasted canning factories, fruit evaporators and juice factories, which processed a portion of the vast apple harvests of Benton and Washington counties. The zenith of King Apple's reign was the season of 1919, when, from Springdale, more than 1,000 railway carloads of apple products were shipped. The area's economy was also bolstered by prosperous cattle and livestock operations."
It was in this community, in 1908, that the Rabbit's Foot Lodge was built. Now, the region's prosperity comes from poultry production, and Springdale considers purchase of the plane-log lodge and 40 acres, to be incorporated into the city parks system.
Dancing Rabbit Creek and the spring that fed it, both which lie on the property, attracted visitors long before the railroad and the fruit, the nomination notes. The clean, endless supply of water -- 2 million to 3 million gallons a day at a constant 57 degrees Fahrenheit, reported owner Karen Morton -- supported an American Indian campground, and many young boys amassed collections of arrowheads as proof. The spring also supported a large mill in the 1800s and served as the water supply for the city.
Dr. and Mrs. Charles F. Perkins built the lodge as their home in 1908, with all material coming from the property. Morton noted Perkins, Springdale's first surgeon, arrived in 1904 and purchased 100 acres of pasture northwest of Springdale. Perkins operated a cattle farm while continuing to practice medicine "in town" until 1916, when he sold Rabbit's Foot Lodge and moved to Rogers.
The lodge displayed the Adirondack style of architecture, popular in the era as Eastern urbanites sought to "return to nature." Unique pyramid-shaped roofs with flared eaves give the house a "pagoda-like" appearance many labeled "a combination of a Chinese tea house and an Ozark mansion."
The architecture resembled that of the Missouri Row and Oklahoma Row lodging at Coin Harvey's Monte Ne resort. Renowned local architect A.O. Clarke designed the lodges for Harvey, and many credit him with Rabbit's Foot. However, no proof exists, and Allyn Lord, director of Shiloh Museum of Ozark History, said the timing doesn't match.
"It's a mystery who designed it," Morton said.
"Rabbit's Foot Lodge's most famous proprietor bought the property in 1934," reads the National Register nomination form. J. William Fulbright and his family called the Rabbit's Foot Lodge home during his tenure as president of the University of Arkansas (1939 to 1941). A tenant family farmed the 100 acres for Fulbright with Hereford and Angus cows, hogs and chickens. In 1942, Fulbright was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and in 1944, the U.S. Senate. He sold the lodge in 1946 and moved his family to Washington.
During his residence, Fulbright added a two-car garage, plumbing, a furnace and a pewter chandelier that still hangs over the staircase landing. He dammed the stream and built a small spring-fed swimming pool for his family. He even added stone terracing and steps leading down to the spring.
Fulbright visited the lodge on two occasions while Morton has lived there. "He just came out and knocked on the door," she recalled. "The house was a mess. I was cooking. I took the mail, and shoved it in the laundry room, and I shut the door."
With his age somewhere in his 80s, "(Fulbright) just stood on the porch and looked around," Morton continued. "He said, 'Everything is so grown up' -- especially the magnolia tree he planted near the wide veranda. He said, 'You sure do have a nice porch.'"
Fulbright showed up again three or four years later -- this time with a new wife and all-new energy, Morton said. "He practically danced down the stone steps to the stream," she noted.
Then, last summer, Morton returned home to find a note on her door from Bosey Foot, a granddaughter of Fulbright in town for a family reunion.
At one point, Morton's grandmother came to visit and recognized the house, saying "I think I've been here before." Everyone discounted it. But Morton's grandparents worked in administration for the University of Texas in Austin, and Morton's grandmother determined she had attended a UA administration event at the lodge when Fulbright was president.
NW News on 03/20/2014