The Bella Vista Historical Society has received a $5,000 grant from the Benton County Historical Commission to restore a derelict water tank that was built in the 1920s, according to Xyta Lucas, a docent with the Bella Vista Historical Museum.
The 55,000-gallon tank, located at the intersection of Cunningham and Cedar Crest drives, was constructed of native field stone in 1927-28, Lucas said.
The roof has since caved in and the grant will help cover the cost of replacing it, some minor restoration and materials, Lucas said. Labor will be provided by a work detail from the Benton County Sheriff's Office.
The tank was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992 and Lucas said the goal is to restore the structure's original appearance as much as possible.
"Considering how old (the tank) is, the field stone is fine," Lucas said. "We will leave the walls the way they are, replace the roof and clean up the grounds."
The society will receive $2,500 to get started and get the rest of the money once repairs are under way, Lucas said.
Deputy Mark Wibert, who oversee's the county jail's work detail, has already taken measurements from inside the tank and is looking into what materials were used to construct the original roof, Lucas said. The project is expected to start sometime in 2016, Lucas said.
Carole Harter, president of the Historical Society, helped get the land the tank sits on deeded over to the museum. Harter is the granddaughter of C.A. Linebarger, who established Bella Vista as a summer resort in 1917.
The Linebargers ran and oversaw the expansion of the resort from 1917 to 1952. E.L. Keith bought the resort in 1952. Just 11 years later, Keith sold the resort to John A. Cooper, Sr., in 1963. But deciphering who owned the tank took some digging.
"We found it was kind of a black hole. (The tank) never got sold by the Linebargers to E.L. Keith, who never sold it to John Cooper, Sr.," Lucas said. "We verified it was part of the (Old Bella Vista) annexed property into Bella Vista, but it wasn't owned by the Property Owners Association."
A title company was brought in for assistance, and it discovered the tank was still part of the Linebarger estate, Lucas said. Once ownership was established, Harter and her two sisters deeded the property to the Historical Society.
Engraved on the side of the tank -- under Linebarger Bros. -- are the initials W.G. Braithwaite and the date, Nov. 11, 1927.
Those initials could belong to Willard Glenn Braithwaite, a stone mason from Bentonville, according to information from the Rogers Historical Museum. W.G. Braithwaite was the great-grandson of John Braithwaite, who cultivated the Arkansas Black, a variety of apple that keeps all winter and is known for its dark purple hue.
John Braithwaite also erected a brick house in 1855 on the corner of Bella Vista and Braithwaite roads in Bentonville. The single-story structure is possibly the oldest house in Benton County and was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
When in service, the tank supplied water to roughly 800 cottages in Bella Vista, Harter said. The water was pumped to the tanks by hydraulic rams Linebarger installed in a spring northeast of Lake Bella Vista, Harter said.
Using old maps, the society has confirmed the former location of two other tanks, with one at Trailer Hill and another near the destroyed Sunset Hotel, Harter said. She thinks the tank is the only one of its kind left in Benton County.
When the lone remaining tank was still in use, Harter and her father often would check on it when residents reported the "water tasting funny."
"The roof could puncture easily and usually some critter got in there and drowned," she said. "They would drain it and clean it, but it was usually the offseason."
General News on 11/25/2015