This post was updated on 4/18/24

By JOEL PHELPS | arkadelphian.com

Local historians are hoping to convince Amtrak officials that hundreds, if not thousands, of historical bricks unearthed during a train depot renovation are worth preserving.

A $3.78 million project was under way on the train depot at 750 S. 6th St. until, on April 11, a contractor unearthed an unusual find: hand-stamped Coffeyville bricks made in southeastern Kansas. Coffeyville bricks were manufactured between the late 1800s through 1933.

The bricks unearthed earlier this month are likely part of the Arkadelphia station’s foundation as it was when it was erected in 1917. Also found during the dig were what is believed to be the charred remnants of the original station, which was built of wood around 1873 but would later be destroyed in a fire.

The 1917 station that stands today serves as both the county’s historical museum and an Amtrak station for passenger rail customers. Renovations to the station’s platform will include improved drainage, altering the restrooms and replacing the platform to include a lift to make the platform compliant with the American Disabilities Act.

The bricks were found about 3 feet beneath the surface of the now-razed platform. Upon making the discovery, a surprised contractor carried a pair of the bricks to Stephanie Reynolds, director of the Clark County Arkansas Museum. Another exploratory dig unearthed a square of perfectly preserved paving bricks.

The discovery brought the project, within 50 feet of the find, to a screeching halt.

Amtrak officials are ready to proceed with the project, and it appears that the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, a division of the Department of Arkansas Heritage, has greenlit further construction. The AHPP was notified the day following the discovery, on April 12. A virtual meeting between AHPP and Amtrak was held on April 15. It was agreed at that meeting that the “majority of the find would not be disturbed and that Amtrak would submit the find through the Arkansas Archeological Survey’s registrar,” according to an email sent that day from the AHPP to Amtrak’s cultural resources manager. The email continues, “Construction efforts may resume at [the Arkadelphia train station] upon receipt of this letter.”

Local historians are concerned that progress will out-shadow the find.

“This is historically significant for the museum to have this original foundation unearthed,” said Lisa Speer, who serves on the museum’s advisory board. “We hope to preserve some portion of the bricks.”

If excavating the bricks is a possibility, it would take either shoveling them out individually or bulldozing the area, the latter of which would likely ruin the bricks. With an estimated 15,000 bricks to unearth, the city’s Building Department says the additional work would probably add a month to the project’s timeline.

“I think it would be cool to reuse the bricks when they rebuild the platform because it is part of our history,” said Reynolds, the museum director. “I don’t think they should be forgotten or destroyed.”

Stan Elrod, who also serves on the advisory board, echoed Reynolds’s comments, adding, “We feel like it is an important part of our history, and [the bricks] should be preserved.”

Speer later told arkadelphian.com that the contractor will be required to excavate the bricks. “We won’t be able to save as many as we originally hoped, but a good many of them” will be preserved, she said.