In the beginning....

How the Karcher House came to be.

   The house was originally built in the 1880s by a man named Blakely Turner for $4,000 (About $92,427 in today's terms. We're shocked that it was indeed relatively low cost to build a home in the 19th and early 20th centuries. go to westegg.com for the inflation calculator).

   Turner was a Judge who worked as a recorder for the Arkansas Surpreme Court. Two owners later the property was sold in 1912 to Minnie and Andrew Karcher. Karcher was the president of the Karcher Candy company. It was in their possesions until 1943.

   The Karcher house had seen better days by the time the 1970s rolled along. It was in a dilapidated state from neglect. In 1975 a cool cat named Thomas Wilkes who moved to Arkansas from the Northeast took up the project and hired Charles Witsell as the architect to rehabilitate and expand the house.

The restoration and preservation of the Karcher House continues its legacy in serving the economic development of the downtown Little Rock area.

   The house has been owned by a handful of respected families in the Little Rock area for generations at a time. Stewards of the property included: Mrs. Emily Roots, the wife of Col. Logan Roots for whom Fort Roots was named; Andrew Karcher president of the Karcher Candy Company; John England, a secretary to former Governor J. P. Eagle and president of The England Mercantile Company of Lonake, and Thomas Cox, president of Thomas Cox Machinery Company. 

The land to which the house sits on is originally ceded by the U.S. Congress to the Territory of Arkansas.

The land is ceded to Arkansas in 1833.

Check out the langauge: "Know, Ye."

Transfer of A. Karcher

Sold in Feb of 1912 to A. Karcher in the amount of $8,250

Article from the 1970's Arkansas Democrat Gazette

Plans on rehabiliation.

The work continues...

Today