Batesville Downtown Foundation

06/06/2026

05/29/2026

👻🎃🎉🥳

05/16/2026

Congratulations Main Street Batesville - Arkansas!!! 👏👏👏

Today we celebrate something bigger than a title… we celebrate the people, partnerships, volunteers, businesses, dreamers, doers, and believers who continue choosing Downtown Batesville again and again. 🫶🏼

Main Street Batesville has officially received our 2026 Accreditation through the Main Street America Program — a national recognition that reflects the hard work happening behind the scenes every single day to build a stronger, more connected, more vibrant downtown district.

But here’s the truth… accreditation isn’t earned by one office, one board, or one event. It’s earned when a community decides to build a longer table. When merchants work together . When volunteers show up tired but smiling. When sponsors invest in quality of life. When neighbors choose to gather
downtown.

When people believe small towns still deserve big dreams. 💡

From free concerts and farmers markets… to flower beds, storefronts, storytelling, economic growth, and community traditions being built in real time — this recognition belongs to ALL of us.

Downtown Batesville continues to prove that revitalization is not just about buildings… it’s about people.

And friends… look what happens when people work together. ✨

04/30/2026

Part 3 of The River Haunt location history! In July 1886, the Sanborn Fire Insurance Map Company of New York visited Batesville. Their detailed drawing of the Arlington Hotel layout described a structure made of stone, three stories tall furthered with a tin-clad cupola above. The ground floor fronted 146 ½ feet on Main Street. A Billiard’s Room occupied the right-hand entry, with the hotel office at the left upon entry. The Dining Room with adjoining Kitchen also on the left. The main staircase ascended from the back of the Billiard’s Room. The Sanborn Map does not indicate any guest rooms on the first floor.

Immediately adjacent to the three story hotel building stood a two and a half story stone building which was referred to as the “Glenn Building”. In reality, it was not a truly separate structure. For example, the “Sample Room” (created for the use and convenience of traveling salesmen as a display room) section of the Glenn Building was fully accessible from inside the hotel building.

Block 13 of Batesville’s Old Town Addition
The Sanborn Fire Insurance Map Company, July 1886

Information from noted local historian Alan Bufford. :)

03/17/2026

Part 2 of The River Haunt location history! Thanks again to local historian Alan Bufford for his extensive research! Be sure to follow this page – there’s more to come! 📝

The earliest known operators of a hotel at the northeast corner of Main and Chestnut Streets (Chestnut Street, known as such since the town’s founding, was renamed State Street in the 1930s) were Thomas R. Taylor and his wife, Mildred Glenn Taylor. They held the hotel’s grand opening on Saturday, September 5, 1885, and named it the Arlington.

Why a new hotel in Batesville? Times were changing quickly. A new mode of transportation had arrived. The St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad had opened the first railway line into Batesville in 1882. Subsequent expansion of that line north along the banks of the White River brought new opportunities for commerce. While steamboats continued to ply the waters of the White River, shipping goods by river was subject to seasonal water levels. The northern-most year-round port facility on the White was at Jacksonport. If caught during low water, steamboats attempting travel further up river from Jacksonport could be stranded for weeks or even months waiting on the water to rise. Extension of the St. Louis and Iron Mountain White River Railway line put an end to these shipping delays. Goods shipped from Little Rock, New Orleans, Memphis, or St. Louis by steamboat could now be off-loaded at Newport and transferred to the railway line to continue their travels northwest. Batesville became the hub for rail commerce on the White River line. Therefore, a new and upscale hotel was needed to accommodate the “drummers”
(commercial salesmen) as well as the leisure travelers.

The new Arlington Hotel occupied prime real estate on Batesville’s Main Street. The St. Louis and Iron Mountain depot was conveniently situated on Lawrence Street, a mere four blocks to the south of the new hotel. And with the advent of the Batesville Street Rail Car Line in the 1890’s, this door-to-door mode of transport offered further convenience to the hotel’s guests.

03/13/2026

😍😍😍

👀 You asked… and we listened.

A special collaboration is bringing something brand new to Downtown Batesville this spring — and trust us, this one is going to be delicious.

Stay tuned, Downtowners…
the next big experience is almost ready to be served. 🍽️✨

03/09/2026

We are all excited about the future of The River Haunt in its new location! And what an exciting location it has been! During its 104 years anchoring the corner of Main and State Streets in downtown Batesville, the Arlington Hotel hosted a remarkable flow of personalities -- people famous and infamous, intertwined with events both celebratory and tragic. Townspeople held gala receptions, weddings, and banquets there. And in July 1952 President Harry Truman addressed the town folks of Batesville from his railcar platform behind the hotel.

Stay tuned for more information on this piece of Batesville history!

(The Arlington Hotel, Batesville, AR
Circa 1900. Information from noted local historian Alan Bufford.)

02/13/2026

Congratulations Gina! We are so proud of your accomplishments, and glad that you are part of the Batesville Downtown Foundation Board! ❤️

Lyon College President Dr. Melissa Taverner has announced the promotion of Gina Garrett, Class of 1993, to vice president of advancement.

Garrett has served Lyon College in a variety of advancement roles since 1995 and brings 30 years of experience in prospect development, grant writing, annual giving, alumni relations, and major and planned giving.

Learn more at: https://www.lyon.edu/news/posts/lyon-college-announces-gina-garrett-as-vice-president-of-advancement

01/21/2026

This wasn’t an empty lot.

The ground remembers.
The frame is rising.
The secrets aren’t buried.

RIVER HAUNT HOTEL
Check in October 2026.