05-06-2025
Historic Arkansas Museum reopens oldest original building in Little Rock after restoration
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The Historic Arkansas Museum has completed the restoration of what is considered the oldest original structure still standing in Little Rock.
Museum officials said the oldest structure title belongs to the Hinderliter Grog Shop at 3rd and Cumberland Street in Little Rock, which was built circa 1827-1828. The hand-hewn log, two-story structure was once considered the original meeting place of the Arkansas territorial legislature, but historians later disproved that claim.
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Museum officials said proprietor Jesse Hinderliter died in 1834, and the grog shop was sold at auction to become a tenement with a restaurant and laundry business in the 1880s. A restoration began in 1939.
It opened in 1941 as the Arkansas Territorial Restoration, now known as the Historic Arkansas Museum. The Hinderliter building will celebrate its 200th anniversary in 2027, according to museum officials.
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The Encyclopedia of Arkansas describes the grog that Hinderliter served as rum, sometimes watered down and served warm.
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