The Latimore Tourist Home: A small move leads to big things
by Katherine W. Stewart, Preserve Arkansas Membership and Communications Coordinator
June 28, 2025
Before the 2018 release of the Oscar-winning film The Green Book, knowledge of the so-named midcentury guides for African American travelers was not necessarily widespread. But in Russellville, a sprawling and diverse group of residents had been visiting, passing by, and admiring the Latimore Tourist Home for decades.
The Latimore Tourist Home provided a safe haven for African American travelers in Jim Crow era America from 1939 until the mid-1970s and was listed in the Green Book from 1939 to 1966, when the Green Book ceased publishing. As the only remaining of two Green Book accommodations in Russellville (and one of only a handful still standing in Arkansas), the Latimore was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012. Despite this, by 2018, the building had fallen into disrepair, been condemned by the city, and was named to Preserve Arkansas’s Most Endangered Places list.
Russellville residents knew they had something special. The only question was how to preserve it.
“It was like this chessboard, and God was moving all the pieces into place,” says Betsy McGuire, vice president of the Friends of the Latimore Tourist Home (FOTLTH), the nonprofit group that has been responsible for the building since 2022.
Many things had to fall into place in order for the Latimore to be standing where it is today, at the corner of S. Houston Ave. and 5th Street, two-and-a-half blocks away from its original location at 318 S. Houston Ave. The building was owned by the New Prospect Missionary Baptist Church; upkeep was expensive, and the church also wanted to sell the land upon which the decrepit Latimore stood. A vacant lot nearby, owned by another church, was being considered for the placement of a cell tower, to which residents stood in firm opposition. Change was in the air.
Interestingly, it wasn’t exactly the home itself that brought the Friends together. At gatherings about the proposed cell-phone tower, numerous people who had long been admiring the Latimore and hoping to see it rehabilitated encountered one another, and the idea caught fire that the proposed cell lot, across the street from the historic James School Park — former site of Russellville’s African American School — would be the perfect location for the historic home.
“We had about a year-long battle,” McGuire says. “This was during COVID. A group of citizens had gathered under the trees right here and jumped on a public meeting virtually, passing the phone around to all have their three minutes to say why a cell tower at this location would be inappropriate. It laid the foundation for this group to formalize and then fight for and see that the Latimore could be right here.”
The New Prospect church was willing to relinquish the Latimore on the condition that it be moved; Bridge Church, which owned the lots across from James School Park, donated the lots to the FOTLTH, and the Latimore was sold to the nonprofit for one dollar in September of 2022. Thus began the first phase of the Latimore’s preservation.
The group quickly raised $20,000 to purchase an adjacent lot to temporarily house the building while a permanent foundation for it was prepared. And thanks to $130,000 in private donations and a generous discount from Combs House Movers, based in Ratliff, Ark., the Latimore was moved less than a month later.
“The moving company was backed up two years, but they dropped everything to come and move this house,” Randy Hendrix, FOTLTH board president, says. McGuire added that the utility companies arrived to disconnect power lines and trim trees to make way for the move, which was captured on video. “If you haven’t seen the video of that move,” McGuire says, “it will bring you to tears.”
McGuire is quick to add that the partnership between FOTLTH and the City of Russellville was instrumental in moving the project forward. “They do so many things that they don’t get recognition for,” McGuire says, including offering storage space in city offices and maintaining the grounds where the Latimore stands.
Hendrix leads a tour of the property, which begins in a small room off the primary living space in the Latimore’s shallow, late-19th-century I-shaped house. What would have likely originally been a bedroom will, in the future, house an office.
Hendrix points to a window where one of the Latimore girls used to climb in and out after late nights. Homeowners Eugene and Cora Latimore had two daughters, Anna Jean and Princess, and while Anna Jean was fairly straight-laced, Princess was, according to Hendrix, a bit more rambunctious.
“The doors would be locked when she came back,” Hendrix explains. “There was a big rock outside the window” that Princess would use to get in and out of the house after hours. Hendrix saved it, and the rock will be part of the home’s landscaping going forward.
Moving upstairs, everyone comments on the stability of the baluster and railing. And it’s true: For a house that’s been moved not once but twice, the staircase is remarkably solid.
Upstairs, where the Latimores would have housed travelers, Hendrix points out evidence of former inhabitants: “All of the important people would have been written on the wall,” Hendrix explains. “Pastors, doctors … we saved all of that.” Sections of wall were cut out and will be displayed in shadow boxes when the home ultimately opens as a museum and community center.
Back downstairs, memories flow around the dining room and kitchen, both of which were additions to the original 19th-century structure.
“Jay Jones [grandson to Gene Latimore] remembers a water cooler here in the window,” McGuire says, gesturing to a large, boarded-up space occupying one wall in the dining room. “They’d bring their pallets down and sleep on the floor in front of the water cooler.”
In the kitchen, aged linoleum still covers the floor. It’s a lovely floral pattern, but the colors are difficult to discern after years of age and neglect.
The kitchen figures greatly in the FOTLTH plans for the building in the future. Cora Latimore reportedly met every guest wearing a pretty apron and bearing a hot biscuit; the board has designed aprons with the home’s visage and logo to distribute and sell at fundraising events. And Eugene loved tending to his sprawling garden out back. Together, these serve as inspiration for what the Friends could do with the space.
“We don’t want this just to be a museum,” McGuire says. “We want a place that’s living and working.”
And thanks to a recent $100,000 grant from the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program — a major component of $310,000 raised so far and part of $660,000 expected total including future funding — those dreams are on their way to coming true.
Future plans could involve anything from a community center hosting space for local non-profit meetings to a reception space for small events. There are plans for an archive of local history, and to display historic photographs. Board president Hendrix, for one, would like to see regular education sessions for local youth that would help carry on the legacy of the home.
“After us, after this, who’s gonna take it on?” Hendrix says. “It doesn’t have to be a hundred kids. But if you can get 10 or 12 kids in here who can tell others how important it is … that’s our future.”
Perhaps one of the most important legacies of the Latimore Tourist Home is the way it has brought together an ostensibly disparate group of like-minded people to work in tandem for a common cause. And for a small nonprofit organization, with no paid staff members, they’ve been remarkably effective at both raising funds and generating community support.
And it seems the Latimores themselves were thinking ahead: During renovations, a pair of plaster chickens were discovered underneath the floorboards near the kitchen addition. It’s as if the Latimores wanted someone to find them, and the chickens have become an ersatz mascot for the home. The chicken figurines have been preserved in a museum-quality plexiglass box for future display, and there are plans to create chicken earrings and other memorabilia for sales at future art-market fund-raisers.
When asked for secrets to their success, FOTLTH member and recent Texas transplant DeBe Wilson explains it this way: “We show up. Not just one of us, but all of us. We show up.”
Birds of a Feather: Little Rock’s Chester Nests
by Katherine W. Stewart, Preserve Arkansas Membership and Communications Coordinator
June 14, 2024
The Chester Nests are a cluster of brightly colored cottages that hug the corner of Chester St. and Charles Bussey Ave. in Little Rock’s Dunbar School Neighborhood Historic District. Restored over the last two years by Angela and Bobby Mathews, along with Angela’s mother, Lynn Boyd, the Nests — impossible to miss with their exuberant paint palettes, like the plumage of tropical birds — currently serve as short-term rentals. The project was awarded Preserve Arkansas’s 2023 Preservation Award for Outstanding Service in Neighborhood Preservation and is just the latest in a campaign to restore vibrancy to some of Little Rock’s oldest neighborhoods.
The passion for preservation is a family affair with roots that go back half a century.
“It’s in your blood; I started doing this in 1974,” Lynn says, smiling at daughter Angela.
First there was a house in Hillcrest, Angela explains, where they started DIYing — though they both insist that was primarily cosmetic work. Then Lynn bought another house, which they also updated. Then Angela and Bobby got married and moved to the Central High neighborhood, where they planned to buy a huge house that they would all live in and rehab together.
“Tony Curtis showed us this house in Central High, and we basically fell in love with the staircase,” Angela says. “The rest of the house was a mess.”
“And the stained-glass window!” Lynn interjects.
“The stained-glass window, the staircase, and it still had all the original trim — that was not painted,” Angela emphasizes.
That was their largest project to date and the first in which they utilized historic tax credits to assist with the financing. It’s also where they met many of the contractors and craftspeople that they would continue to work with on future projects — including the Chester Nests.
“We decided that if we could do one house, why not do three?” Angela says. 
The shotgun cottage — the first to be restored, now named the Hummingbird — popped up on the MLS, and Angela had always wanted to do a tiny house. Bobby was traveling for work at the time, but Angela and Lynn went to look at it.
“I fell in love with the shotgun house … and then we were under contract before Bobby got back,” Angela says, chuckling. “I feel like it takes a special type of person to walk in and think, Oh, these are awesome, because there were holes in the floor, and the whole house was tilted.”
Their intent was to acquire the shotgun cottage along with the neighboring duplex on Chester St. and a cottage around the corner on Charles Bussey Ave., then use state and federal historic rehabilitation tax credits to restore all three, creating what Angela refers to as a “tiny house commune” of Airbnb properties; the rental income combined with the tax credits would make the project financially feasible.
But first, they had to actually acquire the properties — which is often easier said than done, especially when there are complicated ownership issues. Fortunately, Angela is a real-estate attorney with plenty of title experience, so they were able to work with the title company, insurers, and the family to reach an agreement.
“How we end up with a lot of heir property issues is that people assume if you have a will, you have the paper,” Angela explains. “But the will has to be probated, and if you don’t do it within a certain amount of time, it’s like not having a will.”
“This is why I strongly encourage beneficiary deeds,” she continues. “With the deed, you don’t have to worry about probate; it just goes to wherever you say it goes to.”
Having taken possession of all three dwellings, it was time to get to work, which included not just a lot of the cosmetic work that the trio had become accustomed to, but repairing or replacing roofs, floors, walls, windows, foundations, and interior and exterior features in various states of degradation.
Angela can’t stress enough how important it is to have a contractor who wants and knows how to work on historic properties.
“Not every contractor wants to, or will, or can work on old houses,” she says. “It takes a special contractor, because nothing is going to be square; nothing is going to be level.”
Between their years of DIY experience and a small army of subcontractors, plumbers, electricians, craftspeople, and helpful friends, it took them two years from start to finish to get the first three Nests, plus an additional one acquired after work began, finished and ready to rent. And that includes facing a major and unanticipated snag from the city.
“The city wasn’t regulating short-term rentals when we started this project, and then in the middle of it, they started talking about passing short-term rental regulations, and there was a whole rezoning process,” explains Angela.
Knowing that their project wouldn’t be feasible without the rental component to help recoup their investment in the restoration, they tried not to panic. They went to countless board and planning commission meetings trying to convince the city that short-term rentals could be a good tool for development.
“It ended up being okay, granted, but it was a very costly, very long process getting approved by the city,” says Angela.
The hard work has paid off: The Chester Nests maintain a high occupancy rate (with the shotgun hovering near 100%) and have earned Airbnb’s “Guest Favorite” and “Top 1%” badges. Even without setting foot inside, it’s easy to see why. The cheerful exteriors of the Hummingbird, Heron/Mockingbird, Goldfinch, and Robin are intended to make people happy.
Inside, the bird theme — the idea for which Angela credits to local preservationist Paul Dodds — continues with modern bird-motif wallpaper that forms the basis of the color palette for each house. And while each is different, they’re complementary and stand together as a cohesive whole.
“The neighborhood needed something to make people smile, to give them hope again,” Angela says. “I channeled the whole New Orleans colorful vibe, and I think for the most part, the neighbors have been happy with our choices.”
Indeed: The owner of the house next door to the Goldfinch was so pleased by their work that he sold them his family home, saying he wanted them to transform his house, too. That will be their next project, followed by the Funk House, a large pale-red house with a stunning Palladian window that sits on a hill at the other end of the block.
“I looked at Angela and said, ‘They’re going to tear out that window,’” Lynn says. “I said, ‘Well, we’ll just have to buy it.’”
When asked if they had any advice for those wishing to take on a restoration project, Angela and Lynn are unanimous in their suggestions: Talk to other old house people, learn as much as you can on YouTube, be patient, and look into tax credits.
“And don’t rip out your original windows.”
Questions or comments about this article? Reach out to Katherine W. Stewart at kstewart@preservearkansas.org.