| Endangered List: Back To Main Page |
| City/County/Congressional District: • Stuttgart , Arkansas County (District 1 ) |
| Location Class: • Hotel/Motel |
| Year Built: • 1919 |
| Historic Designation: • National Register of Historic Places (1986) |
| Status: • Endangered |
When the Riceland Hotel in Stuttgart was built in 1919 through 1923, it was truly a community effort. The forty original investors included not only Stuttgart’s elite but, as the nomination states, “the remaining investors were average business owners and farmers who envisioned a successful future for the community.” The Riceland Hotel was the center of community life in Stuttgart, hosting notable guests such as Ernest Hemingway and Clark Gable, and also serving as a social center for military personnel from the Stuttgart Air Field. However, in recent decades, the Riceland Hotel has been closed and vacant. A lack of maintenance threatens the integrity of the building, and the Stuttgart City Council has declared the building a public nuisance and hazard. Even so, many of the hotel’s original features and grandeur remain just waiting to be restored. Today, the Riceland Hotel needs someone to come forward to take on the challenge of restoring and resurrecting this centerpiece of the Stuttgart skyline. As the nomination states, “It has been a local landmark for many generations and should be restored so as to provide future generations with a link to the history of the Grand Prairie.”