The Cleburne County Historical Society recently moved into a new “old” home; the group is now headquartered at the old Post Office in Heber Springs, having left their former home, the Frauenthal House at 210 N. Broadway.
The Post Office was built in 1937 and originally served as the Federal Building, with the post office on the main floor and Department of Agriculture offices in the basement. The building was expanded in 1962 and sold to the county when a new post office was built in 1991.
The Cleburne County Historical Society “formed a partnership with the county to create a Cleburne County Historical Center, if you will, and moved here in March,” said Charles Stuart, society president.
Mickey Barnett, vice president, said, “We have expanded our space by at least 10 times, and we have a full basement under us.”
The society has not decided what to do with the Craftsman-style Frauenthal house, which they still own. The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was built by Max Frauenthal, “the father of Heber Springs and Cleburne County,” for his son, Clarence.
One exhibit at the new Historical Center shows the original post office mural — Mural of the Ozarks: From Timber to Agriculture — painted in 1939 by H. Louis Freund, who was a resident artist at Hendrix College in Conway from 1939-41 and head of the art department from 1941-46. He retired to Eureka Springs in 1967 and died in 1999.