L.A. Black Rice Milling Association Inc. Office

United States historic place


L.A. Black Rice Milling Association Inc. Office
U.S. National Register of Historic Places


34°17′26″N 91°20′27″W / 34.29056°N 91.34083°W / 34.29056; -91.34083
Area	less than one acre
Built	1942 (1942)
NRHP reference No.	12001229^[1]
Added to NRHP	January 29, 2013

The L.A. Black Rice Milling Association Inc. Office is a historic office building at 508 South Monroe Street in DeWitt, Arkansas. It is a single-story brick structure with a low-pitch shed roof. Built in 1942, the building has minimal styling, with a recessed porch on its eastern facade sheltering the entries to two storefronts. It is notable as the only surviving element associated with the business activities of Lester Asher Black (1880-1945), a leading businessman in DeWitt. Black was the president of the First National Bank of DeWitt from its founding in 1912 until his death, and operated a rice mill (no longer standing) as well as a hardware and agricultural supply store catering to rice farmers. He also owned thousands of acres of land planted in rice, at a time when Arkansas was the largest national supplier of the crop.^[2]

The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
^ "NRHP nomination for L.A. Black Rice Milling Association Inc. Office". Arkansas Preservation. Retrieved 2014-10-30.