Kirkbride Potts, with help from his wife Pamelia Logan Potts, designed and constructed this large and stately building between 1850 and 1858. He patterned it after the Classical Revival style he knew in his home state of Pennsylvania; however, he built it with local labor and native materials. Lumber for siding and trim, bricks for chimneys, and laths and plaster for walls were designed and finished on site. Only doors, mantels, and glass window panes were factory made and shipped up the Arkansas River.
The building served as a post office, a social and cultural center, an inn, overnight Butterfield Stage stop, and home. The Butterfield line closed at the beginning of the War in 1861. With the stage line gone and four years of devastating war and its aftermath, Potts Inn changed. The inn provided fine accommodations for early travelers and new customers. For example, it furnished food and lodging for surveyors and engineers working for the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railway Company. Pamelia Potts died August 5, 1878 and Kirkbride followed, November 27, 1879. Both are buried in Potts Cemetery overlooking the land of Galla Creek. Potts' descendants occupied the home until they sold it to the Pope County Historical Foundation in 1970.
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