Hornor House History

The History of a Home

Moore-Hornor Home
323 Beech Street
Helena, Arkansas

Built in 1859 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, this stately home is a wonderful example of asymmetrical Greek Revival and Italianate architecture within the Delta.

The home's exterior has been changed little since its construction. The kitchen, which was originally freestanding, was connected to the house and the front door was enlarged slightly. Magnificent wrought iron grillwork, reminiscent in the Italianate style, graces the entryway of the home.

Just inside the door, a long wooden staircase rises to the second floor. The home's 18-inch brick walls give each room a stately presence and balance the intricate molded plasterwork of rosettes and pierced cornices in star and other designs. Fireplaces with graceful mantels are in every room. Massive wood doors are feather-grained and a high pier mirror, said to have been there since the house was built, graces the front parlor. Huge sliding doors separate parlors on the left side of the house, one of which contains two bullet holes fired from behind the house during the Civil War.

Standing in front of the house, you can view Graveyard Hill, the site of one of the bloodiest battles during the Battle of Helena on July 4, 1863. Graveyard Hill is located directly behind the house and slopes down to join the yard.

Built in 1859 by Arthur Thompson, the home was purchased by Robert Caswell Moore from Washington L. Nelson. R.C. Moore enlisted, along with 96 other residents of Helena, in the 13th Arkansas Regiment (C.S.A.) and fought as a young lieutenant at the Battles of Belmont; Shiloh; Woodsville, Kentucky; Perryville, Kentucky; Chickamauga; Vicksburg; Dalton, Atlanta, Jonesboro and Allatoona, Georgia; and Franklin, Tennessee. At the war's end, Moore was in North Carolina trying to join forces with Lee's army. Of the 96 men who left Helena in May 1861, R.C. Moore was one of the few to return four years later.

John Sidney Hornor, who graduated from Virginia Military Institute in 1895, married R.C. Moore's daughter. Due to Moore's failing health, the Hornors moved into the home to care for him. They lived there until their deaths. Hornor, along with his cousin E.C. Hornor, founded West Helena and laid out the city as one of Arkansas's early major industrial developments. They built a streetcar line between Helena and West Helena, opening up what is now Oakland Avenue.

Hornor's son, Robert Moore Hornor, Sr., a successful planter, was born in the house in 1900. He lived in the house virtually his entire life.

After belonging to the Moore and Hornor families for 118 years, the Moore-hornor House now belongs to the people of Arkansas. The Delta Cultural Center is in the process of restoring the house using U.S. Department of Interior Guidelines for Restoration of Historic Places. In its new role as history-teller, the Moore-Hornor House will eventually share with its visitors a view of the past - the spirit and way of life that is the Arkansas Delta.