The southern two-thirds of this building is one of the oldest, possibly the oldest structure in southern Lafayette County. Its exact construction date is unknown, but the first children to study in it were born in the 1800s. Before it was disassembled and reconstructed at Bradley, it stood two miles west of here in the northeast quadrant of the Walnut Hill crossroads and served as Walnut Hill's main school building. In 1842, Arkansas' first governor, James Sevier Conway, moved into his new home, called it "Walnut Hill," and established the post office under the same name. From then until the end of the nineteenth century, Walnut Hill was the area's social, trade, and educational center, but with the coming of the railroad, Bradley gradually became the center. By 1828, the Walnut Hill school had closed and its main building was moved to Bradley, where it provided classrooms for grades one through four. Two rooms were eventually added on the north side, but the original structure, where many Roane Township citizens began their formal education, remains as it was more than a century ago.