Commercial Building

Built in 1887, only 12 years after the invention of the telephone, this building served as Lawrence County's first telephone exchange. Standing at the corner of First and Main in the center of Powhatan's river port commerce, it later housed a drug store, law office, post office, general merchandise store, and even a residence. It is the oldest commercial building remaining in Powhatan. Powhatan had no banks, and during war and economic depression, when paper money and coins were scarce, businesses paid employees with notes of credit called scrip; merchants of this building's general stores returned that scrip to local businesses to collect payment. In 1887, Laura Wells used a switchboard here to connect telephone callers to their desired destinations, and the building also served as a post office from 1912 until 1933.

Powhatan, Arkansas · United States