‘Polly’s Dream’ gazebo moving to Clayton House

story info submitted by the Clayton House and Fort Smith Heritage Foundation

The Fort Smith Heritage Foundation, which operates the Clayton House Victorian mansion and museum in Fort Smith’s Belle Grove Historic District, will see a 2-year project come to fruition today (Sept. 1).

The large Victorian gazebo named “Polly’s Dream” is scheduled to be moved from its location next to the Fort Smith Little Theatre and behind the former Fort Smith Art Center a block down Sixth Street to the Clayton House lawn.

The gazebo, formerly belonging to the Art Center and later acquired by the theatre, is being given to the Clayton House, which secured donations in order to make the move possible.

Anglen Crane of Pocola is expected to set up a crane at 8 a.m. behind the historic Vaughn-Schaap House, 423 North Sixth Street (formerly the Fort Smith Art Center and now the office of U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, R-Rogers). The crane will hoist the octagonal, 20-foot-diameter, 2-story-tall gazebo off the lot and place it on a trailer.  (Anticipated time of the actual lift will be 30 minutes after beginning of crane set-up.)

The trailer will move up “E” Street to Sixth Street and travel north to 514 North Sixth Street. Anglen will have another crane waiting at the Clayton House to lift the gazebo off of the trailer and place it on the new concrete foundation in the side yard of the circa-1882 historic house museum.

The block of North Sixth Street from “E” to “F” streets will be temporarily closed with the assistance of the Fort Smith Police Department. The moving process will take three to four hours, according to Stan Anglen, owner of Anglen Crane.

“Wonderful support by some of the area’s best businesses have made this dream come true for the Clayton House,” Robin Clegg, foundation board member who has chaired the project, said in a statement. “It’s really a dream-come-true for the community, because the Clayton House will be strengthened in its offerings of cultural and educational activities as well as wedding and party opportunities.”

All labor and materials were donated by Leo Anhalt, president of SSi Incorporated; Anglen Crane, Inc; Arkhola Sand & Gravel Co.; and Bucker & Fleming, Inc. Jeff Beauchamp, president of Bedford Camera, helped formulate the project and provided guidance throughout.

When the Fort Smith Regional Art Museum moved to its new location on Rogers Avenue in 2009, the Vaughn-Schaap house was purchased by Belle Grove Historic District businessman Fred Williams. The gazebo and the land it sits on were sold to the neighboring Fort Smith Little Theatre, (FSLT), which in turn agreed to allow the Fort Smith Heritage Foundation to move the gazebo and become its new owners.

Built in 1997 with SSI being one of the major donors, the gazebo was dedicated to Polly Crews, director of the Art Center who had dreamed of having a gazebo for community cultural events. For the move, SSI has secured the gazebo with steel beams, as well as led the project of guiding the placement of a new foundation on the Clayton House lawn.

The project was the dream of PollyAnna Core, a long-time Fort Smith Heritage Foundation board member. Core had learned of the Fort Smith Little Theatre’s need for more parking space and made the request for the gazebo to FSLT board member Nancy Blochberger.

“I had always admired the gazebo,” Core says. “I was so happy when she called with the wonderful news that we could have it! I said that we have no money, but we would work to obtain donations.”

The Clayton House is the restored family home of William Henry Harrison Clayton, the federal prosecutor in the court of celebrated frontier Judge Isaac C. Parker. William and Florence Clayton raised six daughters and one son in the home from 1882-1897.

Clayton worked closely with Judge Parker and prosecuted more than 10,000 cases in the quest for law and order in the 74,000 square miles of Indian Territory and western third of Arkansas. Clayton and his family left Fort Smith in 1897 when he became judge of the U.S. Court of the Central District of Indian Territory.

Fort Smith citizen Julia Yadon saved the Clayton House from scheduled demolition in 1969. The Fort Smith Heritage Foundation formed in 1970 with Yadon serving as president. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places and restored to its 1882 Victorian design. Open for tours since 1977, the Clayton House provides history programs as well as an elegant setting for weddings, receptions and meetings.

The Clayton House is open for tours from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday. A membership drive is being conducted to ensure the museum’s financial strength to operate and preserve the woodframe Antebellum home. The original home was built in the early 1850s and then enlarged and remodeled when Judge Clayton purchased it in 1882.