As promised to those on our e-mail list, here is the old Hamm Schoolhouse near Needmore.
Though this building is obviously beyond repair, it is a moving experience to gaze upon...and within! It's located literally INCHES from the county road and shocks the unaware traveler with its ill-kept majestic bulk. The old schoolhouse is literally being supported by the tress grown up around it.
It stands in the eastern central part of the county near what was once the
McElmurry Farmstead.
The earliest photos published of the school in the Izard County Historical & Genealogical Society's, "The Early Schools of Izard County, Arkansas" is 1915 so the school was built sometime prior to that. A.J. Hamm was the first postmaster of the post office that bore his name. The Hamm post office was first established in 1893 but was closed in 1906. It reopened in 1907.
Notice the similarity to the subject of
our previous post, the Jack Schoolhouse which is located within 3 or 4 miles.
For more info about the area, read our
post on Eastern Izard County.
