Murphy-Hill Historic District



		The Murphy-Hill Historic District Information given below and in the captions for the photos included in these pages was taken from text provided by Rachel Silva, of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, as part of the "Walk Through History Tour" of the Murphy-Hill Historic District that she did on 4 April 2009. Unless otherwise noted, all photos were taken during that tour. The tour began at the John Newton House, moved to the Miles House just south of it, then continued north on N. Jackson, west on Church, north on N. Madison, west on Sheppard, south on Wilson Place, and west on Faulkner back to the John Newton House. Houses are named with the name of the person or family who owned the home at some time, or who were said to be living in the house according to the 1928-29 City Directory. Development in the Murphy-Hill HD occurred in primarily two phases. The core of the district, along N. Jackson St., is the oldest developed area in the district and one of the first residentially developed areas of El Dorado. The southern end of N. Jackson St. in the district was part of the original El Dorado town plat. The development of N. Jefferson and N. Madison were simultaneous, yet distinct developments. Actually, the N. Jefferson corridor was platted as the John Hill Addition in 1903, while the Madison corridor was platted as the Murphy Subdivision in 1921 (both districts began to fill in quickly after the oil boom). Most of the homes in this neighborhood were occupied by middle and upper-middle class people in the oil business, and multi-family units were constructed to appeal to oil brokers who traveled a lot or stayed in town for a short period of time. Please note: These pages were formatted for screens set to 800 x 600 resolution. If your computer is formatted to higher resolutions, and you are using Microsoft Windows, press CTRL + to increase the size of the image (and CTRL - to decrease it.) Anyone who owns one of these homes and does not want a photo of their home displayed, or anyone who notes any errors, can contact me by e-mail.