Russell Fine Arts Center

On March 17, 1923, H.B.C. acquired a two-acre tract of land offered school by Rev. Archelaus Turrentine and his family “in payment of their directed gifts to Henderson-Brown College.” The Trustees agreed to accept this offer on condition that the College be given “an option on the homeplace of Rev. A. Turrentine should the place ever be offered for sale”. Immediately north of the campus and approximately 504 feet by 173 feet, the tract was valued at $515.00.

In September, 1961, Henderson received an appropriation of $500,000 toward the construction and equipping of a new Fine Arts Building to replace Key Hall. The building would be located on the west campus facing Twelfth Street. For the site to be prepared, however, the Board agreed on June 15, 1963, to purchase the property owned by Mrs. Florence Turrentine for $33,500. On July 6, 1963, Mrs. Turrentine deeded the property, consisting of a one-story red brick house on a lot 163 feet by 180 feet, to the College.

Ready for use in September, 1964, The Fine Arts Center contained 12 classrooms, 8 studios, 24 practice rooms, faculty offices, and an auditorium with a seating capacity of 220. It housed the Departments of Art, Speech, Drama, and Music. Like all other buildings constructed during the 1960's, the Fine Arts Center was air conditioned.

The Fine Arts Building featured materials recommended by the architect, Dan Stowers, and was the only building on campus of white brick. Consequently, this white building became a conversational topic in Arkadelphia. And, quite naturally, students and others were quick to refer to this “colossal, or... 'whale'” of a building as Moby Dick. Although the name was “justly imaginative,” it did not “do justice to the beauty and architectural design that has been accomplished in the construction of the Fine Arts Building.” The Oracle wished “to dispel the usage of the term ‘Moby Dick' on such a beautifully constructed building”. Surrounded in today by red brick buildings to the north, east, and south, the Fine Arts Building was just as noticeable as it had been in 1964.

In 1974, the College renamed the building Russell Fine Arts Center in honor of President Manley Holland Russell, who had died five years previously.