Museum Staff:
Shelley Gervasi - Curator
(shelley@sfcmuseum.org)

Mary Ann Callahan
(maryann@sfcmuseum.org)

Hours: Monday-Friday 10a-5p Phone: (870) 261-1744

Address:
603 Front Street
Forrest City, AR  72335

Mail:
P.O. Box 1332
Forrest City, AR  72336

Map:  here
Webmaster:  here



 

This is the second time the Rush-Gates House has served as a museum.  Dr. Rush, a Missouri native, started collecting prehistoric artifacts as a hobby a few years after his arrival in St. Francis County in 1900.  Mississippian Period native pottery and projectile points, along with fossilized mastodon bones, sea shells, and shark teeth (all unearthed locally) became part of Dr. Rush's waiting room displays.  The collection grew as more patients paid their medical bills with relics.

Display cases, filled with rare and beautiful native items, continue to be exhibited just as Dr. Rush arranged them decades ago.  Although an amateur archeologist, the physician maintained a record system for his "museum" very much like professionals use today.  Friends contributed additional objects from world travels, including an Eskimo harpoon, Mayan and Incan relics, African spears, and items from the South Pacific.

Other rooms in the museum illustrate the region's agricultural history.  There's also a tribute to area veterans of foreign wars and conflicts, and an exhibit on  St. Francis County communities and former courthouses. A huge clock-face, one of four that towered over the old 1897 courthouse, is on display, along with the building's massive cornerstone.

Another exhibit tells the story of Scott Winfield Bond (1852-1933), who was born into slavery in Mississippi and came to St. Francis County as a young man.  Bond starting renting farmland at age 22, and steadily built his agribusiness venture into a fortune.  He amassed some 4,000 acres, employed more than 400 families, and owned timber and milling operations, cattle ranches, and fruit orchards.  Bond was the state's first black millionaire.

The paintings of John Isom, local music and art teacher, and the story of Dr. John Emerson Burke, a dentist who became the first African-American to study at the Mayo Clinic, are also chronicled in the museum.  Another room houses an exhibit on Harrison E. Schellhous, who conducted the first surveys for the roadway that became U.S. 70 between Memphis and Little Rock.

Yet another room is the restored treatment room used by Dr. Rush.  His 1899 diploma, surgical items, examination table, lamps, and even a chart listing various medical service prices, are displayed.

The facility is also a tourist information center for the Crowley's Ridge Scenic Parkway, which follows Hwy. 1 through Forrest City.