The Person:
From Wikipedia entry on John Pope:
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"John Pope (February 1770 – July 12, 1845)[1] was a United States Senator from Kentucky, a member of the United States House of Representatives from Kentucky, Secretary of State of Kentucky, and the third Governor of Arkansas Territory.
Pope was born in Prince William County, Virginia in 1770. He lost his arm during his youth and was known as "One-Arm Pope". He attended school at Salem Academy in Bardstown, Kentucky, and then graduated from the College of William & Mary. He studied law in Lexington under George Nicholas, primary author of the 1792 Kentucky constitution. He moved to Springfield, Kentucky where he was admitted to the bar. He practiced law in Washington, Shelby, and Fayette County, Kentucky.
Pope served as the presidential elector from Kentucky in 1801, and was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1802. He served in the House again from 1806 to 1807.[4]
Pope was elected as a Jeffersonian Republican to the United States Senate, serving from 1807 to 1813, and served as President pro tempore of the Senate during the Eleventh Congress in 1810 and 1811. His vote against the War of 1812 made since he leaned toward the Federalist Party at that time, but political gossip attributed this unpopular political stance to his wife's influence (Eliza Johnson Pope was daughter of an Englishwoman, Catherine Nuth, wife of Joshua Johnson, and she had spent much of her youth in England). The political fall-out led to his not running for re-election at the end of his term in 1813. He and his wife returned to live in Lexington, Kentucky where he practiced law and taught at Transylvania University.
Pope was appointed Secretary of State of Kentucky from 1816 to 1819, under Governor Gabriel Slaughter.
He served as a member of the Kentucky Senate from 1825 to 1829, and was also elected three times to the United States House of Representatives, initially as an Independent and then as a Whig, serving Kentucky's District 7 between 1837 and 1843.
From 1829 to 1835, he served as the Governor of Arkansas Territory. During his term as governor he arranged for the construction of the Old State House by the Kentucky architect Gideon Shryock. It remains the oldest surviving state capitol west of the Mississippi River."
The Place:
From the Wikipedia page for Pope County, Arkansas:
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"Pope County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2010 census, the population was 61,754. The county seat is Russellville. The county was formed on November 2, 1829, from a portion of Crawford County and named for John Pope, the third governor of the Arkansas Territory. It is an alcohol prohibition or dry county.
Pope County is part of the Russellville, AR Micropolitan Statistical Area.
A large Democratic majority was ardently split into a "town or country" dichotomy at the local level. Further, the county was split between Union and Confederate sympathizers, with deep grudges being held by both sides for grievances committed during the opposite's rule during the war. After the war, Republicans controlled local government and the Democrats controlled the county economy. The political situation and cultural differences kept tensions high between the groups, occasionally resulting in violence. The most violent episode came to be known as the Pope County Militia War, a six-month drama involving robbery, plundering and murder. The state-controlled militia eventually arrived to enforce martial law in the county, making the local Democrats who were providing armed resistance to Clayton's Republican army heroes to Confederate sympathizers around the state."
The Courthouse:
From the National Register page for Pope County Courthouse:
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"The dominant building in the Russellville Downtown Historic District is the Pope County Courthouse (PP00213) at 100 West Main Street. This four story brick building was constructed in 1931. Designed by H. Ray Burks, architect of many of Arkansas's courthouses, the building features elaborate Art Deco detailing typical of public buildings of the era.
The entryway is flanked by grooved stone trimwork that is two stories tall. This trimwork is topped by an entablature that has various carved designs and has a central Shield withe the date 1931 A.D.. The entablature is topped by an eagle with spread wings facing to the left. A recessed entablature above the doors has a sunrise carved into it."