The Person:
From Wikipedia entry on Elisha Baxter:
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"Elisha Baxter (September 1, 1827 – May 31, 1899) was the tenth Governor of the State of Arkansas.
Baxter was born in Forest City, Rutherford County, North Carolina. He sought and obtained an appointment as a cadet to the United States Military Academy at West Point. Baxter's father, William Baxter, strongly opposed his appointment, and Baxter resigned it.
Baxter returned home and became a businessman. He ran a successful mercantile business in Rutherford County with his brother-in-law Spenser Eaves.
In 1852, Baxter moved to Batesville, Arkansas and opened a mercantile business with his brother, Taylor A. Baxter. It soon failed. Baxter joined the Whig party and was elected as mayor of Batesville in 1853. One year later he was elected as state representative from Independence County to the tenth general assembly. He studied law and, in 1856, was admitted to the Arkansas bar. He was reelected to the House in 1858 and served two terms from Independence County, leaving in 1860.
At the start of the American Civil War, Baxter refused to fight for the Confederacy and attempted to flee to Missouri. He was captured and tried for treason. He escaped north and joined the 4th Arkansas Mounted Infantry (USA), serving as colonel of that regiment.
In 1864, after Arkansas was occupied by Union troops, Baxter was appointed as Chief Justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court. In 1868 the Reconstruction-era state legislature elected him and Andrew Hunter to the US Senate, but he was not seated. There was controversy in Congress due to the southern states' refusal to extend the franchise to freedmen. From 1868 to 1872, Baxter served as a judge on the 3rd Circuit Court.
In 1872, Baxter was elected as a Republican Governor of Arkansas over Joseph Brooks in a controversial election that resulted in the Brooks-Baxter War. Baxter was physically removed from the governor's office by Brooks and state militia loyal to him. Baxter was not restored to the governorship until a month later.
During his term, state delegates passed a new constitution that shortened the term of the governor and restored the franchise to ex-Confederates. Baxter declined to accept the 1874 nomination for governor. Due to the disenfranchisement of most blacks in the 1890s, the Republican Party was reduced in Arkansas. Democrats established a one-party state that survived into the 1960s. Baxter was the last Republican governor to be elected in Arkansas until Winthrop Rockefeller in 1967, after the Republican Party began a revival there.
After leaving office, Baxter returned to his farm near Batesville. He ran for a position in the Arkansas House of Representatives in 1878 but was unsuccessful.
Baxter died in Batesville, Arkansas and is buried at Oaklawn Cemetery in Batesville, Arkansas.
Baxter County, Arkansas was named after Elisha Baxter."
The Place:
From the Wikipedia page for Baxter County, Arkansas:
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Baxter County is a county in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2010 census, the county's population was 41,513. The county seat is Mountain Home. It is Arkansas's 66th county, formed on March 24, 1873, and named for Elisha Baxter, the tenth governor of Arkansas.
The Mountain Home, AR, Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Baxter County. It is in the northern part of the state, bordering Missouri. It is commonly referred to as the Twin Lakes Area because it is bordered by two of Arkansas' largest lakes, Bull Shoals Lake and Norfork Lake. On its southern border is the Norfork Tailwater and the Buffalo National River.
Mountain Home, a small town whose origins date back to the early nineteenth century, is located in north-central Arkansas on a plateau in the Ozark Mountains. The natural environment of nearby Norfork and Bull Shoals lakes and the surrounding countryside has attracted tourists from around the country for many years.[citation needed] Educational institutions have also played a role in the life of the community.
The Baxter Bulletin weekly newspaper was named in 1973 by the Newspaper Enterprise Association as the "Best Overall Weekly Newspaper in the United States" in the over 10,000-circulation category. At the time it was published by Harold E. Martin and was the largest weekly paper in Arkansas."
The Courthouse:
From the National Register page for Baxter County Courthouse:
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"The Baxter County Courthouse is located on the courthouse square in Mountain Home which is created by Main, Baxter, 6th and 7th Streets. It is a three-story, public building designed by Fayetteville architect T. Ewing Shelton in the Plain/Traditional style with minimal Art Deco influences, and constructed by the WPA. It is of cut stone construction with buff brick veneered walls. This rectangular plan structure has a full basement and rests on a rough faced cut stone foundation that was laid on solid rock. Tr is capped by a flat built-up tar roof. One interior brick chimney rises from the center of the northern edge of the roof. All of the windows in the building are aluminum frame with a large upper stationary pane over a smaller rectangular hopper. "