The 1885 R. M. Knox House

The 1885 R. M. Knox House located at 1504 W. 6th Avenue, Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Said to have been paid for with gold coins, the Knox House was built in October 1885 by architect C. J. Faucette for Civil War veteran General Richard Morris Knox Sr. (1838–1915), one of Pine Bluff’s wealthiest and most influential citizens. The Knox House is a sprawling 4,442-square-foot mansion, the best-surviving example of Eastlake Victorian architecture in the state of Arkansas, and one of the few large Gilded Age mansions still standing in Pine Bluff. Featuring a T-shaped floor plan, a cross-gable roof, and a central four-story Second Empire mansard-roofed tower containing its original slate tiles and ironwork, the house is an extraordinary structure. One of its most notable features is its “widow’s walk,” sometimes referred to as a witches’ walk or roof deck, as well as an ornate two-story front porch with classical porch columns added around 1890. The porch has since been converted back to its original 1885 appearance, collapsed, and been demolished. It is one of the state’s finest examples of general Victorian-era architecture. 

Knox served under generals Earl Van Dorn and Nathan Bedford Forrest during the Civil War. He famously survived the conflict without ever being wounded, despite having two horses shot out from under him. After the war, he moved from Memphis to Pine Bluff in 1871 to open a dry goods store, which still stands on Barraque Street. Although the store building is currently dilapidated and at risk of demolition unless preservation efforts begin soon, it remains an important part of Pine Bluff’s architectural history. 

The Knox House reportedly remained in the possession of the original family’s descendants until around the turn of the century, when it was sold to a private owner and left to decay. More than twenty years later, as of 2026, the house is being restored by the newly formed nonprofit organization, the R. M. Knox Preservation Foundation. The house retains most of its original interior woodwork and exterior details. The kitchen is the primary exception, having undergone extensive remodeling in the 1980s, when the original cabinets were replaced. The home was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. The house retains its original nineteenth-century floor plan, with fifteen main rooms, excluding hallways, pantries, and storage rooms. 

The entire house is constructed with large shiplap walls packed with sawdust as an early form of insulation. These materials and construction methods are no longer readily available on the modern market. All doors and windows remain original to the house’s 1885 construction, including the original front door, which features acid-etched initials of Knox in the glass, and the original twist doorbell. Five fireplaces can be found throughout the house. Strangely, there is no fireplace in the dining room or in an upstairs bedroom, where one may have been removed in later years. 

The exterior front-door frame is a striking example of Victorian-era ornamentation. It features stained glass and two carved dog heads representing loyalty, fidelity, and guardianship. Corn is also molded into the door frame, symbolizing wealth, prosperity, agricultural abundance, and pride. Above the door is a large carving often referred to as a “Jenny Lind face,” although these figures are actually Columbia heads, inspired by the Columbian Exposition and stylized after Lady Liberty. These heads were commonly used on clocks and furniture and, in extremely rare cases, on the exteriors of houses, as one appears on the Knox House. Guests could admire these features while waiting at the entrance, where they served as immediate visual indicators of the family’s elevated economic status, social class, and wealth. A small head depicting an unidentified historical figure, apparently representing Christopher Columbus but not confirmed, is also featured. Like the exterior, the interior reflects the house’s elaborate Eastlake design. Notable features include the newel post and the slate fireplace in the formal parlor, with Eastlake designs painted on both sides of its facing. 

Knox added the antique iron fence, made by the company Stewart Iron Works, Cincinnati, Ohio, approximately ten years after the house’s original construction. The original fence was wooden, as was a boardwalk that once stood in front of the house. The boardwalk was later replaced by a cement sidewalk. The iron railings on the two balconies featured on the second-story bay windows are from St. Louis, Missouri. On the front of the central gable roof, above the bay windows, are the initials R. M. K. and the year 1885. The house also features its original carriage stepping stone in front of the entrance, with a brass inlay bearing the inscription “R. M. Knox.” It is one of only a few known surviving stepping stones in Pine Bluff. 

Unfortunately, the carriage house no longer stands, as it was once located in the backyard. During World War II, the house was converted into apartments to help alleviate the housing shortage. The only renovations involved adding a small kitchenette and constructing a wall in the breezeway to create a bathroom. During recent restoration efforts, several artifacts associated with the original Knox family, who first occupied the house, were recovered. These discoveries included several antique family photographs and antique barrels from Knox’s store building, including a magazine from the late 1800s addressed to his wife. Richard Morris Knox’s first wife was Martha Elizabeth “Mittie” Sparks, with whom he had nine children. Following her death, he married his second wife, Victoria Tucker, in 1883, when he was forty-five years old. Originally from Alabama, Victoria shared his life in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, where they had one son together and lived in the mansion. She survived him when he died in his bedroom at 1:00 a.m. on Tuesday, June 1, 1915, at the age of seventy-seven. His funeral was held in the house, most likely in the formal parlor, and he was later buried in the Knox family plot at Bellwood Cemetery. A wedding is also said to have taken place inside the formal parlor. 

A newspaper reported his death as follows: GEN. RICHARD M. KNOX Was Prominent Pine Bluff Banker and Veteran of Forrest’s Cavalry Special to the Gazette Pine Bluff, June 1.—General Richard M. Knox, 77, died at 1 o’clock this (Tuesday) morning. He was a native of Milan, Tenn., and had lived in Pine Bluff since 1871. He served in the First Mississippi Cavalry under General Forrest in the Civil War. He was vice president of the Citizens’ Bank of this city and established the R. M. Knox Company and the Knox-Walker Furniture Company. He is survived by a large family. 

Daily Arkansas Gazette Little Rock, Ark. June 1, 1915 Page 9

 Knox and the famed Jane Oliver, a formerly enslaved woman who made Pine Bluff history as one of its most influential citizens, were friends and business partners. She once borrowed $100.00 from Knox to purchase 202 acres of land. Jane Oliver purchased several lots of land from Knox throughout the time she knew him. A real estate transfer for Block 1, Lot 1, from R. M. Knox to Jane Oliver was published in 1902. In 1902, Jane Oliver purchased 3,000 acres from R. M. Knox. In 1908, she sold Block 1, Lot 1, which she had purchased from Knox in 1902, to J. S. Ingram. A quote from Jane Oliver's interview from around 1938, as she reflected on her life in Pine Bluff and her experiences as a formerly enslaved person, reads: "When I bought this place from Mr. R. M. Knox, he said, 'When I'm in my grave, you'll thank me that you took my advice and put your savings in a home.' I do thank him. I been here thirty years and I get along. God bless you." Oliver went on to accumulate hundreds of acres of land, a portion of which later became part of the campus for the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB). 

Today, I (Harley Edwards) lead the restoration project of the R. M. Knox House and have founded a nonprofit dedicated to saving this historic landmark. I first discovered the estate in 2021 as a ninth-grade student. While researching Victorian architecture, I stumbled upon a photograph of the Knox House, and it instantly became my favorite historic home. I soon realized the house was coincidentally located in Pine Bluff, Arkansas—just forty-five minutes from my hometown. When I first traveled to Pine Bluff, I expected to find an empty lot. Instead, I was met by a still-standing yet deeply dilapidated mansion. Amazingly, it was still occupied by an elderly resident, serving as a true, real-world embodiment of the Southern Gothic aesthetic. I monitored the property for several years, and following my graduation from DeWitt High School in 2025, I was able to purchase the property from its new owners. 

This intervention successfully saved the mansion from demolition, preventing it from being cleared for a used car parking lot. My ultimate vision is to restore the home to its original Gilded Age grandeur and establish it as something similar to a museum. As of October 2026, we have successfully replaced the roof on the rear section of the house, replaced some missing and rotting siding, cleared the debris from the collapsed two-story wooden porch, and completely remediated the interior, which was previously buried knee-deep in refuse. The house exhibits wonderfully strong bones due to its nineteenth-century construction and is in sound shape. You can follow our progress, view updates, and find information on how to donate to our nonprofit on Facebook at: Save The Endangered 1885 R.M. Knox House.