Tim Mulvihill, UAFS Research Station
Believed to be the second oldest standing structure in Van Buren, the Willhaf house was constructed circa 1840 by Leonard Willhaf, a German immigrant and the owner of Van Buren’s first bakery. The house is now owned by the University of Arkansas - Fort Smith. In preparation for rehabilitation work on the house, and to learn more about the history of the property, a geophysical survey was conducted in May of 2016 by the Arkansas Archeological Survey. This was followed by limited excavations during the fall of 2016 to investigate some of the features identified by the geophysical survey. One large anomaly identified in the backyard was a forgotten cellar once associated with a now-removed addition onto the back of the house. And just to the east of the cellar was a concrete-capped well. A modern addition onto the back of the historic structure (built circa 1990) will be the future home of the Arkansas Archeological Survey’s UAFS Research Station.
