Dana Doughty, museum director, and a teller’s counter from the former People’s Bank.
After years in storage, a teller’s counter from the former People’s Bank has been reassembled and is now on display at the Bentonville History Museum.
The counter was inside the bank during an 1893 robbery, an event that’s become part of Bentonville lore and was recently featured in a documentary and a new book.
“This had been in pieces for years and moved from one place to another throughout Bentonville,” museum director Dana Doughty said. “This is the first time that it's assembled and on display.”
Information on historic newspapers and other banks that operated in Bentonville, as well as smaller artifacts of everyday life, have also been added.
It’s what Doughty called “the first wave of updates” in a process that will involve every exhibit in the museum and continue well into next year.
The room where the teller’s counter sits, located in the back of the building, will be dedicated to the Bentonville square.
In addition to its rich history as a hub of commerce and culture, the square continues to be a flashpoint in conversations about growth and development in Bentonville — something the museum doesn’t plan to shy away from.
Future upgrades will address the Confederate soldier statue that once stood in the center of the square. It was removed five years ago and remains a sore spot for some residents.
“There's got to be space for that conversation,” Doughty said.
Also on the to-do list: updating displays about Rabbit Dickerson and J Dickson Black, the destruction of Bentonville during the Civil War, and the history of the farmers market.
The changes are tied to plans to merge the Bentonville History Museum into the Bentonville Library. The move was postponed due to a downturn in the city’s finances this year. On Sept. 23, City Council passed a resolution officially stating that plans were delayed — but not abandoned.
“By the time we're ready at the end of next summer to revisit this integration into the city, this whole museum will have been lovingly updated to be of the quality that this town deserves,” Doughty said.
