High winds and dry conditions amplified a fire that started at St. Joseph Center in North Little Rock around 5:40 p.m. March 19, destroying the roof with its iconic cupola and some of the center’s interior.
Staff believes the fire started in the attic.
According to reports from the North Little Rock Fire Department, the fire began before 6 p.m. on the feast day of St. Joseph, but the exact cause is currently unknown. NLRFD crews were assessing the center’s grounds in the early morning hours of March 20 as multiple units from the North Little Rock Police Department secured the scene.
Arkansas Catholic was allowed onto the property as crews assessed the structure. The morning light revealed that the center’s iconic red tile roof was gone. The chapel, with its arched stained glass window featuring children, was destroyed.
The Diocese of Little Rock built St. Joseph Orphanage and farm in 1910 with the Benedictine sisters of St. Scholastica Monastery in Fort Smith operating it until 1978. The 56,000-square-foot, four-story yellow brick and stone building, modeled after an Italian villa, was crowned with a cupola topped with a cross. Of the 720 acres once maintained by the sisters, only 63 acres are still owned by the diocese.
After the orphanage closed, the sisters ran a kindergarten and daycare for local children until 1997.
The diocese operated a retreat center there until 2010, when it signed a 50-year lease with St. Joseph Center of Arkansas Inc. Since then, the center has been used for art studios and an Airbnb. Outside, there is an organic urban farm and farm stand.
St. Joseph Center posted on Facebook the evening of March 19, “Everyone is safe. Animals are safe. Building is still burning. It started in the attic, and we do not know the source. Prayers are appreciated. Will update soon.”
A few hours later, executive director Sandy DeCoursey posted another update, saying, “Your outpouring of love and support for St. Joseph Center of Arkansas is overwhelming. I’ve just gotten home and am now reflecting on the events of the day. Smoke permeates our clothes and lungs as reminders of the devastation. I’m so very grateful to all those who worked tirelessly to try and salvage the building while putting out fires all over the property. Thankfully, there was no loss of life (humans or animals). But, the loss is great indeed.
“This building is home to what we lovingly refer to as ‘farmily’…the staff, volunteers, artists, gardeners, farmers/interns, animal ambassadors, Farm Stand patrons and others who have poured their heart and soul into the restoration of this place over the last 15 years. The community of North Little Rock/Little Rock has helped St. Joseph’s thrive and grow. And, we’re going to need your help to bounce back.”
In an interview with Arkansas Catholic, DeCoursey said she has experienced a lot of emotions since the fire.
“The unknown is always the worst,” she said. “And standing there watching that inferno did not leave me with much hope that there’d be anything salvageable. But fortunately on Thursday (March 20) we were allowed to come through the building with the fire marshal, and I was absolutely amazed how much is still intact and untouched. It’s just incredible. That structure is a concrete building and, and I’d always touted it’s just unburnable. So I guess I got my comeuppance now. But now, I’m going back and saying, ‘Well…’ because, honestly, there’s linens next to the laundry room stacked and untouched and the beds in the Airbnb are still made and the art for the artists on the wall. Yes, there is damage, there’s no doubt there’s gonna be a good bit of loss, but it’s not complete. And that’s just one message we want to get out there — there’s still hope.”
DeCoursey said she has been sharing the steps that will follow with their supporters.
“This is the diocese’s property,” she said. “They are the owners, and they will be determining all paths forward. So I want to be respectful of that and clear that we are abiding by that and working with them. … My hope is that the costs won’t be too overwhelming, and the diocese will be able to give us a path forward. … I’m being cautiously optimistic … it all hinges on what this engineer has to say and also the insurance adjuster.”
But in spite of everything, DeCoursey is hopeful for the future, and she knows the community is, too.
“It’s spring; that is a hopeful time,” she said. “You’re looking at rebirth all around us. So the good news is our farming and gardening and animal operations are all going to move on without missing a beat. … At the end of April, we had already slated the inaugural farmer’s market on April 24 and we’re going to try to go ahead with that.
We were hoping to have some semblance of a farm stand back up and running at that point. And then on Saturday (April) the 26th, that is our Earth Day celebration. So we’ll have a lot of activities around that time as well, where the public can come out. We’re just trying to figure out logistics of parking and traffic patterns and how to get in and out safely. And once we get all that done, then we will let people know and encourage them to come out and see us.”
Jim Driedric, diocesan property services manager, said the insurance company Catholic Mutual would have professionals on-site starting March 25 to begin the process of assessing the building and determine where the fire started.
“We feel bad that it happened, but we really don’t know much until the investigators arrive,” he said.
St. Scholastica Monastery, which oversaw the building and grounds for 87 years, said on Facebook, “This building, the memories it holds, is a precious part of our history. We are heartbroken. St. Joseph’s has continued to be so important to our community. We are grateful that no one was hurt.”
Attendance to the 11th Feast of St. Joseph Celebration on the grounds March 22 was limited to local artists and staff only.
“Due to liability reasons, we can only gather with our immediate family tomorrow (farmers, artists, gardeners, animal ambassadors and staff),” a March 21 Facebook post read. “When we can safely host a larger community event, we promise we will …”
The post included a photo of the front gate covered with signs, gifts and tokens from the local community. One vibrant sign read, “Your community is with you!”
One of the artists in attendance was Kevin Kresse, a local sculptor known for his statues of Johnny Cash, Msgr. Lawrence Frederick and others. Kresse had used St. Joseph Center as a studio for several years.
“I had just moved my studio out a couple of months ago after years being out there, but there are like 30 artists out there, which as an artist makes sense,” he said. “It’s such a bucolic, inspiring, beautiful place to be and to take a break and walk around the grounds out there. It’s a perfect place to have a studio, but then there are so many other people out there — the gardeners and the people working the land and the animals and everything. So the family’s extensive, and everybody was really hurting from this one.”
For Kresse, the connection to St. Joseph Center goes deeper than his career. His parents met at St. Joseph Center as teenagers, and his great-uncle built much of the furniture on the property.
“My wife Bridget and I were out there the other day at the entrance, and people had pulled up and a woman got out. She was one of six (siblings) that had been put there. She and her brother were very emotional talking about their ties to it. And then, as they were leaving, we all hugged, and then I saw them talking to two other people, and you hear them talking about, ‘Oh, my grandfather…’ So it’s like we’re all siblings of St. Joseph’s. It has that unique ability to bind people together like no other place I’ve seen.”
Above all else, DeCoursey is thankful.
“The message I really want to impart is just to thank the community for their moral and physical support,” she said. “They’ve just rallied, and we feel those thoughts and prayers and that’s what’s keeping us all going. And the team here is just amazing. We’ve got everyone working hard to try to keep things moving and communications team in place to get information disseminated.”
Malea Hargett contributed to this article.
How you can help
St. Joseph Center is accepting donations at https://bit.ly/stjosephfire to help recover from the March 19 fire.
The donations will help with the losses so far.
“We had one permanent resident and three WWOOFers (a volunteer participating in the World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms program) in the building whose belongings are gone and are now without housing. We had 30 artists with studios in the building whose artwork and workspace are gone. We had history dating back as early as the 1900s when our building was constructed as an orphanage and operated by the Benedictine sisters, all gone. We had five farmers working onsite in our high tunnels and blackberry rows to produce for our farmstand. We have seven permanent staff and many part-time helpers without a job to return to. We have goats, chickens, ducks, cows, donkeys, sheep, bees and our farm dog, Peaches, who are thankfully all OK. Not to mention all our wonderful volunteers who considered St. Joseph’s as a second home, or a getaway from home,” the donation post read.
DeCoursey said individuals who want to help are encouraged to call.
“We’re keeping a spreadsheet of folks who call and offer help … All of that, every little bit, goes a long way. … We had already started plans for the reunion (July 5), asking parishes to help us with the carnival pieces, to recreate some of what they used to do out here with booths and that sort of thing. So we’re moving forward with that and we still need a lot of hands, so I put a plea out for help with that.”
Call St. Joseph Center at (501) 482-1908 or visit its website at stjosephcenter.org for more information.
