A visit from two zookeepers from the Little Rock Zoo drew a crowd Thursday at Barton Library. Animals including a tortoise, a tarantula and Vinny the African Blackfoot Penguin were shown to children as part of the Union County Public Library System s annual Summer Reading Program. The zookeepers gave informative talks about each animal and answered questions. On Saturday at 2 p.m., South Arkansas Historical Preservation Society curator Darrin Riley will visit the library for a presentation about the Michael Fitzgerald Collection in continuation of the Summer Reading Program.
El Dorado, Ark. (KTVE/KARD) In this week's "Did You Know" segment - sponsored by the South Arkansas Historical Preservation Society - Steve Biernacki takes us to the old Lion Old Headquarters. The Exchange Bank building, formerly the Lion Oil Headquarters, is a historic commercial building at Washington and Oak Streets in El Dorado, Arkansas. Built in 1926–27, the nine-story building was the first skyscraper in Union County, and it was the tallest building in El Dorado at the time of its listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. It was designed by the Little Rock firm of Mann & Stern and is an eclectic mix of Venetian-inspired Revival styles. It was built during El Dorado's oil boom and housed the headquarters of Lion Oil. It was included in the El Dorado Commercial Historic District in 2003.