Museum director out after disagreement over future of Hinderliter

Stephanie Wade, the director of the Historic Arkansas Museum for more than five years, was forced out of her job over her objection to a proposal to turn a 200-year-old historically preserved building into a working tavern – a proposal that was later nixed – according to two museum commission members.

“My understanding is that staff told Stephanie Wade that she had to get on board with the Hinderliter project and when she said she couldn’t do that because she didn’t think the project was advisable, she was asked to retire at the end of this year,” museum commissioner Gordon Rather said on Monday.

At the August meeting of the Historic Arkansas Museum commission, several executives with the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism told commissioners for the first time about a plan to turn the Hinderliter Grog Shop into a working tavern. The building, constructed in 1827, is the oldest standing structure in Little Rock and one of the oldest in the state, according to an entry in the Encyclopedia of Arkansas.

According to the minutes of that meeting, some of the commissioners were concerned that the project would erode the structural and historic integrity of the building, suggesting instead that period beverages could be served in the cafeteria area of the main museum structure rather than disturb the Hinderliter.

Information from the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism, gained through a Freedom of Information request from the Arkansas Times, shows that the plan had been in the works as far back as May 2025, when Brooke Fleming, historic preservation project coordinator, produced a feasibility study on turning the building into a bar. 

In a Jan. 13, 2026, email from Fleming to, among others, Kate East, who represented AMR Architects, the Little Rock firm developing the plan for the grog shop, said, “Due to the sensitive nature of this project, we will not be working directly with HAM staff at this time, but will instead be working with DAH (the Division of Arkansas Heritage) and P&D (the Planning and Development staff within the division) leadership.”

Another commissioner, Rex Nelson, a columnist for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, wrote about the subject in his Sunday column, saying that Wade “insisted that commissioners be made aware of the plan” even though the governor didn’t want to tell them. “That insistence cost her a job at which she excelled,” Nelson wrote, calling Sanders’ plan for the old structure “ridiculous.”

At the August meeting, Heritage director Mary Ryall said that turning the Hinderliter into a period tavern would dovetail with the 30-Crossing Park being planned a few blocks away underneath the superstructure of Interstate 30. 

In response to the concerns about the proposed project, Commission Chairman James M. “Butch” Warren named three commissioners to join Ryall to discuss the proposal more thoroughly. But that get-together never happened. Two days before the Oct. 22 meeting, Ryall informed the three of the cancellation.

“The Hinderliter project we had been exploring is now on hold indefinitely, and at this point there’s nothing new or substantive to discuss,” he wrote.

By then, however, the die had been cast for Wade.

“By the time the project had been placed on hold,” Rather said, “Stephanie was already in the process of doing what was necessary to retire from her state position.”

So Wade quit over what ended up being a non-issue? Rather was asked.

“You’ve summed it up well,” he responded.

Asked if the commission members were consulted by Ryall to get their thoughts on Wade’s future, Rather said they had not.

The interaction – or lack of it – between Ryall and the commission members as to the direction of the museum and who will run it put an exclamation point to the fact that the commission has no independent oversight any longer. That is thanks to a law passed in 2025 that shifted the Historic Arkansas Museum Commission and several other such entities under the control of the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism, the head of which – Ryall, in this case – answers directly to Sanders.

Rather said he had known Wade for several years and that she had excelled in her position.

“Stephanie is a longtime friend of mine,” Rather said. “I’m very fond of her. She did an absolutely exceptional job as our executive director, and I’ll miss her.”

In his emailed comment to the Arkansas Times, Ryall did not mention Wade being forced out of her job.

“Stephanie has provided dedicated leadership to the Historic Arkansas Museum, guiding the institution with professionalism and a commitment to preserving and sharing Arkansas’ history,” he wrote. “As she begins her well-earned retirement, we thank her for her service and the lasting contributions she has made to the museum.”

When Wade was promoted in 2021 to take over the Historic Arkansas Museum, she had been a historian with the Department of Arkansas Heritage since 2017, according to the Heritage website. Wade, who is in her mid- to late-50s, is a native Arkansan and holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree in history from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. After she graduated, Wade worked at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History, according to the website.

She declined to comment for this story.