About us

Vision: To exceed the expectations of our residents and families while inspiring hearts and minds.

Methodist Village Senior Living opened its doors on March 1, 1961, as Methodist Nursing Home, a non-profit entity to be operated on a non-sectarian basis. It was “the first in the United States within the Methodist denomination built specifically for this purpose.” T. L. Hunt, for whom the chapel is named, was chairman of the board of trustees, and R. A. Young, Jr. was chairman of the building committee. Other members of the board were W. A. Downum, David Conyers, Dr. Will H.  Mock, W. P. Connell, Elmo Thomason, Dr. Harold Wright, Roy Martin, and Stanley Evans.

The thirty-acre property was part of an eighty-acre site purchased from Frank Euper by the city in 1935, to be the site of two barracks buildings for several hundred transient workers in the WPA (Works Progress Administration). Two years later the camp was closed and replaced by the Wildcat Mountain Annex of the Arkansas Tuberculosis Sanatorium, used mostly for terminal cases, with accommodations for one hundred patients in ten buildings, until it closed in 1958.

Hugh Wolfe was the first administrator of the Methodist Nursing Home, and his wife was the registered nurse. The facility had fifteen double rooms and three single rooms; at the time of the dedication, half of the thirty-three beds had been reserved.  J. S. Davis and Son Construction Company was general contractor, and Chester Nelson was the architect.

The North Arkansas Conference of the Methodist Church transferred ownership of the thirty-acre property to Methodist Nursing Home of Fort Smith, Inc. on February 14, 1963.

A three-acre plot on the northwest corner of the property was conveyed to Bost School for Limited Children, Inc. in 1966.

Part of the nursing home property was deeded to Methodist Village, Inc. on February 28, 1974, and Methodist Village was built with financing by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. At this time the last of the remaining buildings from the tuberculosis sanatorium were demolished to make room for the Village apartments, which provided affordable independent living.  Currently we have twenty-one residents and it is our hope to include the addition of independent living cottages to our master plan. 

Methodist Village Senior Living expanded its mission to encompass assisted living and memory care with opening of a forty-five room Assisted Living/Alzheimer’s Special Care Unit (AL/ASCU) on November 17, 2017, with dedication remarks by Governor Asa Hutchinson.   The AL/ASCU opened in April 2019 and is at 100% occupancy.

The skilled care unit has now grown from thirty-three to one hundred forty-five beds, with occupancy consistently over ninety percent.

written by:  Dr. Taylor Prewitt