Also known as the Ficklin-Imboden house, this is a single-pen log structure with a gable roof, with a second pen added to the rear at a later date. Although its construction date is uncertain, it is believed to date to c. 1850, and to be the oldest extant example of residential architecture in Lawrence County.

Below adapted from Settlement of Lawrence County and Powhatan, 1803-1890 A Historic Context Written and Researched By Mary Ann Anderson and Ken Story:

While there are no extant historic buildings dating from the founding of Powhatan, the earliest example of residential architecture, the log house, dates from c. 1850 and is a fine example of the blended building traditions defined as Tidewater South and Midland, characteristic of earlier cabins extant in
Arkansas.

The Powhatan log house appears to have been built as a single-pen, side-gabled, dropped-roof cabin and improved by the later addition of a detached kitchen. The fact that Main Street developed around the loghouse supports the dating of this early residence and indicates that old patterns of living persisted in the midst of growth and change in Powhatan.

The historic name Ficklin-Imboden House has been assigned to this dwelling because Andrew H. Imboden was the earliest (1869) owner of the property (Block 4, Lot 6), which was documented at the Walnut Ridge and Powhatan Courthouses. In 1848, he married Lusinda E. Ficklin, in Powhatan, and this was probably their first home.

The house was occupied until 1970, by a Mrs. Josie Bulla, whose husband, Ed, a retired military serviceman, was a fisherman by trade. The house was also occupied by Justice of the Peace Tom Watson around 1920.

Historic photographs from the early nineteenth century indicate that the downtown commercial area remained centered at the junction of Main and First Streets well into the 1900s, with in-fill housing developing in blocks around that hub.