A charming events center in the making: The old Harlin House gets new owners and a new 'life'

The Harlin House, a grand, three-story home that has stood for 114 years as a beloved Gainesville landmark, is about to begin its next chapter of “life.” On Feb. 20, Mike and Heather Gardner bought the old mansion from the Harlin family, represented by Chris Harlin, Century Bank of the Ozarks CEO and board chairman and great-grandson of the late Johnny and Clara Harlin, who built the house in 1912.

Like Chris Harlin, Mike Gardner has deep roots in Ozark County. A 1989 Gainesville High School graduate, Mike grew up on land in the Souder area that his pioneer ancestor homesteaded in the early 1800s. Heather Craig Gardner, who grew up in Oregon, holds a B.A. degree in business administration from Southern Oregon University. In 2014, after teaching English for three years in Thailand, she moved to Ozark County to be near her mother, Theda Craig Wallis, who lives in the Wasola area. Soon after arriving, she met Mike Gardner. They were married in 2020 and have been busy launching and acquiring a wide variety of area businesses together, including a farm in Wasola, a few Airbnbs, Ozarks Wifi, Gardner Farm Waterline and Tank Installation, Ozarks Tire, a restaurant property, a restaurant building in Theodosia occupied by Fyre Fry’s, and a new store called USA Grazing Systems that launches soon. In March 2025, they purchased Antler Package and Pizza in Gainesville, and just last month, they bought the adjoining Antler Motel. 

A place for social and business gatherings

In a few weeks, the Gardners plan to reopen the Harlin House as a local events venue equipped to host large and small gatherings for almost any purpose customers might need. Possibilities include weddings, birthday and graduation parties, family reunions and holiday get-togethers, car show cruise-ins, baby and bridal showers, fundraiser dinners, and club or business meetings. 

“We see people come into the Antler to have a business meeting with their employees, and it’s not a good fit,” Heather said. “The Antler can be busy and loud, which can make it difficult to discuss business with a large group. At the Harlin House, people could hold a meeting, with food, in a quiet and beautiful place.”

The Gardners also plan to host scheduled events themselves that will be open to everyone (probably by reservation) – such as Mother’s Day or Christmas teas, murder-mystery dinners, bunco parties or theme nights such as speakeasy dinners, when guests come in Roaring 20s costumes and Mike Gardner plays music of the era on his old Edison phonograph. 

He and Heather are already planning a 1776 Fourth of July celebration to coincide with America’s 250th anniversary and Gainesville’s “Fireworks over the Square” event, when Foggy Bottom Fireworks of Pontiac presents its usual illuminations spectacular from atop the hill southeast of the square. “We’ll serve barbecue and have games like croquet and cornhole beforehand. We’ll invite people to bring lawnchairs and watch the fireworks from the front lawn,” Mike said.

Because the home’s second floor has two large bedrooms with adjoining full bathrooms, they’re also considering listing the Harlin House on short-term vacation rental websites such as VRBO and Airbnb on dates when no other events are planned there. That idea ties in with the online reservation system they’re developing for the Antler Motel and their other Airbnbs. 

Some of the future modifications they’re considering include creating an outdoor wedding or reception area on the lawn between the house’s broad, wraparound porch and the old red barn that stands behind the house on the edge of the woods. “We might be able to use the barn as a serving station or bar for large outdoor events,” Mike said.

The house stands on Harlin Drive, a city street that winds up the hill from the northwest corner of the square and extends along the ridgetop then drops back down the slope to join Third Street at the Antler’s parking lot alongside Highway 5 north. The property includes 12 acres of mostly wooded land behind the house that continues down the steep hillside all the way to Lick Creek near the Gainesville ball fields. The Gardners’ creative ideas include the possibility of developing a winding roadway down that hillside to a cleared area along the creek, where guests might enjoy a waterside bonfire and a dip in the old swimming hole.

The Harlin House history

Ozark County’s first Harlins came here from Monroe County, Kentucky, in 1869, settling in a house on what is now Harlin Drive in Gainesville. The pioneers included Union Army veteran John William Harlin and his wife, the former Mary Abigail Conkin. By the time John William died of blood poisoning in 1879 at age 38, he and Mary Abigail had moved to a larger house on the site of the present-day Town & Country Supermarket south of the square and had eight sons ranging in age from 2 to 17: Jim, Tan, Jarrett, Joe, Dewey, Charlie, Johnny and Frank. A daughter, Maude Ellen, had died at birth.

In 1894, the two oldest Harlin sons, Tan and Jim, with John R. Reed, opened the Bank of Gainesville (now Century Bank of the Ozarks). Johnny Harlin joined his older brothers at the bank in 1896, the same year he married Clara Layton, who had moved to Gainesville from Springfield in 1892 with her parents, Charles W. and Sallie Layton, and her two brothers, Hugh and Moss. The Laytons bought the house on Harlin Drive that the Harlins had lived in before moving to the bigger house south of the square. 

Eventually, Jim and Tan Harlin relocated to West Plains, and Johnny became Bank of Gainesville president. The book “History of Ozark County 1841-1994” describes him as a remarkable man: “A county school teacher and merchant, Johnny Harlin was a man of boundless energy and great ability. He held the political offices of county clerk, collector, and treasurer at various times, served a term in the state senate, and held a six-year term on the State Highway Commission. At the time of his death [in 1955] at age seventy-nine he was serving as state representative.” 

Johnny was also a popular public speaker and lay preacher, a songleader, auctioneer, athlete and sportsman who enjoyed fishing and turkey hunting. And, as a seventh son, it’s said that he had a healing touch that could cure warts and other ailments.

After their marriage, Johnny and Clara lived with Clara’s parents so that Clara could care for her invalid mother. Five of Clara and Johnny’s six children were born in the Laytons’ house – the same house Johnny had been born in when his parents owned it. 

The bank, and the Harlins, prospered, and the history book says that, in 1912, Johnny and Clara “rebuilt” the Laytons’ home into the three-story structure on what was then called College Heights but today is Harlin Drive. Johnny and Clara’s youngest son, Hugh Tan, was born in the new house on Aug. 2, 1912. And the Dec. 27, 1912, edition of the Times reported, “Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Harlin entertained a number of their friends at their beautiful home on College Heights Dec. 24. An elegant six o’clock dinner was given which met the approval of all.” 

The home was not only large and beautiful, it was a marvel of quality construction and modern conveniences. The history book says it was built of pine lumber that Sid Amyx hauled by wagon from his sawmill at Ramsey Spring about 12-14 miles northeast of Gainesville. Much of the first-floor trim was “native walnut cut from the property,” the book says. 

At first, the home had “carbide gas lights.” Then a Delco battery system provided electric lights until the late 1920s, when Gainesville opened a city light plant that furnished electricity from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. to Gainesville residents who subscribed. By January 1941, the Rural Electric Authority had extended its service into Gainesville. 

Each room in the Harlin House had a wood-burning heat stove. One can only imagine the job of carrying armloads of split wood up the 19 steps in the house’s grand staircase. 

Water was supplied by a well and a large cistern that collected rainwater. Later, a deeper well was used until Gainesville finished a citywide water system around 1949. 

Johnny had helped bring telephone service to Gainesville in 1903, and when the Harlin House was finished in 1912, the house and the bank had two of the few phones in the area that were later connected to the outside world through the West Plains exchange. Stories are told of how, when the phone rang with an emergency call for someone in a remote part of the county, even late at night, Johnny or one of his sons would saddle a horse or crank up the car and head out to deliver the message. 

Clara hosted many birthday and holiday parties on the big home’s third floor, and the Harlin kids rode their bicycles and tricycles and roller-skated on the wide, wraparound porch. 

By the time Johnny died unexpectedly in 1955 at age 80, he and Clara had sold the big house and moved to a small home up the hill, just past the two houses next door that were built and occupied by their daughter Madge Harlin Brown and her husband E. T., and their son Hugh Tan Harlin and wife Billye. 

After Johnny’s death, Hugh Tan became bank president and held that position until 1972, when he turned over the position to his son, John Layton Harlin, who, after finishing college, serving in the Air Force and working in other banks, had moved back home with his wife, the former Linda Fleenor, in 1966. 

They moved into the small, southwestern-style home on Harlin Drive that Hugh Tan and Billye had built years earlier. Now empty, that house still stands two houses up the hill from the Harlin House. 

Meanwhile, the bank continued to thrive and expand. In 1972, Hugh Tan turned over the bank president’s job to John. Under John’s leadership, the bank expanded into branches in Theodosia and Bakersfield. After acquiring a bank in Ava its name changed to Century Bank of the Ozarks in 1995. Hugh died in 2000 at age 88.

John and Linda Harlin’s son, Chris, after finishing college and working in other banking jobs, had moved back to Gainesville in 1992 with his wife, the former Missy Workman, and joined his family in the bank. Chris had transitioned into the bank president’s job by 1999, when John Harlin retired as president but continued as chairman of the board. Chris was elected chairman in 2012 and also became the bank’s CEO. John died in 2023 at age 86. Chris continues to hold the roles of bank president, CEO and board chairman.

An order to tear down the house 

The second owners of the Harlin House were Frank and Jessie Johnson, who bought it around 1946 and moved in with their sons Rex and Bob. Later, the Johnsons built and moved into a smaller house next door and modified the Harlin House into a boardinghouse with three or four apartments. 

In the late 1970s, attorney and retired Navy officer Charlie Brown and his wife, Penny, bought the house, meaning to remodel and restore it while they lived in a smaller home on the property. But under their ownership, the house gradually fell into disrepair to the point that other residents complained. 

It was an odd situation. The Browns were active in the community – Charlie was fire department chief then served as city attorney and chair of the Soil and Water Conservation Board. In 1980, he was elected Ozark County prosecuting attorney. Penny was busy raising their two daughters, and they both helped with Hootin an Hollarin and were involved in other local activities. Their work was appreciated, but as time passed, the house became a big eyesore. 

A story in the June 10, 1998, edition of the Times reported that the house had been “declared a hazard by the city council and has been ordered demolished, but owner Charlie Brown, former county prosecuting attorney, has blocked the city at every turn in the continuing battle to demolish the house, formerly owned by the Harlin family.”

Several months earlier, Brown had been notified that the house “had to be torn down within 30 days or the city would tear it down at his expense.” But that didn’t happen.

The main problem was a city ordinance that said if a house was under active remodeling work, the city couldn’t force its demolition. Charlie Brown himself had written the ordinance for the council when he was acting city attorney.

In its Aug. 12, 1998, edition, a page 1 Times story with a photo of the dilapidated structure reported quoted a councilman who said, “The city has been trying to get something done about the deteriorating condition of the house for 15 years,” but Brown usually responded by saying he was in the process of remodeling the house, and “attorneys have said that as long as he drives one nail, he is considered to be remodeling it.” 

At that meeting, when the council once again “voted unanimously to condemn the property and notify Brown that he must tear the structure down,” a small audience of city residents burst into applause. 

The beloved Old Harlin House Cafe

Despite this ongoing dispute, the old house somehow survived, and the Nov. 21, 2001, edition of the Times reported that the Harlin family – John and Linda, Chris and Missy – had bought the house from the Browns and planned to restore it and open a cafe there. 

Chris told the Times, “While the house looks bad because the porch roof has fallen in, Charlie has done a lot of work that you can’t see. A lot of work has been done on the foundation, and . . . the house itself is in good shape structurally. It’s straight and solid.”

The Old Harlin House Cafe opened Sept. 7, 2005, under Missy Harlin’s management and with her brother, professional chef Aaron Workman, running the kitchen. The lunchtime restaurant was an immediate hit with residents and visitors alike who flocked there to enjoy the specialty soups, sandwiches and salads. 

With other interests claiming Missy’s time, in March 2012, the cafe closed, and a month later, Workman reopened the restaurant as Aaron’s Barbecue and Grill, serving hickory-smoked meats and sandwiches along with other casual-dining items. 

The Harlin House’s next use came in 2020, when Missy Harlin used the kitchen and dining space to create cheese boards and charcuterie creations for her Splendid Graze business, offering Missy’s artful arrangements of meats, cheeses, fruits, olives and a wide variety of other finger foods on serving boards. She closed that business in 2022 to spend more time with daughters Abbi and Faith, who had graduated from Gainesville High School and were living in Fayetteville, Arkansas, after attending the University of Arkansas there. 

Since then, the Harlin House has sat empty. Last year, the Harlins reluctantly decided to sell it. 

In November, Chris Harlin invited the Ozark County Historium board members, all lovers of local history, of course, to tour the Harlin House. All of them had been in the house previously during its cafe days, but they appreciated the “behind-the-scenes” visit. 

After that tour, Historium board member Mike Breeding was having pizza at the Antler and talked with co-owner Mike Gardner about how impressive the old house still is. Gardner expressed interest, telling Breeding that he and Heather had been looking for a place to use as an event center. 

Mike Breeding passed along that idea to Chris Harlin, who called the Gardners and invited them to tour the old house, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, but is in a personal-history category that allows changes and updates to be made.

‘It’s breathtaking’

Mike Gardner was excited about the possibility of adapting the Harlin House into an events venue, but he was a little reluctant to mention it to Heather. After all, they already own several businesses, including the Antler Motel, which they purchased just last month from Ray and Missy Grisham. When that sale closed, they had agreed that they had reached their limit on their entrepreneurial adventures and wouldn’t be purchasing anything else anytime soon. 

Heather said many people seem excited about what they’re doing as business owners, and while it is exciting, it’s also a lot of work. She suggested when the Times came to take a picture for this story, “I could be scrubbing a toilet while Mike is up on a wobbly ladder changing lightbulbs. It’s a lot of work!”

After they had agreed: “We’re done,” Mike got a text from Chris Harlin, who wanted to know if they might be interested in the Harlin House as a place to host events. 

“She might have cried a little,” Mike said. 

The next thing they knew, they were parked in the Harlin House driveway, stunned by what they saw.  

“It’s breathtaking,” said Heather, who had never seen the Harlin House until that day. “It’s so beautiful. It’s the most gorgeous historic home you could imagine.”

Heather didn’t grow up here, and even though she works nearby at the Antler most days, she’s never had a reason to drive the curvy city street that goes up and over the steep “town hill” that separates the restaurant and the century-old home. 

Mike grew up in Ozark County, and he was aware of the Harlin House, but hadn’t seen it for a long time. 

The Gardners immediately started seeing the old home’s potential and felt a desire to honor and share its important local history. “You look at it, and you want to preserve it,” Mike said. “You want everyone to see it and realize how someone built it so long ago. The craftsmanship is remarkable.”

He loved hearing Chris tell about the local lumber that was used in the house and how it was hauled there in a horsedrawn wagon. 

Heather said that, stepping through the front door, she felt like she had “stepped back in time. You forget everything else and feel like you’re back in the 1910s. There’s just something about it that’s hard to explain.”

Looking at the home’s impressive features, Mike said, “I didn’t see how we could possibly afford to make it into a profitable event venue. But Chris gave us a good deal to keep it local, and it all worked out.”

A bittersweet decision

Deciding to sell the house after all their years of work to bring the beloved residence back to its former glory wasn’t easy for the Harlins, but they’re happy knowing it went to someone local. 

“We definitely fulfilled our dream and the family’s dream of restoring the home to its glory and sharing it with everyone again,” Chris said. “My dad was always filled with pride to give people tours of the house and tell all the stories from years gone by, and I know all of our family enjoyed the time we spent there. Missy was the heart and soul of our time as owners, and we are excited for the Gardners in the next phase.”

Missy echoed Chris’ feelings. “We are so very happy and excited for Mike and Heather. I think I know exactly how they’re feeling right now. They’re thinking about all the possibilities, making plans, sharing ideas, and dreaming big dreams in a beautiful yellow house with a green roof. Putting the Old Harlin House on the market was not a decision we took lightly. It was not easy, but we could not be happier for the new owners. I’m so happy Mike and Heather are the ones. They get it. They’ll do that old house proud, and we wish them all the best.”