A Brief History of Little Rock

The history of the city is rich, spanning from pioneer days in the 19th century to presidential elections in the close of the 20th century and with everything from the Civil War to the civil rights movement in between.

Today, in downtown Little Rock, the old and new mix well together. Stately antebellum structures and ornate Victorian buildings neighbor gleaming new glass-facade skyscrapers stretching up into the river city's skyline with scenic, natural surroundings providing the backdrop.

But while Little Rock, filled with vision, charges full-steam ahead into the future, it also clings tight to her rich and colorful Southern history. An entire block of the city pioneer's early rustic structures has been preserved and set aside as a museum since the early 1940s. The Greek Revival-style Old State House, the state's first capitol building fronted by four massive Doric columns, retains a place of prominence on downtown's major thoroughfare across the street from a modern skyscraper housing one of the largest brokerage firms off of Wall Street.

But there was a time when the untamed wilderness of the uncharted frontier reigned here. The first white man to explore the Arkansas territory was Hernando de Soto in 1541. Then came Benard de la Harpe who in 1722 led an expedition of fellow Europeans up the Arkansas River from Arkansas Post, a French trading post founded in 1686 near the mouth of the river.

La Harpe, who is believed to have traveled about 50 miles above the present sites of Little Rock and North Little Rock, described the area when writing of the journey. He noted a landmark on the north bank of the Arkansas River, which he referred to as the "French Rock" (now known as "big rock").

While he didn't mention it specifically, he may have also seen another smaller outcropping of rock along the riverbanks he would have encountered before the larger one. The first outcropping of rock along the riverbanks above its mouth on the south bank came to be known as the "Little Rock." By 1769 there was a settlement of sorts in the vicinity of this landmark but it was made up a just a handful of families, of mixed French and Indian origin, scattered along both sides of the river, with Quapaws primarily on the south side and Osage mainly on the north.

In 1803, Arkansas was included in the sale of the Louisiana Territory Purchase from France to the United States.

When an 1808 treaty between the United States and the Osage ended the tribe's claim to a large area north of the river, a few Americans slowly began arriving to settle on the river's north bank. But they were squatters as the land was neither surveyed nor offered for sale until 1815.

In 1812 when Louisiana entered the Union as a state, Arkansas became part of the Missouri Territory. Through an 1818 treaty, the Quapaws gave up their claim to the land south of the river and west of the "Little Rock" but would not cede their remaining land east of the "Little Rock" until 1824. The Territory of Arkansas was created in 1819 and almost immediately land speculators began claiming land of the south bank of the river near the "Little Rock." In 1821, the legislature chose Little Rock to become the territorial capital and the city was founded that same year and incorporated in 1831.

While Little Rock was an ideal place for a town - it was located nearly in the center of the territory, its river was usually navigable and the bluffs along the banks offered protection from flooding and Little Rock was a stop on the Southwest Trail from Louisiana and Texas. Nevertheless, growth came steadily but slowly because the area was so remote.

In 1819, Little Rock was home to a handful of settlers and just a few crude buildings, including four log "huts" and three larger structures. In the late 1820s, the city consisted of about 400 residents and 60 buildings, only about a fourth of them wood frame or brick; the rest were built of logs.

Despite its rustic frontier appearance and the rough reputation the city attained thanks to some hard-drinking, hard-living, knife-toting rowdy founding fathers, the community still had much to offer for its small size. It had a newspaper, the Arkansas Gazette founded in 1819 and the oldest newspaper west of the Mississippi; schools, the first opened in 1823; and churches, the first established the following year.

That same year, Congress appropriated $15,000 to build a road between Little Rock and Memphis and it opened three years later. In 1826, the first stagecoach line in Arkansas was established between Little Rock and Arkansas Post. Leaving Little Rock every other Tuesday and returning the following Monday, it carried both passengers and mail.

In 1836, Arkansas became a state and Little Rock, in turn, the state's capital.

In 1860, 40 years after it was founded, Little Rock's population was just 3,700 and while residents were enjoying gas lighting in their homes and businesses for the first time, the ensuing Civil War brought construction on the railroad line between Little Rock and Memphis to a halt. It wouldn't be completed until 1871. But in the Reconstruction years following the Civil War, the city grew rapidly - by 1870 the population was at 12,380 - and construction surged.

By the end of the 19th century such modern amenities as electric lights, telephones and a public water system were introduced and growth continued, transforming Little Rock from a frontier town to a modern city. When streetcars were introduced, that growth was able to expand westward outside the central city and into what would be come Little Rock's first suburb, Pulaski Heights (now known as Hillcrest).

At the turn of the 20th century Little Rock had nearly 40,000 residents, more than 170 businesses, six rail lines, one seven-story building, a public library with 3,200 books, 75 churches and more than 60 social clubs.

In the first three decades of the 20th century, Little Rock saw several early skyscrapers rising in its skyline and its population grow to nearly 82,000. The Depression slowed Little Rock's growth and most of the major construction during the 1930s and 1940s were Works Progress Administration projects such as Robinson Center, the city's zoo and the city's arts museum.

In the 1940s, city leaders turned their attention to working to bring industry to Little Rock and by the early 1950s an industrial district had been established in the southwestern fringes of the city. Meanwhile, residents moved, in greater number, to suburbs and more and more roads were built to accommodate the ever-increasing automobile traffic.

In the 1957 and 1958, Little Rock was thrust into the national and international spotlight when Central High School became the site of the first important test of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. The ruling held racial segregation in public schools to be unconstitutional.

Nine black students made civil rights history when they, under protection of the 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army by orders of then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower, entered Central High in September 1957. Eisenhower's orders came after Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus, citing safety concerns, had earlier called out the National Guard to prevent the students from entering.

Today, Little Rock is considered a city of racial and cultural diversity.

Little Rock also garnered considerable global attention when then-Governor Bill Clinton made his initial bid for the presidency in 1992 - and won. The Old State House in Little Rock was the site of his election night victory celebration, which he revisited in 1996 for his second winning campaign bid.

Today, Little Rock boasts a population of about 182,000 and is a thriving metropolis with an expanded convention center and new anchoring hotel, the Peabody Little Rock, one of only three Peabody hotels in the nation. Developments in the city's downtown include a newly developed River Market District, the creation of several loft apartments in renovated historic buildings; new corporate office buildings being constructed downtown; a new $80 million, 18,000 seat multi-purpose arena across the river; a recently expanded 42,000 square-foot Arts Center; and the city's first visitor center which recently opened in a historic antebellum home, Curran Hall, following a $1.4 million restoration.

Future developments include the William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park (opening November 2004), Heifer International's global headquarters, several loft apartment developments in renovated historic buildings and the construction of new corporate office buildings.

The city continues to expand its boundaries, and more people are taking note of the wealth of entertainment opportunities Little Rock can provide - just as de Soto and la Harpe discovered centuries ago.

For more information about Little Rock and its amenities and attractions, contact the Little Rock Visitor Information Center at Historic Curran Hall at 501-370-3290 or toll-free at 1-877-220-2568 or visit the bureau's Web site at: www.littlerock.com

A Brief History of Arkansas

From evidence left in mounds and bluffs, including pottery and stone implements, we know that people have been living in the region that is now Arkansas for thousands of years. The ancestors of the Indians were first to inhabit the region. The abundant wildlife and fertile soil made the area a wonderful home for these people, who gradually developed from primitive hunter-gatherers living in caves to much more sophisticated farmers living in large permanent villages. As the eastern lands were settled, more Indians moved to sparsely inhabited Arkansas. The Indians who lived here included the Folsom people, Bluff Dwellers, Mound Builders, Caddos, Quapaws, Osage, Choctaw and Cherokee.

In 1541, the Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto was the first European to set foot in Arkansas. He led an unsuccessful, yearlong expedition for gold. One hundred and thirty-one years later, two Frenchmen named Marquette and Joliet visited Arkansas briefly. In 1682, at the mouth of the Mississippi, LaSalle claimed the Mississippi Valley for France, but was later assassinated by two of his companions. In 1686, Henri De Tonti set out from Fort St. Louis on the Illinois River to meet LaSalle at the mouth of the Mississippi. After he failed to locate LaSalle, De Tonti, the "Father of Arkansas", established the first European settlement in Arkansas, called Arkansas Post, with six residents.

Over the next hundred years, development of the region was sluggish as the number of settlers slowly increased. In 1762, the entire Louisiana Territory was ceded to Spain, and Spanish governors offered free land and no taxes to encourage settlers to inhabit the area. In 1799, there were approximately 386 white people living in Arkansas. In 1803, the Louisiana Purchase was acquired by the United States, and, in 1819, Arkansas was organized as a territory. Its northern, eastern and southern borders were the same as they are now, but to the west, some of what is now Oklahoma was included. In the same year the "Arkansas Gazette", once considered the oldest newspaper west of the Mississippi, was founded by William E. Woodruff. Two years later, in 1821, the territorial capital was moved from Arkansas Post to Little Rock.

By 1836, the Arkansas Territory had the 60,000 residents required to become a state, and after writing an acceptable constitution, was declared the 25th state in the United States. The new state enjoyed a thirty year period of prosperity, and by 1860 had a population of 435,000, 25 percent of whom were slaves. The majority of the residents were planters who lived in the rich bottomlands of the east and southeastern portion of the state and farmers who lived in the central and northern hills. A much smaller number of residents were lawyers, doctors, merchants, missionaries and teachers.

Arkansas was drawn into the Civil War in May, 1861, by its decision to secede from the Union. Troops were assembled and civilians devoted their energy and resources to providing food, clothing, weapons and horses for the soldiers. Two major battles, Pea Ridge and Prairie Grove, were fought in Arkansas. In 1863, the Confederate government moved to Washington in the southwestern corner of our state; and, in 1864, the Union government was established in Little Rock. After the Civil War ended in 1865, the era called Reconstruction began, during which dramatic changes were made in the South. The Democrats returned to power in 1874, the same year our present constitution was adopted.

The next 25 years were a time of growth and recovery. New inventions, such as the telephone, electricity, residential running water, and city sewer systems made life easier and more comfortable for Arkansans, affording them more leisure time for social and literary pursuits. Lumber mills, farms, factories and cities around the state were linked by 5,000 miles of railroad. Many public schools were developed, and numerous colleges, including the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, Hendrix, Arkansas College, Henderson-Brown, Philander Smith, Shorter and Ouachita were founded. Even as early as 1875, Arkansas was billed as the "Land of Opportunity" when an active campaign was launched outside the state to attract new residents to Arkansas. By 1900, the population had more than doubled to 1.3 million.

The 20th century has seen even more change in Arkansas. Automobiles grew in popularity, and in 1921, the first auto, gas, and oil taxes were levied to finance construction of paved roads and highways. The discovery of oil and natural gas reserves in the state provided cheap and plentiful energy for years. The growing use of farm machinery led to the consolidation of many family-run farms into larger farming corporations. Arkansans learned in 1904 that rice could successfully be grown here, and it is now one of our most profitable crops. The livestock and dairy industries have also gained prominence in the last 90 years. A post World War II drive to industrialize the state was successful in effecting a more favorable balance of industrial and agricultural production. Firms in Arkansas now manufacture a wide range of items, including aluminum products, aircraft components, communications equipment, cosmetics, clothing, and pulp and paper products.

In 500 years, Arkansas has grown from a vast wilderness to a thriving state with a population of millions. Advancements in farming, lumbering, manufacturing, tourism and government have expanded Arkansas into viable place in the international market.

Civil Woes

Little Rock was the center of a tug-of-war between the Union and Confederacy during the Civil War. The Federal arsenal in Little Rock was seized by anti-Union forces in February 1861. In May of that year, Arkansas seceded from the Union. The Confederate state government moved to Washington, Arkansas in 1863, after Little Rock was taken over by the Union. During the time the Confederates were in Washington, Arkansas, the Union had its own state government functioning in Little Rock under Isaac Murphy. It was truly a divided state. More than 10,000 federal loyalists fought in the northern part of the state against the Confederate army.

Rebuilding the Economy

Arkansas was readmitted to the Union in 1868 only after the Murphy government was replaced by a totally new Northern Republican government. In 1874, a month-long struggle known as the Brooks-Baxter War erupted over a gubernatorial election, which ended only when President Grant ruled that Elisha Baxter was indeed the rightful governor. After this debacle, the Democrat Augustus H. Garland won the next election. However, after many years of this rule, which favored businesses, the agricultural interests were suffering. Jeff Davis was elected Governor in 1900 on the promise of redressing the wrongs done to the agricultural community. This became known as the Agrarian Revolt.

By the 1880s, Little Rock was the center of a sinewy network of railroad lines.

In 1969, the economy of the city of Little Rock received a great boost when a series of locks and dams were opened on the Arkansas River, effectively making the city a river port. Little Rock is the chief market for the state, especially in terms of agriculture, lumber and bauxite.

Today, Little Rock is recognized nationally as a city on the move. President Clinton's 1992 and 1996 campaigns focused international attention on our city, and visitors and journalists from all over the world came to Little Rock during both campaigns.

An increasing tourism trade is blossoming across the state. As the state's largest metropolitan area, Little Rock is touting its historical and cultural attractions to great benefit.

Places you can go that were here in the 1800's:

• Hinderliter Grog Shop - the oldest house in the city still on its original site. Built in 1820, it is part of the Historic Arkansas Museum at 3rd & Scott Streets.
• Woodruff House - built in 1819, moved to Little Rock in 1824. Also part of the Historic Arkansas Museum, this house contains a time line of Arkansas history.
• Brownley-Noland House - early 1840's, another part of the Historic Arkansas Museum.
• Old Arsenal Building - 1836, now the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History in MacArthur Park, located at 9th and Interstate 30.
• The Old State House - 1836, located in the 200 block of West Markham. Arkansas' first State Capitol building from 1836-1911, has been restored as one of the nation's finest examples of antebellum Greek Revival architecture and is now a museum of Arkansas history.
• The State Capitol - Our present capitol, completed in 1911, is a scaled down copy of the nation's capitol building and is situated in an impressive location just west of downtown Little Rock.
• Pike-Fletcher-Terry Mansion - built in the 1840's, now the Decorative Arts Museum, this antebellum home is located between 7th and 8th Streets on Rock.
• Capitol Hotel - 1873, first used as an office building, made into a hotel in 1877. Located at Markham & Louisiana Streets.
• Pulaski County Courthouse - 1880's, located between Spring and Broadway on 2nd Street.
• Cathedral of St. Andrew –  1884, located at 617 S. Louisiana St.
• First Lutheran Church - 1887, located at 8th and Rock.
• Kramer School - 1895, located near MacArthur Park on 8th Street.