Gus Blass and
Max Heiman opened the Gus Blass Department store in 1871 near the riverboat
landing in Little Rock, AR. Over the next thirty years it would grow into
several store fronts along the riverfront. A fire would rip through the area
and damage the building where the store was located. The store would then move
to its new location in 1913.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The seven stories “skyscraper”
was designed by George R. Mann who was the most distinguished architects of the
early 20th Century. It would become the first department store in
the state with air conditioning and escalators. It was also the largest
department store in the state and was essential in the growth and development
of the retail industry in downtown Little Rock. In 1960 two Philander Smith
College students, Thomas B. Robinson and Frank James Lupper staged a sit in to
protest the segregation of the lunch counter.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;
&nbsp;The store’s main rival Pfeiffer’s
department store was located just blocks away. In the 1970s the company was
bought by William T. Dillard who would go on to create a chain of department
stores, that spot the southern part of the country, known as Dillard’s. Dillard
would also buy out Pfeiffer’s Department Store in 1963. The closing of the
store signaled an end to an era of&nbsp;
“downtown” shopping experiences in Little Rock, as shopping malls would
take over in the early 1980s. The building itself would be sold to a company
called FABCO and turned into offices and apartments. The building became a
National Historic Landmark in 1986. &nbsp;

National Register of Historic Places file

More Info

The Gus Blass Department Store building was home to one of Little Rock’s first department stores. Standing tall at seven stories it is considered to be Little Rock’s first skyscraper. The department store would close in the 1970s and the building would be turned into apartments and office space.

Gus Blass Department Store

This walking tour begins and ends with two historic churches and includes numerous historic landmarks in between. From museums to former downtown department stores to historical markers, public buildings, and women's community institutions, this tour offers a view of Little Rock's history within a relatively short walk. 

First Presbyterian Church was founded in 1828. The current church building is the congregation's fourth and it replaced the previous one that was located at 5th and Scott Streets. The congregation bought the property in 1914 and built a Sunday school here. Six years later, the congregation began building the church, which, as noted above, was completed in 1921. Arkansas architect John Parks Almand (1885-1969) designed the church. Almand designed many prominent buildings in the state, including the Hot Springs Medical Arts Building, which was the tallest building in the state for many years, and the nearby Little Rock Central High School, which became known around the country for being forced to desegregate in 1957.

Erected in 1921, First Presbyterian Church is home to the oldest Presbyterian congregation in Arkansas. It is also significant for its striking English Gothic-inspired ecclesiastical architecture. The most impressive part of the church is the 8th Street side of the building, which features a deeply recessed arch surrounding an ornate stained glass window, two towers with battlemented parapets, and a decorative parapet above the recessed arch. The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

First Presbyterian Church

A prominent feature in the downtown area is the imposing façade of the Albert Pike Memorial Temple of Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite Freemasonry. In spite of the size and monumental style of the building, few people in Little Rock, or elsewhere for that matter, know the full story behind this building. It was built in the early 1920s by Arkansas members of the Masonic Order for the commemoration of the life and works of Albert Pike, nineteenth-century resident of Little Rock and prominent figure in Arkansas history. A native of Boston who lived from 1809 to 1891, Albert Pike was a scholar and traveler who came to Little Rock in the early 1830s. Pike became a teacher, newspaper editor and owner, an attorney, a State Supreme Court reporter, and briefly a Confederate general. Most importantly, Pike founded Scottish Rite Masonry in the state in the late 1850s. Scholars of European history believe that modern Masonry has its roots in the European stone mason guilds of the Middle Ages. Pike’s Scottish Rite is likely rooted specifically in the Scottish stone mason guilds of the 1500s and 1600s, according to Scottish history professor David C. Stevenson in his two books, The First Freemasons: Scotland’s Early Lodges and their Members and The Origins of Freemasonry: Scotland’s Century, 1590 – 1710. On the Register of Historic Places since 1986, the Pike Memorial Temple is a city block long, three stories high, and fronted by 19 Greek ionic columns. The temple was constructed in the early 1920s on the strength of member financial investment, following a series of other structures used by the Masonic community of Little Rock, which had been active since the mid-1800s. Throughout the twentieth century, the Temple saw intensive use by Masonic members for Masonic ritual and fellowship, with attendees numbering in the thousands for some functions. When the fates of the organization shifted in the early twenty-first century, the building was renamed the Albert Pike Masonic Center, parts of which are now open for public uses, such as conferences and weddings.

An iconic structure of truly monumental proportions, the Albert Pike Memorial Temple of Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite Freemasonry is located in the middle of Little Rock's historic Quapaw Quarter. The Quapaw Quarter is a section of Little Rock which comprises its oldest and most historic business and residential neighborhoods. The name Quapaw comes from a corruption or mispronunciation of a word for a Native American Tribe which originally inhabited the area where the city of Little Rock is now situated. This name was informally applied to the lands west of the original city of Little Rock in the nineteenth century. Then, in 1961 the name of Quapaw Quarter was more formally assigned. 

Now, the Quapaw Quarter is a well-loved and treasured historic district featuring constructions of the Victorian, Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, Italianate, and Craftsman Styles. The Albert Pike Memorial Temple is a striking example of Greek Revival architecture and brings to the historic quarter a solemnity and sense of ancient history. Directly across Scott Street from the Temple now sits the Albert Pike Hotel, originally constructed in the early 1900s to accommodate Masonic visitors to the Temple. With changes in Masonic membership and participation, the hotel was re-purposed to an affordable apartment house in the late twentieth century.

Albert Pike Memorial Temple of Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite Freemasonry

The Pfeiffer brothers opened their store
in 1912 after remodeling the building to convert the store into “one of the
most modern in the South.” One of the brothers actually traveled all over the
north and east studying other stores getting ideas on what to do. The brothers
combined their clothing and jewelry store and opened the store in 1912,
claiming to be Little Rock’s first department store, competing for that title
as well as customers with Gus Blass Department store. They wanted to create a
store with all the modern conveniences. The store was the first in the area to
be organized into departments. These new departments were Menswear, Children’s,
Women’s, household goods, etc. 

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The
Pfeiffer family came from a long line of business owning families dating back
to the early 1800s. It seems as if every member of the family owned some sort
of business in the region. Throughout the 20th Century the store
would continue to grow and become successful. It would be bought in the 1960s
by William Dillard and absorbed into the Dillard franchise meeting the same
fate as its longtime rival, Gus Blass Department store. Today the building is
home to the Pfeiffer family’s only flagship store. It also remains as one of
four buildings that still stands from the early 1900s Main Street. It was made
a National Historic Landmark in 2000.

	The Beaux Arts commercial built at the turn of the century in 1899 is most famous due to its occupants, the Pfeiffer Brothers Department store. The brothers boasted that their store was the first full-fledged department store in all of Little Rock. The building stands at a mere three stories but is rich in commercial and retail history. It’s main rival, the Gus Blass Department Store, was located blocks away. The two stores would fight a retail turf war for much of the 20th Century. 

Pfeiffer Brothers Department Store 

The George R. Mann building is an excellent example of the Beaux-Arts style. It features many decorative elements including fluted Ionic columns, first-floor windows surrounded by egg and dart moulding, bay windows on the second floor, and an elaborate entablature with a frieze consisting of foliated designs and medallions, and cartouches running along the top.The building was a prestigious office location as a number of early tenants were prominent local professionals, including several doctors. The building was sold around 1912 and renamed the Urquhart Building. In the 1930s it was sold again and became the Adkins Building. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places 1983.

This elegant building was erected in 1906 and is historically significant for its architecture and association with architect George R. Mann, who designed it and housed his offices here until about 1912. Mann designed the Arkansas State Capitol and other buildings in the state. It is considered one of the finest commercial buildings in the city and is still an office building today.

George R. Mann Building

This building was originally constructed to serve as the club for the local chapter of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks Lodge 29, then later used by the Little Rock Women’s City Club, and is currently owned by the Little Rock Junior League. The Benevolent Protective Order of Elks (BPOE)&nbsp;is a national fraternal organization dedicated to fellowship in their communities.The BPOE club was designed and built by prominent local architect Theo Sanders between 1908 and 1912. Sanders designed the structure in keeping with the twentieth-century Renaissance Revival style. The original plans show that the building featured handball courts, a gymnasium, lounge and reading rooms, grille room, kitchen, and a large lodge room.BPOE owned the club until 1928 when it was sold to the Little Rock Women’s City Club (WCC). WCC sought to improve the lives of women and their community. WCC used the building not only for club activities such as luncheons and meetings, but also rented out space in the building to others. They rented space to organizations such as the Little Rock Council of Girl Scouts and the Catholic Woman’s Exchange, and to individual women who worked downtown for living space.The lodge room was also used as a ballroom to host&nbsp;the Little Rock Cotillion.By the 1980’s the membership of the club was decreasing and there were fewer tenants renting in the building, so the WCC began to look into selling. In 1984 a sale was attempted, but due to disagreement among club members it was unsuccessful. However, in 2001 the Junior League of Little Rock (JLLR) was able to work out a purchase agreement and began rehabilitating the building.JLLR was instrumental in the development of numerous local organizations including the Arkansas Arts Center and the Museum of Discovery. The contemporary JLLR is focused on helping the community with an emphasis on health and wellness, and school preparedness. BPOE building is the current home of JLLR and can be rented to host functions such as weddings and organizational events.

This building was originally constructed to serve as the club for the local chapter of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE) Lodge 29, then later used by the Little Rock Women’s City Club, and is currently owned by the Little Rock Junior League. The BPOE Club was designed by prominent local architect Theo Sanders around 1908, with the structure completed around by 1912. Sanders designed the building in keeping with the twentieth-century Renaissance Revival style.

Junior League of Little Rock

<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" title="Link: null">Louise Loughborough</a>&nbsp;recognized the historical significance of four shabby structures in a rundown area of Arkansas's capital city in 1939. For example, the Hinderliter Grog Shop was not only the oldest building in Little Rock, but it was also possibly the meeting place of the last Territorial Legislature. At another site on the block, the founder of the Arkansas Gazette (the oldest newspaper west of the Mississippi) had lived and printed the paper during the 1820s and 30s. The stonemason who built Arkansas' first state house also built one of the homes on the block, and a fourth house was associated with the fifth territorial governor.Loughborough began a one-woman campaign to save the block, lobbying the Arkansas Legislature for funding to restore the buildings and have them preserved as the Arkansas Territorial Restoration. The museum formally opened in July 1941 and&nbsp;Loughborough directed the Arkansas Territorial Restoration for thirty years. In the 1970s, her work&nbsp;evolved from a simple historic preservation project into a full-scale museum. The staff began to update its methods, pursuing professional museum standards and procedures. In 1981, the Restoration became the state's first history or historic site museum accredited by the AAM (American Association of Museums). The Arkansas Museums Association named the Restoration "1981 Museum of the Year."The institution, now as Historic Arkansas Museum, serves as the state's primary interpreter of frontier Arkansas. Each year, the museum's innovative education programs, outreach and exhibits reach more than 90,000 schoolchildren, local citizens and visitors from the other 49 states and from around the world.

The Historic Arkansas Museum preserves and shares the history of the state's frontier period to the American Civil War. Visitors can tour five pre-Civil War houses which have been preserved and restored. These homes and other six galleries of displays share the history of life in Arkansas prior to the war. The museum also features a living history theater and exhibits related to the life of Jim Bowie and other famous Arkansas residents. Guided tours and historic reenactors portray original residents, providing a fun and educational experience for young and old. 

Historic Arkansas Museum

The Arkansas Gazette newspaper was established
in 1819 before Arkansas even became a state, it was only a wilderness territory
at that time. William E. Woodruff founded the paper. He immediately brought up
to date printing press equipment and processes to the state that rivaled the
same qualities they were using in New York City. &nbsp;By 1936, Arkansas had become a state, which
had been heavily supported by the paper, and the city of Little Rock would have
a population of around 50, 000 people. At this time the paper had almost 2,000
subscribers and over $30,000 in advertising, which was quite a bit for this
time period and location. The ownership of the paper would change hands many
times throughout the years even be bought and sold twice by the original owner.
A rival newspaper called the Democrat was formed shortly after and a war
between the two papers would go on until 1991 when the Democrat would
eventually buy out the Gazette and they would form one paper. 

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The
building itself housed the newspaper from the time it was built in 1908 by
prominent Arkansas citizen Peter Hotze. It is a grand three story building
located in downtown Little Rock’s business district. This building started the
re-organization and re-building of the area with goals on a successful future.
The building is most famous for being the home of the Arkansas Gazette, which
was called the “voice” of the state. The building is currently used as an
elementary and middle school.&nbsp;

This building is a staple in the downtown Little Rock history. It was home to the oldest newspaper west of the Mississippi River. The newspaper and the building itself represent great historical importance that helped shape the city and region.	

Arkansas Gazette Building

The Denckla Block was built by wealthy railroad tycoon William P. Denckla in 1872. It contained offices, shops, and apartments known in that era as "bachelor quarters" as they catered towards single and traveling businessmen. Little Rock became the state's capital city in 1821, and in the 1870s, the city was a thriving and growing economic hub thanks to its river port and railroad connections. William Denckla was one of the builders of the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad and owned a number of buildings nearby where the hotel now stands. In constructing the Denckla Block building, Denckla aimed to contribute to the city's economic development and grow his own business prospects.By the mid-1870s, there was a growing need for hotel accommodations for travelers coming to Little Rock. This situation became even more urgent when a fire destroyed the nearby Metropolitan Hotel (the city's only upscale hotel) on December 14, 1876. The manager of the hotel leased the Denckla Block and quickly converted it into a hotel. The name Capital Hotel came from a hotel guest named Mrs. Morehead Wright, who, when asked to suggest a name for the hotel said it was "a capital enterprise located in a capital building…in the capital of the state...and I trust will prove a capital success.” The name stuck and the hotel opened in January 1877. Among the famous guests to stay at the hotel in its early was President Ulysses S. Grant in 1880.For the next 30 years, the Capital Hotel was the city's most prestigious hotel. It became the social and political center of the city and the unofficial political headquarters of the state. The hotel continued to operate under several owners over the years but by the 1960s and 1970s, it began to decline, coinciding with the decline of the downtown area. In the early 1980s, the hotel was restored and it opened in December 1983. It was fully restored again in 2007.

Since its opening in 1877, the Capital Hotel has been one of Little Rock's leading landmarks and is considered one of the finest examples of Victorian architecture in the state. The architecture of this historic building is known for its elaborate, prefabricated cast-iron brick facade that is both decorative and functional as it helps to support the structure. The building features many decorative elements including a one-story portico with Corinthian columns at the main entrance, a porch on top of the portico covered by a canopy with decorative scrollwork, and arched windows separated by squared columns. The building was erected in 1872 and was originally a commercial building called the Denckla Block. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

Capital Hotel, Little Rock

Gideon Shryock, a Kentucky architect, designed the building. He originally envisioned a very opulent Greek revival style building but the plans had to be scaled back a bit. It was constructed between 1833 and 1842. This particular style of building was extremely popular during this time period, especially in the South. It features large white pillars in the front with the large porticos and the interior contains marble fireplaces. The materials used to construct the building were all obtained locally and the bricks that were used were formed by slave labor.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The building would be home to the state capital until 1912 when a new building was constructed. Before this time the building would see a lot of history take place within its walls. Prior to its official completion in 1837, the legislature moved into the building. Due to the loud noises of the construction tensions ran high and a knife fight actually broke out among the legislatures and construction workers. Not much else is reported on the incident, however. The Old State House was the location of the ratification of the Arkansas Constitution in 1874 and during the Civil War, it was used by Union troops for a short period when they occupied Little Rock.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; After the opening of the new capital building, the Old State House became home to many different organizations. It was renamed the Arkansas War Memorial in 1921, becoming a place for patriotic organizations to meet. In 1947, it was designated a museum for Arkansas culture and history and contains several Civil War exhibits, pottery, and quilts. Throughout the 1990s, it underwent a lot of restoration renovations and was deemed a National Historic Landmark in 1997.&nbsp;

The historic Old State House opened in 1836, serving as Arkansas's first state capitol building until 1911. It is now home to a state history museum. A National Historic Landmark, the Old State House is the oldest standing state capitol building west of the Mississippi River. Permanent exhibits in the museum include: Pillars of Power, exploring the history of the Old State House; Arkansas's First Families, featuring 30 Arkansas First Ladies' gowns; Grandmother's Cottage, and a hands-on children's exhibit; the Arkansas Wilderness gallery and the 1836 and 1885 House of Representatives chambers.

Old State House Museum 

The supervising architect of the U.S. Treasury Department, James B. Hill, designed the building. Interestingly, the architectural plans still exist and are perhaps the oldest surviving designs in the state. Construction began in 1876 and was completed in 1881. It was built to fill a growing need in the city for federal services. Post office operations were located on the first floor and a variety of federal government offices occupied the second floor, including the Collector of Internal Revenue, the office of the Federal District Judge, and the U.S. District Attorney's office. Additional office space and rooms were located on the third and fourth floors. These were used by juries, judges, and the local office of the U.S. Marshall. The building was expanded on the north side in 1897. This new addition contained a bigger mail sorting space and a courtroom. Two wings were added in 1908, increasing the building's total size to 16,000 square feet. Post office operations and the court moved into new buildings in 1932. Other federal agencies remained, however, including the Armed Forces Examining and Entrance Station. The federal government decided to vacate the building entirely in 1975 and ownership was transferred to the Arkansas Commemorative Commission. The building was renovated and used by the University of Arkansas Law School until 1992. The federal government reacquired the building and renovated and built rear wings in 1994 and 1997, respectively.

The Old Post Office Building and Customhouse is one of the finest examples of Italian Renaissance architecture in Arkansas. Originally built in 1881, notable features include an exterior with a rough sandstone first floor and a smooth ashlar stone up on the upper floors, and a four-story central pavilion with arches containing decorative crests, urns, and foliated designs. Today, the building houses a U.S. Bankruptcy Court and an office of the U.S. Marshall Service. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

Old Post Office Building and Customhouse

When the Pulaski County Courthouse was completed in the late nineteenth century, it was the first of its kind in the area. While it was built during a time in which Pulaski County, specifically the Little Rock area, was growing. Years prior to the courthouse being completed the city introduced a water system in 1885, and the city’s first paved streets were laid down in 1887. The architect behind the first part of the courthouse was Max Orlopp Jr., who began designing it in 1886 a few years after he graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy. When he proposed his plan for the courthouse he had little to no experience in the field, but his design was so impressive that in 1887 construction began. Amazingly, almost all of the materials used to build the courthouse came from a mountain subdivision of the Ouachita Mountains, right in Arkansas.In the decade following the completion of the courthouse, the population of Pulaski County had significantly grown, in fact, the population had risen by approximately forty percent. The sudden bouts of growth lead to many changes within the area. Such changes included the splitting of Little Rock into a second city named Argenta (now known as North Little Rock), and the move to expand the courthouse to accommodate the larger population. The designs for the second building of the Pulaski County Courthouse were drawn up in 1912, and construction began the following year. It was finished in 1914 and is a unique example of the Beaux-Arts style architecture which also features subtle hints of Classical style features like the Roman arches at the front of the building.The impressive design of the Pulaski County Courthouse does not end on the outside of the building. Upon entering the 1914 part of the courthouse, now used as the main entrance area, the immaculate décor covering every inch of the inside is almost overwhelming to take in at one time. The entrance opens up into a large, center rotunda that is topped with a stained-glass dome. Directly underneath the dome are twelve statues designed and sculpted by Italian sculptor Giusto Liva and his two sons Paul and John Giusto. Each statue stands as a representation of various aspects deemed important to Arkansas: such aspects include agriculture, justice, and machinery. In addition to this, another aspect of the interior that contributes to the beauty is the sheer amount of marble that covers the walls and floors.Architecture is an often overlooked aspect of historical significance when it comes to buildings and structures. However, it serves as a large part of any region’s history. The architecture of the Pulaski County Courthouse building is representative of Pulaski County’s and Little Rock’s short but rich history and its growth towards the largest city in the state. Additionally, the courthouse stands as a reminder of significant events that have taken place in Little Rock. The courthouse was one of the centers for the city manager system controversy during the early 1950s, and where same-sex marriage was first legalized in Arkansas in 2014. The city manager system of government controversy was directly tied to racial discrimination and problems throughout Little Rock in the mid-twentieth century. All of these problems would lead to the Pulaski County Grand Jury recommending passing a law that would make it illegal for police officers to join unions.

The Pulaski County Courthouse complex includes two distinct buildings built decades apart with vastly different architectural styles. The first building on West Markham Street was built in 1914 utilizing the Beaux-Arts style of architecture. The second building was the original courthouse which was completed in 1889 in a Romanesque Revival subtype style called Richardson Romanesque. This 19th-century structure holds the offices of many officials who work at the courthouse. Preservationists have worked to maintain the historic integrity of these structures which serve as fine representations of these two architectural styles. And while many county courthouses were lost to time, the original building was the first permanent courthouse in Pulaski County.

Pulaski County Courthouse 

Ray Winder Field was opened on April 13, 1932 after the Little Rock Travelers vacated Kavanaugh Field following the 1931 season. The ballpark was named after Raymond Winder, a longtime patron of Traveler baseball. Raymond began as a ticket seller in 1915, became business manager in 1931, and in 1944 became a part owner.The Travelers called Ray Winder Field home for over 70 years with the exception of 1958 when the Travelers moved to Shreveport and in 1959 the stadium sat empty, leaving Little Rock without a ball club for the first time since 1914. A public stock drive would later able the city to purchase a bankrupt team from New Orleans and thus the Travelers would return to Little Rock for the 1960 season.  The ballpark also played host to barnstorming teams in the 1940s such as the Memphis Red Sox, Birmingham Black Barrons, and Kansas City Monarchs. During the 1945 season, the Little Rock Black Travelers of the Negro Southern League would also call the park home,By 2005 construction on a new stadium, Dickey-Stephens Park, in North Little Rock, had begun. The final game was played on September 3, 2006, to a capacity crowd. The Travelers moved their new home for the next season in 2007 and Ray Winder Field would sit empty for the next 5 years. As that time passed, locals would discuss the fate of the site, some wanting to preserve and use the facility, some wanting to use the land to expand such things as the University of Arkansas or the Arkansas Zoological Foundation. On May 14, 2011, the park was opened one last time to let patrons collect memorabilia and bleachers on a first-come, first-serve basis. In the end, the city had no interest in preserving the field, and the property was handed over to the University of Arkansas Medical Science Department, to be used as a parking lot.

Constructed in 1931 in Little Rock Arkansas, Ray Winder Field, also known as Travelers Field, was the long-time home of the Little Rock Travelers, a minor league baseball team. For over seventy years, this was the team's home and host to other barnstorming teams. The Travelers have since moved to Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock. The historic ballpark was demolished in 2011 and the site is now a parking lot for the medical sciences department of the university.

Ray Winder Field (1931-2011)

The
Butler Center Galleries&nbsp;at the Arkansas Studies Institute are home to “works from
exhibits on tour that showcase the history and heritage of Arkansas and works
from the CALS permanent collections. The art galleries display a vast array of
media such as paintings, photographs, sculpture, pottery and etchings. CALS
currently owns&nbsp;more than 1500 pieces of Arkansas Art"&nbsp; (“The Art”).&nbsp; The Retail Gallery features work from over 50
native Arkansas artists.&nbsp; Count Pulaski
Way “consists of two alleys, a rebuilt portion of Rock Street that is
reminiscent of early stone roads, and the lower Arkansas River Valley Walking
Map” (“The Art”).&nbsp; The Image Panels, which
line both building’s exterior and interior, are made of&nbsp;3x5&nbsp;ecoresin&nbsp;panels that
tell the visual history of Arkansas. &nbsp;The institute’s research room includes books, periodicals,
manuscripts, microfilmed administrative and military records, and digital resources
along with staff assistance to help visitors learn of Arkansas and personal
family history. Also located within the institute’s building are 4 Square
Gifts, the Arkansas Humanities Council, the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies,
the University at Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture, and the University
of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service.&nbsp;

“The state’s largest free-standing facility dedicated to the study of Arkansas history and culture” is the Arkansas Studies Institute, created through the collaboration of the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS), which owns the ASI, and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (“About”).  Located in the city’s River Market District, the institute opened in 2009 and calls home 3 historical buildings, each from a different century.  “Visitors can explore family history; browse the retail and exhibit galleries of Arkansas artwork, crafts, and gifts; enjoy a meal or cold drink; and view more than 100 photographic image panels depicting life in Arkansas from frontier days to modern times” (“ASI Building”).  

The Butler Center's and UALR’s CAHC collections include over 10 million documents and photographs, among them the papers of seven former Arkansas governors, including Bill Clinton. The Butler Center, the history department of CALS, is the home of the Encyclopedia of Arkansas (EOA), which gets more than 2 million visitors per year.

The Butler Center has a popular monthly genealogy course as well as key research tools, according to its web site. https://www.butlercenter.org/genealogy/  
 It also offers yearly genealogy workshops like this 2018 one: https://www.butlercenter.org/conference/index.html


Arkansas Studies Institute 

The post office and courthouse was built to accommodate the needs of the growing city in the early 20th century. Little Rock had established itself as the state's main economic hub thanks in large part to the cotton and lumber industries, and the population grew accordingly—from 3,700 in 1860 to 88,000 by 1940. The courthouse was built as a result of the Public Buildings Act of 1926, which began a period of construction of federal buildings around the country. This task was undertaken by the Office of the Supervising Architect of the United States, which was led by James A. Wetmore. It believed that the construction of the courthouse was the last building that Wetmore supervised.Despite being the midst of the Great Depression, construction went ahead and provided much-needed jobs for the city. Wetmore approved the construction drawings and in May 1931 and the building was completed in December 1932. An addition was built on the northern side of the east wing in 1941, and an addition was constructed on the northern side of the west wing in 1987. It was renamed after Judge Arnold in 2003. It is unclear when the modern addition was built.

This monumental building is the historic Richard Sheppard Arnold U.S. Post Office and Courthouse. It was originally built in 1932 and an excellent example of the Greek Revival style. A modern addition is located on the east side of the old building. It is named after U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Richard S. Arnold (1936-2004), who was a friend of President Bill Clinton. The most notable features of the building include the two Greek pavilions that Doric fluted columns and pediments, decorative glyphs running along the frieze at the top of the exterior walls, and fluted pilasters (columns) separating the windows. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999 and remains an important civic landmark in the city.

Richard Sheppard Arnold U.S. Post Office and Courthouse

In Little Rock, the Y.M.C.A., which stands for the Young Men's Christian Association, was established in 1885 to provide Bible classes and programs that would encourage civic engagement. It was located on the second floor of a building at 4th and Main Streets. The first Y building was erected at the corner of Capitol and Scott Streets in 1905.The second and much larger Y, as noted above, was built in 1928. During its early years, it provided services and low-cost housing to men, most of whom were homeless. It also offered boys and men opportunities to improve their physical fitness by playing sports, swimming, and cardio and weight training. There were also social and game rooms, hand ball courts, and two gyms. Before World War II, the Y offered pre-military physical training. Over time, women were allowed to become members (in the mid-to-late 1970s) and many of the dorm rooms were converted into other uses, and additional programs and services were added. These included parent-child programs, a day care center, a summer food-service program, day camps, and instructional and charitable activities.Membership reached its peak in 1987 with 1,162 members. However, the Y faced competition from other athletic clubs in the suburbs and as a result, membership at the Y declined to 608 members in 1995. It closed on March 29, 1996. It appears the building was left unused until 2011 when its new owners opened their Nationwide Insurance office here. The owners also proceeded to renovate the building to create space for commercial tenants on the first floor and residential units on the upper floors.

Built in 1928, the former Little Rock Y.M.C.A. building is historically significant for its architecture and contribution to the city's religious and social-humanitarian development in the early 20th century. It now houses businesses. In terms of design, the building is an excellent example of Spanish Revival architecture. One of the state's leading architecture firms, Mann and Stern, designed it. It features a six-story tower with a stone arcade of closed arched windows, two large arched entrances on the first floor, another entrance on the first floor surrounded by decorative stonework including urns and a coat of arms, and pairs of arched windows that are also on the first floor. The "Y", as it was usually referred to, provided housing and a variety of social, fitness, educational, and religious programs and services for the community.

Little Rock Y.M.C.A.

Max Aronson was born&nbsp;at 713 Center Street, Little Rock, Arkansas, on March 21, 1880. His mother, Esther Ash Aronson, was from a Russian Jewish family, and his father, traveling dry goods salesman Henry Aronson, was from a German Jewish family. Aronson&nbsp;left Arkansas around the turn of the century for New York, where he became involved with the old Vitagraph Company, a theatrical group. In 1903, he was cast in Edwin S. Porter’s film,&nbsp;The Great Train Robbery, a classic silent western. In his early films, he played various roles under the name G. M. Anderson.Aronson moved to Chicago to produce films in 1907, where&nbsp;he developed the idea that the public would pay to see good western movies. With&nbsp;George K. Spoor, a theatrical booking agent, he established Essanay Studios (the name comes from a phonetic spelling of their initials, S and A). In 1908, Aronson&nbsp;married Molly Louise Schabbleman, and the couple had one child, Maxine.From 1908 to 1915, Aronson&nbsp;made 375 westerns, the most famous of these being the&nbsp;Broncho Billy&nbsp;series.&nbsp; In 1912, he established a studio in Niles, California, where he turned out a two-reel Broncho Billy story approximately every two weeks. The films cost approximately $800 per movie to produce, and each grossed approximately $50,000.&nbsp;Many legendary Hollywood stars worked at Essanay—Francis X. Bushman, one of the leading stars of his day, Gloria Swanson, and Charlie Chaplin. The heydey of the two-reel westerns ended and&nbsp;Aronson eventually sold his interest in Essanay in 1916.In 1958, Aronson&nbsp;was awarded an honorary Oscar by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his contribution to the development of motion pictures as entertainment. He lived in quiet retirement for most of his remaining years but surfaced again to receive his honorary Oscar. He died in Pasadena, California, on January 20, 1971, of a heart attack.

This Little Rock historical marker commemorates the life of Max Aronson, America's first cowboy movie star. Aronson was born at 713 Center Street, on March 21, 1880, to Esther and Harry Aronson, a Jewish dry goods salesman. Aronson took the stage name “Broncho Billy” and pioneered the role of a movie cowboy. He also helped create the Hollywood Western genre as an actor, cameraman, director, and producer. Aronson developed production techniques still in use today. He was awarded a special Oscar by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1958. The historic marker was erected in 2016 by First United Methodist Church, Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum, and the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation.

Gilbert Maxwell Aronson Historical Marker

The congregation's first church, a small brick building, was located on West Second Street between Louisiana and Main Streets. In 1836, the first full-time pastor was appointed to the congregation. The church was used as hospital for two years during the Civil War. In 1878, the congregation sold the church but it built another brick church in 1880. Unfortunately, a fire destroyed the church on December 15, 1895. The congregation was undeterred, however, and decided to rebuild on that very day. The present church was completed in 1900 after four years of construction. The original part housed a chapel, classrooms and offices. Over the next 20 years church membership grew, prompting the congregation to build two floors of classroom space. In 1931, the church's 100-year anniversary, the congregation added a new organ and lighting system, and redecorated the sanctuary. Peak membership rose to around 3,000 between 1940 and 1960. From the 1950s through the 1970s, the church complex grew. In the 1980s, the congregation expanded its daycare services by buying the building across the street to open the Gertrude Remmel Butler Childcare Center.

First United Methodist Church was built in 1900 and is considered one of the finest examples of Romanesque Revival architecture in Little Rock. Interesting features include square towers, large rose windows, arched windows (some of which are quite tall), and granite trim. The congregation, which was established in 1831, is the oldest Methodist congregation in Little Rock. The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

Downtown Little Rock Walking Tour - 8th Street to the Arkansas River

Gus Blass Department Store

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information