Though actress Margot Kidder spent her career in a variety of roles, she will always be known as Lois Lane opposite Christopher Reeve’s Superman.
Upon the news of her death, I was reminded that just outside the Little Rock city limits on Highway 10, there is a street named Lois Lane. I post the photo in tribute to Ms Kidder.
On May 14, 1902, future Little Rock Mayor John Vines Satterfield, Jr. was born in Marion. He grew up in Little Rock and Earle. J.V. was a star quarterback for the Earle football team and is featured in a painting of that team by respected painter Carroll Cloar.
Following high school, J.V. taught (including, much to his family’s amusement, a course in penmanship) and coached and sold Fords. He then moved to Little Rock and sold insurance and later securities. In 1931 he opened his own business; that same year he built a house at 40 Beverly Place in Little Rock, which would serve as his home until his death.
J. V. Satterfield was elected to serve as Mayor of Little Rock in 1939 and served one term, until 1941. He was credited with saving the City from bankruptcy because of his fiscal policies. Among his efficiencies were the creation of a central purchasing office and using grass moved from the airport to feed the Zoo animals.
Though as a private citizen he had voted against the creation of a municipal auditorium in 1937, Mayor Satterfield fought valiantly to ensure that Robinson Auditorium opened to the public once he took office. Shortly after he became Mayor, it was discovered that there were not sufficient funds to finish the construction. After the federal government refused to put in more money, he was able to negotiate with some of the contractors to arrange for the building to be completed. He also oversaw a successful special election to raise the money to finish the project.
Satterfield was a staunch supporter of the airport and worked to expand it. He would serve as the chair of the first Municipal Airport Commission. He also established the Little Rock Housing Authority (on which he would later serve on the board). Mayor Satterfield also served as President of the Arkansas Municipal League in 1941.
Following the outbreak of World War II, Satterfield enlisted in the Army and was given the rank of a Major. He later was promoted to a Colonel and worked in the Pentagon during its early days.
In the late 1940s Satterfield became president of a small Little Rock bank called People’s Bank. The bank changed its named to First National Bank when it moved into new offices at 3rd and Louisiana in 1953. By focusing on smaller customers and courting corporate customers, Satterfield grew the bank into one of the state’s largest banks. He maintained his desk in the lobby of the bank so he could interact with the customers and ensure they were having a positive experience.
Due to chronic health issues, Satterfield retired from the bank in 1964. He died in March 1966.
Happy Mother’s Day!
This sculpture is Jane DeDecker’s PATTY CAKE which is located in Riverfront Park. It was donated by the late Dale Nicholson in memory of his wife, Pat.
Eliza Wilson Bertrand Cunningham was the First Lady of Little Rock. She literally was the first lady and the founding mother.
She became the first permanent female resident when she joined her husband Matthew Cunningham in Little Rock. She gave birth to Chester Ashley Cunningham, the first baby born in Little Rock, as well as several other children with Cunningham. When he became the first Mayor of Little Rock, she was the first First Lady of Little Rock. They hosted the first Little Rock Council meeting at their house on what is now the block downtown bounded by Third, Main, Fourth and Louisiana Streets. Her son Charles P. Bertrand, from her first husband, later served as Mayor of Little Rock, making her the only woman to be married to a Mayor and be mother of a Mayor.
Born in Scotland in December 1788, she emigrated with her parents to the United States as a young girl. In 1804 or 1805, she married a French businessman, Pierre Bertrand in New York City. She lived in New York City, while he traveled to his various business ventures. He never returned from a trip to his coffee plantation in Santo Domingo and was presumed to have died in 1808 or 1809. She and Bertrand had three children, Charles Pierre, Arabella and Jane. (Jane may have died in childhood, because records and lore only indicated Charles and Arabella coming to Little Rock with their mother.)
Eliza married Dr. Matthew Cunningham in New York City. He later moved to Saint Louis and settled in Little Rock in early 1820. Eliza and her two children came to Little Rock in September 1820. In 1822, she gave birth to Chester Ashley Cunningham, the first documented baby born in Little Rock. (There are unsubstantiated reports that at least one slave child may have been born prior to Chester.) She and Matthew also had Robert, Henrietta, Sarah and Matilda. The latter married Peter Hanger, after whom the Hanger Hill neighborhood is named.
Dr. Cunningham died in June 1851. Eliza died in September 1856. They and Chester (who died in December 1856) are buried in the Hanger family plot at Mount Holly Cemetery.
Join the Old State House Museum from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on May 12 to explore what life was like for Arkansans during WWI. Visitors can meet a variety of living history interpreters portraying the men and women who helped with the Great War Effort, including:
• Soldiers who will give first-hand demonstrations on infantry, cavalry and artillery training methods
• Suffragists
• Red Cross nurses
• Women working on food conservation programs
• Donut Dollies with the Salvation Army
• Silhouette artist
There will be games and hands-on activities ongoing throughout the day.
Admission is free. The museum can validate parking at the DoubleTree hotel; metered parking near the museum is free on weekends.
Historic Arkansas Museum will host the 45th Annual Territorial Fair on Saturday, May 12, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. This popular annual event is a fun and free opportunity for adults and children of all ages to experience what life was like during Arkansas’s Territorial era. Living history performances, blacksmith demonstrations, historical dances and pioneer games will be happening on the museum’s historic grounds, a preserved and meticulously recreated section of an early downtown Little Rock neighborhood.
Pioneer games and crafting
Cooking and blacksmithing demonstrations
Living history with the Early Arkansas Reenactors Association
Animals from Heifer International
Mother’s Day cards in the Old Print Shop with print blocks designed by Neal K Harrington
Performances by the Arkansas Country Dance Society
Live music by Suzanne and Jim
Balloon art with Hanson’s Balloon Twisting
FREE Loblolly Creamery ice cream and Diamond Bear Brewing Company root beer
Heritage food from Cypress Knee Food Truck
The Museum Store will be open for Mother’s Day shopping with a variety of unique Arkansas-made gifts and books.
Historic Arkansas Museum is a historic site museum of Arkansas’s frontier days. Five pre-Civil War houses, on their original block, are restored to antebellum appearances, so you can learn about life pre-Civil War in Arkansas. Guided tours of the historic houses encounter actors portraying original residents, making it easy to step back in time and learn about the history of Arkansas.
Photo from Encyclopedia of Arkansas, courtesy of Mike Polston
While she had made a few other appearances in Little Rock during her reign as Miss America, on May 11, 1964, Donna Axum appeared in concert at Robinson Auditorium.
She sang with the Arkansas Symphony (not directly connected with the current Arkansas Symphony Orchestra) and the Arkansas Choral Society.
The concert was part of the Arkansas State Festival of the Arts which was an annual event from the late 1950s until the mid 1960s.
Miss Axum’s most recent appearance at Robinson was last June when she appeared, along with several other former Miss Arkansas title holders, at the 2017 Miss Arkansas pageant. She was joined on stage by Savvy Shields, who like Miss Axum, was a former Miss Arkansas who held the title of Miss America.
Little Rock Culture Vulture 