Monthly Archives: March 2019

Women Making History – Jimmie Lou Fisher

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Image result for jimmie lou fisherJimmie Lou Fisher served as a Constitutional officer in Arkansas longer than any other woman in the state’s history (twenty-four years).  Her twenty-two years as Treasurer is also the longest any person has served in that post. (And unless the term limits rules for Constitutional officers are changed, it is a record that is likely to stand.)

Born in Delight, she grew up in Paragould and graduated from high school in Vilonia. (Her father was a coach and school administrator who moved the family around as he took new jobs.)  She attended what is now Arkansas State University.

Interested in politics from an early age, in 1970, she was elected Greene County Treasurer. She held that position until 1979 when she was appointed by Governor Bill Clinton to be the Auditor of Arkansas. (He had appointed longtime Auditor Jimmie “Red” Jones to be Adjutant General of the Arkansas National Guard.)

Gov. Clinton had hardly picked her from obscurity.  She had been active in his successful race for governor in 1978. Previously she was vice chair of the Democratic State Committee and a member of the Democratic National Committee from 1976 to 1978 and a member of the Credentials Committee of the National Convention in 1976.

Since Fisher had been appointed, she could not run to succeed herself.  When longtime Treasurer Nancy Hall announced she would not seek re-election, Fisher jumped into that race. She easily won the race and was re-elected each time until term limits took effect in 2002.

After announcing her retirement from politics (where she had been respected by both Democrats and Republicans for her handling of state finances), Fisher was pressed into service to be the Democratic Party standard bearer in the race for governor against incumbent Mike Huckabee.

Though not the first woman to seek a major party’s nomination for governor, she was the first to be a major party nominee.  She ran a close election, but was defeated by Huckabee.

In 2013, she moved back to Greene County to be closer to some family members there.

21st Wine & Food Feastival tonight at Wildwood Park

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FEASTival 2019 features wine, spirits, beers, and artful edibles from central Arkansas’ best culinary creators, a silent auction and raffle.

The band Greasy Greens will join the party to provide music for onstage dancing!

The fun starts at 6:30pm tonight at Wildwood Park.  Ticket information is here.  Proceeds go to support Wildwood’s gardens, art exhibitions, the Wildwood Academy of Music and the Arts and Wildwood’s educational programs.

Join Wildwood Park as it celebrates a diversity of culinary delights from central Arkansas, including:

Arthur’s Prime Steakhouse / Oceans at Arthur’s

Bonefish Grill

Blue Cake Company

The Capital Hotel

Diamond Bear Brewing Company

The Faded Rose

Moe’s Southwest Grill

Red Lobster

Bravo

Nothing Bundt Cakes

Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe

Petit and Keet

YaYa’s Euro Bistro

Table 28

The Vintage Kitchen

The Rusty Tractor Vineyards

MACARTHUR MUSEUM TO EXPAND HOURS OPEN TO PUBLIC

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Effective April 1, the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History will expand its hours of operation and remain open until 5 p.m. daily.  The museum was closed for renovations during much of 2018, and reopened to the public last fall.

“The increase in our hours comes exactly one year after the museum closed to undergo a $1.55 million renovation,” says Museum Director Stephan McAteer.  “We are delighted to be open more, allowing local, state, national and international visitors additional opportunities to visit the historic Arsenal Building and exhibits relating our state’s rich military heritage.”

A deciding factor in the decision to expand hours was the hiring of additional staffing.  Reveille Isgrig was hired to assist current staff with school tours, the museum’s reading program, and publicity.  Ms. Isgrig has a B.A. in English Literature from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and a M.A. in Modern Art History, Theory, and Criticism from Azusa Pacific University. For 10 years she worked at the UALR Survey Research Center and has extensive experience in maintaining data archives.  As a volunteer with the Mac Park Group, she coordinated “MacArthur 125,” commemorating the anniversary of MacArthur Park’s creation, in conjunction with the museum’s reopening.

New hours for the museum, beginning April 1, will be Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History is located at 503 E. 9th St. in downtown Little Rock’s MacArthur Park. The museum is operated under the City’s Parks and Recreation Department.

The Eagle Has Landed (in Little Rock)

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On March 16, 1822, Captain Morris piloted the steamboat The Eagle to Little Rock, seventeen days after departing New Orleans.  This became the first steamboat to reach Little Rock.  The boat reached Little Rock at an early hour in the morning and Captain Morris, in order to arouse the town, fired a salute of several guns.

It did not stay in Little Rock, but headed upriver toward the community of Dwight Mission, founded by Presbyterians in what is now Pope County at the mouth of the Illinois Creek.  Due to low waters, it was unable to make it to Dwight Mission.  On March 19, 1822, it returned to Little Rock.  It then headed back to New Orleans.

Though it would be the McClellan-Kerr navigation project before the Arkansas River would become a permanent home to commercial river traffic, boats up and down the Arkansas River helped establish Little Rock as an important trading post.

Women Making History – Adolphine Fletcher Terry

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Photos from the collection of the Butler Center

Adolphine Fletcher Terry was born on November 3, 1882 to former Little Rock Mayor John Gould Fletcher and his wife Adolphine Krause Fletcher.

Raised in Little Rock, in 1889 she moved into the Albert Pike House on East 7th Street, when her aunt transferred the title to her father. That house would be her primary residence the rest of her life.  Her sister Mary Fletcher Drennan never lived in Arkansas as an adult after marriage. Her brother John Gould Fletcher spent much of his adulthood in Europe before returning to Little Rock and establishing his own house, Johnswood.

At age 15, Adolphine attended Vassar. She later credited that experience as broadening her views on many issues.  After graduating at age 19, she returned to Little Rock.  Her parents both died prior to her 1910 wedding to David D. Terry, which took place at what was then known as the Pike-Fletcher House (and today is known as the Pike-Fletcher-Terry House).

She is perhaps best known today for establishing the Women’s Emergency Committee in 1958 and for her subsequent deeding of the family house to the City for use by the Arkansas Arts Center.  But her entire life was based on civic engagement.

She was instrumental in establishing the first juvenile court system in Arkansas and helped form the first school improvement association in the state. She was long an advocate for libraries, serving 40 years on the Little Rock public library board.  Through her leadership, the library opened its doors to African Americans in the early 1950s. Today a branch of the Central Arkansas Library System (the successor the Little Rock public library) is named after her.  Another branch is named after her Pulitzer Prize winning brother.

Adolphine formed the Little Rock chapter of the American Association of University Women, the Pulaski County tuberculosis association and the Community Chest.

In 1958, when the Little Rock public high schools were closed instead of allowing them to be desegregated again, she called Harry Ashmore the editor of the Gazette and exclaimed, “the men have failed us…it’s time to call out the women.”  With this, she formed the Women’s Emergency Committee to Open Our Schools. This group played a major role in getting the four high schools open the following year.

From 1933 to 1942, David Terry served in the U.S. Congress. During that time, Adolphine alternated her time between Washington DC and Little Rock. But she spent much time in Little Rock raising her five children.

After her husband’s death in 1963, she continued to remain active in civic affairs. In the 1960’s, she and her sister deeded the Pike-Fletcher-Terry House to the City of Little Rock for use by the Arkansas Arts Center upon both their deaths.  Following Adolphine Fletcher Terry’s death in 1976, Mary turned over the title to the City.

Adolphine Fletcher Terry is buried in Mount Holly Cemetery alongside her husband. Three of her children are also buried in that plot.  Her parents and brother are buried in a nearby plot.

Her granddaughters and their families carry on Adolphine Fletcher Terry’s commitment to making Little Rock better.

Linda Newbern honored by ACANSA tonight in evening featuring Jeremy Stolle and ASO Youth Jazz Orchestra

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Linda NewbernTonight (March 15), Linda Newbern is being honored with the second Charlotte Gadberry Award by ACANSA Arts Festival.  Newbern is being recognized for her vision and dedication to expanding access to world-class arts which has made a significant difference

The program is at the CALS Ron Robinson Theater. Doors open at 6pm with the presentation beginning at 7pm.

In addition to the award presentation, the evening will feature performances by Broadway performer Jeremy Stolle and the ASO Youth Jazz Orchestra.

Stolle is a recording artist and concert singer currently in the Broadway production of The Phantom of the Opera. He recently finished the brand new Disney theatricals pre-Broadway Production of THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME. He has traveled the world singing concerts and symphonies including A Yuletide Celebration with Sylvia McNair, the Indianapolis Symphony, Broadway Stars concert in Taiwan, and Modesto Symphony Pops.  Stolle appeared at 54 Below, Birdland and  Broadway.com’s National Showcase for Blockbuster Musicals and Broadway in Bryant Park.

The Arkansas Symphony Youth Jazz Ensemble was founded in 2018 after several musicians from Arkansas Symphony Orchestra’s top youth ensemble asked for opportunities to play jazz. Initially, the group was planned to be a trio, and quickly expanded to a dozen youth musicians before the first rehearsal. Local jazz musician, Brandon Dorris, was asked to coach the ensemble, which has a non-traditional instrumentation. The ensemble’s focus is learning historically accurate style and improvisation, and has repertoire spanning the entire history of jazz through the 1960’s.

EVITA comes to Robinson Center this weekend

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Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Tony Award winning musical Evita returns to Little Rock for performances this weekend.

The musical is at Robinson Center Performance Hall tonight (March 15), two performances on March 16, and on the afternoon of March 17.

Eva Duarte Peron rises from poverty to become an Argentinian actress and the wife of powerful President Juan Peron. Through a series of flashbacks, Eva transforms from an impoverished teenager into a woman of influence and power. After the death of her father, Eva travels to Buenos Aires and begins a string of relationships with powerful men before she meets Juan. Eva’s ultimate power and influence earn her both admiration and hatred.

The production includes such hits as “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina” and “High Flying, Adored” as well as the song “You Must Love Me” which was written for the film version.