Category Archives: Government

Birth of Little Rock Mayor James Woodson (aka – future Ron Swanson)

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On July 14, 1848, future Little Rock Mayor James Alexander Woodson was born in North Carolina.  The son of two prominent eastern families, he and his parents moved to Pine Bluff in 1849.  His father died within two weeks of the family’s arrival in Arkansas.

With the outbreak of the Civil War, he enlisted as a drummer boy in the Ninth Arkansas infantry but was discharged because of his youth. He worked as a clerk at a general store in Pine Bluff. After the Civil War ended, he attended school in Virginia and Maryland before returning Pine Bluff. Upon his return he worked in the steamboat business and eventually started working in railroads. He was instrumental in putting together one of the forerunners of the Missouri Pacific Railroad and worked for them for 18 years.

Woodson moved to Little Rock in March 1881 and continued working for the railroad until 1891.  Working in the mercantile business allowed him more time to be engaged in civic affairs.  In 1895 he was elected mayor.   He handily defeated former mayor W. G. Whipple who was seeking to return to office.

During Mayor Woodson’s tenure, he oversaw renovations of the 1867 Little Rock City Hall (which was located at the time on the north side of Markham between Main Street and Louisiana Street).  He also championed the construction of a city hospital and the first free bridge across the Arkansas River.  Mayor Woodson was reelected in April 1897 and April 1899.

In April 1890, he resigned to take over the Arkansas and Southwestern Railway.  After restoring it to sound financial footing, he later led the Arkansas Asphalt Company.  That company provided the first asphalt for paving Little Rock city streets.

Woodson served as a director of the Little Rock board of trade (forerunner to the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce), director of the Mercantile Trust Company and president of the state board of trade (forerunner of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce).

Woodson married Virginia Lanier in 1868.  They had six children, five of whom lived to adulthood.  Mayor Woodson died on October 19, 1908 and is buried in Mount Holly Cemetery.  His wife lived until 1937 and is buried next to him.  Also buried in Mount Holly are their children James Alexander Woodson, Benjamin Morehead Woodson and Gertrude Woodson Hardeman; each of whom died before their mother.  Mrs. Hardeman’s husband and son are also buried in Mount Holly.

Some have noted his resemblance to actor Nick Offerman of the show “Parks and Recreation.”

Remembering Joe T. Robinson

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Eighty-two years ago today, on July 14, 1937, U.S. Senator Joseph Taylor Robinson died in his apartment in Washington D.C.

The Senator’s wife, Ewilda, was in Little Rock making preparations for a trip the couple was to take. (She was informed of her husband’s death when her sister-in-law called to express condolences. No one had yet notified her in Little Rock.) Following his demise, Mrs. Robinson went to Washington to accompany her husband’s body back to Arkansas.

As the Senate Majority Leader, Senator Robinson was usually President Franklin Roosevelt’s point person to shepherd legislation on Capitol Hill.  The Democrat’s 1928 Vice Presidential nominee, Senator Robinson was particularly close to FDR. He had successfully steered numerous pieces of New Deal legislation through Congress.  However, at the time of his death, the Senator was facing an uphill climb trying to build consensus on the President’s unpopular Court Packing scheme.

The Senator was honored with a memorial service in the Senate chambers on Friday, July 17.  President Roosevelt and the cabinet joined members of the senate on the floor in what was described as a state funeral without pomp.  Mrs. Robinson sat with her brothers and two nephews as well as Bernard Baruch and Arkansas Power & Light’s Harvey Couch, who were Senator Robinson’s closest friends.  Eleanor Roosevelt was one of the many crowded in the senate galleries observing the service.  Following the service his body remained in the chambers until it was transferred to a train to make the journey to Little Rock.

The funeral train bore his body, his family, 50 senators and over twenty congressmen. It reached Little Rock around 8am on Sunday the 19th.  From there, Senator Robinson’s body was taken to his house on Broadway Street until noon.  It subsequently lay in state at the Arkansas State Capitol until being escorted by military to First Methodist Church.

1,500 people packed the church a half hour before the service began. The sun shone through the windows onto the flag-draped coffin as Rev. H. Bascom Watts led the service. Among the pallbearers was former Vice President Charles G. Dawes. Governor Carl Bailey of Arkansas was joined by Governors Richard Leche of Louisiana and E.W. Marland of Oklahoma.

As the funeral procession reached Roselawn Cemetery, thunder echoed. The skies which had alternated between sun and rain that day, returned to rain. A deluge greeted the end of the service and sent visitors hurrying for shelter at the end.

Five months after her husband’s death, Mrs. Robinson participated in the groundbreaking of the Joseph Taylor Robinson Memorial Auditorium.  The ceremony was the first time it was announced that building would be named in his memory.   On a plaque inside that building today, a quote from President Roosevelt stands as a further testament of the importance of Senator Robinson to the US.  Taken from President Roosevelt’s remarks upon learning of the Senator’s death, the plaque reads, in part, “A pillar of strength is gone.”

Seventy-eight and a half years later, the church was the site of the funeral of longtime US Senator Dale Bumpers in January 2016.

Spike Lee celebration at CALS Ron Robinson Theatre – Part 1: DO THE RIGHT THING

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Do the Right Thing PosterThe Central Arkansas Library System is celebrating the works of Spike Lee in the CALS Ron Robinson Theater and you’re invited!

Join CALS on Friday July 12 as they celebrate the 30th anniversary of “Do The Right Thing” with a screening of Spike Lee’s 1989 classic film.

On the hottest day of the year on a street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, everyone’s hate and bigotry smolders and builds until it explodes into violence.

The film stars Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Giancarlo Esposito, John Turturro, Frankie Faison, Robin Harris, Joie Lee, Bill Nunn, and Spike Lee himself.  Aiello earned an Oscar nomination in the Supporting Actor category, and Lee picked up an Oscar nom for his original screenplay.

Tickets for the “Do The Right Thing” screening are $5 for general admission seating. The doors open at 7:00 pm and the film starts at 8:00 pm.

July 2FAN – Old State House presents “A Piece of My Soul: Quilts by Black Arkansans”

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Join the Old State House Museum for Second Friday Art Night, Friday, July 12, from 5 to 8 p.m., as they showcase and celebrate their current exhibit, A Piece of My Soul: Quilts by Black Arkansans.

They will have live music by Brae Leni and the Blackout, refreshments, and fun activities, including quilting crafts, and as always the museum will be open to view all exhibits!

A Piece of My Soul: Quilts by Black Arkansans, is a curated selection of the museum’s collection of more than 200 quilts from the post-Reconstruction era to the present, representing a variety of different types of quilts many of which were created by multi-generational families.

These quilts are a profoundly important part of Arkansas’s history — through their patterns, material, stitching, and family oral histories, these special bedcovers reveal the lives of late 19th and early 20th century Arkansas families

July 2FAN – CALS Library Square

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The Central Arkansas Library System’s Library Square plays host to TWO different 2nd Friday Art Night locations.

In the Bobby Roberts Library of Arkansas History and Art – the Loft Gallery features s Melissa Cowper-Smith: Natural Treatment, 2018–2019.  The Galleries at Library Square – Concordia Hall Gallery presents “Fifty Years of McFarlin Oil: Paintings and Sculpture by an Arkansas Traveler”  He has been making art under the moniker of McFarlin Oil for more than fifty years. Another continuing exhibition is “EMBRAID—Three Northwest Arkansas Strands” in the Underground Gallery.

No photo description available.Also on the CALS Library Square campus, The Bookstore at Library Square is proud to present the new show, “Art Schmart” from Arkansas artists Michael & Jessica Crenshaw featuring live music by Sandy Duncan’s Gun at the monthly event, 2nd Friday Art Night.

Partners in crime for 18 years, Michael and Jessica Crenshaw are lifelong Arkansans and multi-disciplined artists. While their collaborative efforts began with music, the two now venture into collaborative visual arts with this exhibit, the first featuring both artists in one show. Influenced by Dada and Bauhaus, this collection brings together their differing medias for an interesting and textural exploration of color through Arkansas-based themes. Michael calls it “Maximalism” while Jessica likes “Mo’Dada.” Whatever you call it, it’s fun. It’s bright. It’s happy.

Visit The Bookstore six days a week. Three floors of books, gifts, locally made art & jewelry, plus an art gallery. By far the best place to buy used books in central Arkansas. Monday-Saturday 9am-5pm. Gallery open during regular bookstore hours.

July 2FAN – Historic Arkansas Museum opens new exhibit on historic quilts

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Historic Arkansas Museum is using 2nd Friday Art Night for the opening reception for “Stitched Together: A Treasury of Arkansas Quilts” on Friday, July 12.

The new exhibit will showcase a collection of the rarest, most treasured quilts in the museum’s permanent collection with most quilts made before 1900 and many prior to the Civil War.

Tenpennygypsy will provide the live entertainment. Stone’s Throw Brewing will be the evening’s featured brewery. The reception is sponsored by the Historic Arkansas Museum Foundation, with special thanks to 107 Liquor. Beverages and appetizers will be served in the Stella Boyle Smith Atrium. The exhibits and reception are free and open to the public.