Category Archives: History

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

Posted on by

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 – Historic Arkansas Museum opens new exhibit on historic quilts

Posted on by

Image may contain: text

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.

Sandwich in History today at War Memorial Stadium

Posted on by

You are invited to join the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program’s next “Sandwiching in History” tour, which will visit the War Memorial Stadium at 1 Stadium Drive in Little Rock beginning at noon on Friday, July 12th, 2019.

Note: We will gather inside gate 9, which is adjacent to the stadium’s administrative offices, which face Markham Street to the north. Please park in the lot along the western edge of the stadium. We will walk the interior circumference of the stadium on our tour.

War Memorial Stadium, completed in 1948, was designed as not only a large-scale sports venue for the city of Little Rock, but also a living memorial to Arkansas’s veterans and fallen soldiers. With an initial seating capacity of just over 31,000, the stadium today can hold more than 54,000 spectators. War Memorial Stadium has hosted over 200 Razorback football games, as well as many other Arkansas collegiate and high school teams and even an NFL game. The stadium has also hosted soccer games, major concerts and famous entertainers throughout its 70-year history.

Sandwiching in History tours are worth one hour of AIA continuing education credit. If you would like to receive email notifications of upcoming tours instead of postcards or need additional information, please contact Callie Williams, Education and Outreach Coordinator for AHPP, at 501-324-9880 or Callie.Williams@arkansas.gov.

Lunch and Learn at Mosaic Templars Cultural Center today at noon

Posted on by

As part of their ongoing Lunch and Learn series, Mosaic Templars Cultural Center today presents: “Off the Grid: A History of Nature, Black Power and Freedom on the Arkansas Frontier.”

The program starts at 12 noon at Mosaic Templars Cultural Center and is free.

Through images, stories and botanical specimens, historian Story Matkin-Rawn and ecologist Theo Witsell will share their research on the challenges of frontier life and use of wild resources among African Americans in the natural state.

Learn about Roofing Historic Buildings at tonight’s QQA Preservation Conversation

Posted on by

14dfc0fe c4ef 4359 b5b2 954e54d6d01e

The next QQA Preservation Conversation takes place tonight, July 11.

Join the QQA to learn about roofing historic buildings with Woody Simmons and Robert Purtle of Bray Sheet Metal. Woody and Robert have worked on historic buildings all around the state, including:

  • Copper Built-in gutters at the Empress in Little Rock
  • Repair and maintain slate roof at the Lincoln Home, Little Rock
  • Repairs to asbestos slate at the Pollock Home, Little Rock
  • Reroof wood shingles after fire at St Edwards Catholic Church, Little Rock
  • Install of slate roof, Cathedral of St. Andrew, Little Rock

When: July 11, 2019
Where: Mixing Room at the Old Paint Factory in the East Village,1306 East 6th Street, 72202
What Time: 5:30 pm (reception); 6:00 pm (lecture)

RSVP: The event is free and open to the public, but space is limited. Please RSVP.

Parking: There is parking directly in front of the doors that are marked “live”, “print”, “meet.” If those spots are taken. park in the parking lot to the right. There is also street parking in front of the building.

Entrance: Enter the event space through the door facing 6th Street marked “Meet.”

July 9, 1906 – plans for new Little Rock City Hall are approved. And the fun has just begun

Posted on by

The 1906 plans for City Hall with the Municipal Auditorium on the left portion.

On July 9, 1906, the Little Rock City Council approved Resolution 281 and Ordinance 1,295. These actions approved the plans for a new City Hall complex to be constructed on land at the northwest corner of Markham and Broadway Streets.  A few days later, the contract was awarded for the construction of the new building.

Mayor Warren E. Lenon had first called for a new city hall complex in his annual address in April 1904. He repeated his request in April 1905.   The City Council took up Mayor Lenon’s quest for a new city hall in December of 1905.  The Council appropriated money for the purchase of land for a city hall, jail and auditorium.

In response to this, the Arkansas Gazette daily newspaper ran a story featuring the viewpoints of a few civic leaders weighing in on the need for a new city hall complex which would also include a new jail and a city auditorium.  Two of the respondents, L. B. Leigh and P. Raleigh, stressed the need for paved streets and better sewers instead of a new city hall and auditorium.

The other three businessmen interviewed were more favorable to Mayor Lenon’s proposal.  Morris M. Cohn, a former Little Rock City Attorney, stated “I do not think we can make a better investment than in a fine city hall and auditorium.”  (Mr. Cohn, though an M. M. Cohn, was not related the M. M. Cohn who was the namesake for the longtime Little Rock department store.) County Judge William Marmaduke Kavanaugh offered his satisfaction with the action of the City Council on that matter.  R. E. Walt, a banker, opined that he thought $150,000 was not enough; he suggested $200,000 should be spent.

Later that month the Gazette reported that a site had been selected for the city hall and auditorium complex.  The proposed location was most of a city block located at the corner of Markham and Broadway Streets.  Mayor Lenon was vague as to the details of the deal because negotiations were still underway with the property owners

As 1906 dawned, Mayor Lenon and other city leaders continued to take steps to build the new city hall and auditorium.  They invited three local architects to make presentations for the chance to design the new complex.  The three were Charles L. Thompson, Frank W. Gibb and George R. Mann.  Mr. Thompson was chosen to receive the assignment.

On February 5, 1906, Mayor Lenon announced the creation of a special committee to work on the planning for a future city hall complex.  This committee consisted of Aldermen Louis Walther, A. B. Poe, L. N. Whitcomb, Christopher Ledwidge, and John A. Adams.

Mayor Lenon further stated that the new city hall complex and several private developments would “put us in that march of progress with which nothing can prevent us from having a 100,000 population in a few years.”

The saga to get the building built was just starting.