Here is Prince’s set list for his appearance in Little Rock in 1998.
Category Archives: LR Look Back
Prizing Mount Holly Cemetery on Pulitzer Day
The Pulitzer Prizes are to be announced today. This year marks the 100th announcement of the prizes, though not all of the current categories have been around since 1917.
Mount Holly Cemetery not only touts that it is the site of a whole host of elected officials, it is also the only place in Arkansas where two Pulitzer Prize recipients are buried. The cemetery is open every day, but a special visit to these two prize winner gravesites can be made next Sunday during the Mount Holly Cemetery Association’s annual “Rest in Perpetuity” fundraiser picnic.
In 1939, John Gould Fletcher became the first Southern poet to win the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. He was born into a prominent Little Rock family in 1886. Fletcher was awarded the prize for his collection Selected Poems which was published by Farrar in 1938. Two years earlier, he had been commissioned by the Arkansas Gazette to compose an epic poem about the history of Arkansas in conjunction with the state’s centennial.
Fletcher is buried next to his wife, author Charlie May Simon and his parents (his father was former Little Rock Mayor John Gould Fletcher). Other relatives are buried nearby in the cemetery.
The other Pulitzer Prize winner buried in Mount Holly is J. N. Heiskell, the longtime editor of the Arkansas Gazette. It was Heiskell, in fact, who asked Fletcher to compose the poem about Arkansas. Heiskell served as editor of the Gazette from 1902 through 1972. He died at the age of 100 in 1972.
Under his leadership, the Gazette earned two Pulitzer Prizes for its coverage of the 1957 desegregation of Little Rock Central High. One was for Harry Ashmore’s editorial writing and the other was for Public Service.
Heiskell remained in charge of the Gazette until his death in 1972. He is buried alongside his wife with other relatives nearby. Also not too far from Mr. Heiskell are two of his nemeses, proving that death and cemeteries can be the great equalizer. In the early days of his Gazette stewardship, he often locked horns with Senator (and former Governor) Jeff Davis. Later in Mr. Heiskell’s career, he vehemently disagreed with Dr. Dale Alford, who had been elected to Congress on a segregationist platform.
Little Rock City Hall – 108 years at Markham and Broadway
108 years ago today, Little Rock City Hall officially opened at the corner of Markham and Broadway.
On April 15, 1908, the Italian Renaissance Revival style building, which had been designed by local architect Charles Thompson, played host to an open house. Staff had started moving into the building in March of that year. This was, as often is the case, behind schedule. The date in the cornice toward the top of the building is 1907, but the building was not completed until 1908.
An open house took place on April 15, 1908, presided over by Acting Mayor John Herndon Hollis and his wife as well as former Mayor W. E. Lenon and his wife.
In 1903, W. E. Lenon became Mayor of Little Rock. Back then, the terms were two-year terms. Before the start of his second term in 1905, he realized that the City was outgrowing City Hall, which was, at the time, on the northeast corner of Markham and Louisiana – where part of the Statehouse Convention Center sits today.
In February 1906, Mayor Lenon appointed a committee of five aldermen to over see the planning for the building of a new City Hall. In July 1906, the City Council approved plans, which called for a City Hall with an municipal auditorium wing. There was some hue and cry about the cost spending and a resulting lawsuit, so, in September 1906, those plans were scrapped and a simpler City Hall was approved for the cost of $175,000.
The last resolution in the old City Hall called for the banning of smoking in the new Council Chambers – while the Council was in session. This may well have been the first smoking ban in a public government building in the history of Arkansas.
When the building opened, the third floor was not finished out. The space was not needed. When the Museum of Natural History and Antiquities (now the Museum of Discovery) moved into City Hall in 1929, they had to finish out their space.
In 1913, the new Central Fire Station, designed in the Beaux Arts style, was constructed adjacent to City Hall. During the 1930s, as the City grew, more space was needed. A garage, designed in the “austere, utilitarian” style was built in 1936 and a City Jail Annex, built by the WPA in the modified Art Deco style was built in 1938.
By 1955, the copper-clad dome which sat on top of City Hall needed severe repairs. The wooden supports and the copper cladding were both in dire shape. Mayor Pratt Remmel set aside money for the dome to be repaired. After defeating Remmel in his bid for a third term, Mayor Woodrow Mann scrapped plans for the repair and, indeed, scrapped the dome.
Following the lead of County Judge Arch Campbell who had removed the tower at the County Courthouse, Mann proposed removal of the dome. He had an informal survey which had three options: repair the dome, replace the dome with an aluminum one, or remove it. This was open to anyone to respond – voting eligibility or Little Rock residency did not matter. By a slim margin, remove the dome won – so the dome was removed.
In 1960, as air conditioning was installed, windows were bricked in to promote energy efficiency. At the time, the feeling was that a new City Hall would be constructed in the 1970s somewhere more central to the growing city. Relocation talk persisted throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. By that time, City Hall had been modified a great deal – with no thought about historic preservation. When the Police and Fire Department had moved out into their new facilities, their old spaces had become storage.
By 1984, the decision was made to stay at Markham and Broadway. An extensive renovation and restoration effort was undertaken. In 1988, the building reopened, and the interior had been restored to its 1908 appearance.
Little Rock Look Back: First plans for a Municipal Auditorium
On April 12, 1904, Mayor W. E. Lenon made what was the first official proposal for a municipal auditorium in Little Rock. Little did he know at the time that it would take from April 1904 until February 1940 to make this dream a reality.
Elected as a progressive, Lenon was focused on not just providing city services, but also had an interest in initiatives which would move the city forward. With that background it is not surprising that Mayor Lenon would be a champion for the construction of both a new city hall as well as a municipal auditorium building. During his first annual address to the City Council in April 1904 he noted:
Recently a number of our citizens have taken an active interest in building an auditorium in our city. This being a project of such worthy consideration should not go unnoticed by us. Apparently this is one of the greatest needs. Our business, social, commercial and financial interests, in fact, our entire city, would be benefitted by the building of same. It has therefore occurred to me that an auditorium might be built in conjunction with a new city hall.
The mayor further discussed that these new structures could either be built on the site of the current City Hall or at a new location. He also touched on possible financing options including the collection of a one percent assessment.
The mayor would bring this up again in his 1905 annual address. It would not be until December 1905 that the City Council would officially take any action on the plan.
Little Rock Look Back: Rock On!, or the day LaHarpe saw La Petite Roche
On April 9, 1722, French explorer Jean-Baptiste Bénard de La Harpe rounded the bend of the Arkansas River and saw La Petite Roche and Le Rocher Français. He had entered the mouth of the Arkansas River on February 27 after traveling up the Mississippi River from New Orleans.
Though La Harpe and his expedition are the first Europeans documented to have seen La Petite Roche, the outcropping of rocks was well-known to the Quapaw Indians in the area. The outcropping jutted out in the Arkansas River and created a natural harbor which provided a perfect place for boats to land.
The rock outcropping is the first one visible along the banks of the Arkansas River. It marks the place where the Mississippi Delta meets the Ouachita Mountains. Geologists now believe that the Little Rock is not the same type of rock as the Ouachita Mountains and more closely matches the composition and age of mountains in the western US.
In 1813, William Lewis became the first European settler to live near La Petite Roche but only stayed a few months. Speculators and trappers continued to visit the area throughout the 1810s. During that time, the outcropping became known informally as the Little Rock.
La Petite Roche had become a well-known crossing when the Arkansas Territory was established in 1819. The permanent settlement of ‘The Rock’ began in the spring of 1820, and the first building has been described as a cabin, or shanty, and was built on the bank of the river near the ‘Rock.’ In March 1820, a Post Office was established at the ‘Rock’ with the name “Little Rock.”
Over the years, La Petite Roche was altered. In 1872, Congress authorized the building of a railroad bridge. A pier for the bridge was built at the location of the La Petite Roche which caused the removal of several tons of rock. The bridge was never built. When the Junction Bridge was built in 1899, even more rock was removed in the process of erecting part of the bridge on top of the rock. It was not viewed as being disrespectful of the City’s namesake at the time. Indeed, it was viewed as a testament to the sturdiness of the rock.
In 2010, La Petite Roche plaza opened in Riverfront Park. It celebrates the history of La Petite Roche and explores its importance to various aspects of Little Rock’s history and geography.
Little Rock Look Back: First play at Robinson Center
On April 1, 1940, stage and screen star Edward Everett Horton appeared in the comedy Springtime for Henry in the music hall of Robinson Auditorium. This was the first play to be featured on the stage of the Music Hall which had opened six weeks earlier.
Springtime for Henry was a long-running vehicle for Horton. He first played its title role in California in 1932 (shortly after its Broadway debut in 1931) and continued to play it across the country for more than 25 years, including in the 1951 Broadway revival.
As it was now springtime for Little Rock, the air conditioning was being used. The system’s fans made so much noise that echoed through the air ducts it was hard for the audience members to hear the actors. Once the source of this distraction was discovered, the fans were turned off; the next day plans were made to add acoustical buffering to the ducts to avoid a repeat of the situation.
Little Rock Look Back: Werner Knoop
To Little Rock citizens under a certain age, the name Knoop means Knoop Park — a picturesque park tucked away in a pocket of Hillcrest. There are, however, still many who remember Werner C. Knoop as a business and political leader who helped shape Little Rock as a modern city.
Knoop was born on March 30, 1902.
In 1946, Knoop joined with Olen A. Cates and P. W. Baldwin to form Baldwin Construction Company in Little Rock. Knoop had previously founded Capital Steel Company and established his business reputation there. From 1945 through 1951, he served on the Little Rock School Board.
Following a series of political scandals, efforts were undertaken for Little Rock to shift from Mayor-Council to City Manager form of government. Even before the desegregation of Little Rock Central put the city in the eyes of the world, an election for new leaders had been set for November 1957. Knoop was on a “Good Government” slate and was one of the members elected.
At the first meeting of the new City Board, Werner C. Knoop was chosen by his fellow directors to serve as Little Rock Mayor. Knoop served as Mayor until December 1962. For the first several months in office, Little Rock had no City Manager so Knoop oversaw the transition of City staff as the forms of government changed.
Though City Hall generally stayed out of school district matters, that did not mean that the public viewed the two entities separately. In September 1959, the Baldwin Construction offices were bombed as part of a series of terrorist activities protesting the desegregated reopening of all Little Rock high schools.
Downtown LR as viewed from Knoop Park
After two terms on the City Board, Knoop decided against seeking a third term. He concluded his elected public service on December 31, 1962. Following his time on the City Board, Knoop did not retire from Civic Affairs. In 1970, he served as Chairman of the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce. The previous year he served as President of the Arkansas Chapter of Associated General Contractors.
Mayor Knoop died in July 1983. He is buried at Roselawn Memorial Park next to his wife Faith Yingling Knoop, a renowned author.
In the 1930s, Knoop moved into an Art Moderne house on Ozark Point in Hillcrest. It was adjacent to Little Rock Waterworks property which was developed around the same time. Eventually much of the land was deeded to the City for creation of a park. In 1989, it was named in tribute to long-time neighbor Knoop in honor of his lifetime of service to Little Rock.
Little Rock Culture Vulture 