Future Little Rock Mayor John Gould Fletcher was born on this date in 1831. The son of Henry Lewis and Mary Lindsey Fletcher, he later served as a Captain in the Capital Guards during the Civil War. One of his fellow soldiers was Peter Hotze.
Following the war, he and Hotze began a general merchandise store in Little Rock. They were so successful that they eventually dropped the retail trade and dealt only in cotton. Peter Hotze had his office in New York, while Fletcher supervised company operations in Little Rock. In 1878 Fletcher married Miss Adolphine Krause, sister-in-law of Hotze.
John Gould Fletcher was elected Mayor of Little Rock from 1875 to 1881. He was the first Mayor under Arkansas’ new constitution which returned all executive powers to the office of the Mayor (they had been split under a reconstruction constitution). Following his service as Mayor, he served one term as Pulaski County Sheriff. Mayor Fletcher also later served as president of the German National Bank in Little Rock.
Mayor and Mrs. Fletcher had five children, three of whom lived into adulthood. Their son was future Pulitzer Prize winning poet John Gould Fletcher (neither father nor son used the Sr. or Jr. designation). Their two daughters who lived to adulthood were Adolphine Fletcher Terry (whose husband David served in Congress) and Mary Fletcher Drennan.
In 1889, Mayor Fletcher purchased the Pike House in downtown Little Rock. The structure later became known as the Pike-Fletcher-Terry House. It was from this house that Adolphine Fletcher Terry organized the Women’s Emergency Committee which worked to reopen the Little Rock public schools during the 1958-1959 school year.
In the 1960s, sisters Adolphine Fletcher Terry and Mary Fletcher Drennan deeded the house to the City of Little Rock for use by the Arkansas Arts Center. For several decades it served as home to the Arts Center’s contemporary craft collection. It now is used for special events and exhibitions.
Mayor Fletcher died in 1906 and is buried in Mount Holly Cemetery along with various members of his family. Several of his descendants still reside in Little Rock.
Tag Archives: City of Little Rock
Little Rock Look Back: Pulaski Heights Annexation Election
On January 4, 1916, voters in Little Rock and Pulaski Heights voted overwhelmingly to annex the latter into the former.
First platted in 1890, Pulaski Heights had been incorporated as a city in August 1905. By 1915, Pulaski Heights was booming. It was growing so fast, that its infrastructure and public safety needs were far outpacing the city’s ability to pay for them. Though there was a ribbon of commercial businesses along Prospect Avenue (now Kavanaugh Boulevard), it did not produce enough sales tax revenue to pay for City services. Then, as now, property taxes were also an important part of city revenue sources but not sufficient without sales taxes.
The City of Little Rock, likewise, was looking for ways to grow physically. At the time, the City was hemmed in by a river to the north and low, marshy land to the east. Current development was to the south, but even that presented limits in the foreseeable future. The best option was to grow to the west, but Pulaski Heights was in the way. In 1915, Little Rock Mayor Charles Taylor (after failing in a previous attempt to re-annex North Little Rock into Little Rock), approached Pulaski Heights leadership about the possibility of annexation.
In November 1915, there were public meetings in Little Rock and Pulaski Heights to discuss the issue. As a part of the annexation, Little Rock promised to build a fire station in the area and to install traffic lights, sidewalks and pave more streets.
On January 4, 1916, Little Rock voters approved the annexation of Pulaski Heights by a ten-to-one margin. The majority of Pulaski Heights residents also approved the deal. The suburb became the city’s ninth ward.
Another special election was held in January 1916 to select the first two aldermen from the 9th Ward. L. H. Bradley, John P. Streepey and Tom Reaves ran for the two slots. Bradley and Streepey were the top two vote recipients. Streepey served until April 1921 and Bradley served until April 1928.
This established a couple of precedents for the City of Little Rock which are in effect to this day. The first is that Little Rock would not be a central city surrounded by a variety of small incorporated towns (in the manner that St. Louis and other cities are). It was this thought process which has led the City to continue to annex properties.
Little Rock Look Back: J. G. Botsford
On December 30, 1838, future Little Rock Mayor Jefferson George Botsford was born in Port Huron, Michigan. He married Charlotte Adelia Henry on June 13, 1867. She had been born in Massachusetts, but moved to Little Rock with her parents and grandparents.
The couple had seven children: Nellie, Charlotte, Harriett, James, Edward, George and Charles. Nellie, James and Charles died in childhood.
Botsford had served in the Union Army and fought in frontier battles against Indians. Among his commercial involvements in Little Rock were serving as mail contractor between Little Rock and Baton Rouge, proprietor of Anthony House, organizer of Merchants National Bank and president of the White River Valley & Texas Railroad.
In 1868, Botsford was elected to the Little Rock City Council. The City Council suspended Mayor A. K. Hartman in February 1870. Elected in 1869, he was disliked by the aldermen, the press and a portion of the public. A court order overturned the suspension in June 1870. In January 1871, Mayor Hartman was again suspended by the Council. This time, Botsford was declared Mayor. However Hartman also still claimed the title of Mayor through the remainder of his term in November 1871.
After stepping down as Mayor with the election of Robert Catterson in November 1871, Botsford returned to private life. He died on October 29, 1915 and is buried at Mount Holly Cemetery.
Little Rock Look Back: Frederick G. Kramer
On December 29, 1829, future Little Rock Mayor Frederick G. Kramer was born in Halle, Prussia. In 1848, he immigrated to the United States. Kramer enlisted in the United States Army and served in the Seventh Infantry until his discharge at Fort Gibson, Indian Territory, in July 1857. After his discharge, Kramer settled in Little Rock, and became a citizen in 1859. He married Adaline Margaret Reichardt, an emigrant from Germany, in 1857. They had six children Louisa, Mattie, Emma, Charles, Fred, and Henry.
From 1869 to 1894, Kramer served on the Little Rock School Board. He was the first School Board president. Among his other civic activities were serving as president of the Masonic Mutual Relief Association, a founder of the Mount Holly Cemetery Commission, and a founder of Temple B’nai Israel. In 1875 he and F. A. Sarasin opened a mercantile business. Kramer later became the president of the Bank of Commerce.
Frederick Kramer was elected Mayor of Little Rock in November 1873. He served until April 1875, when a new Arkansas Constitution took effect.
From November 1869 through March 1875, the City Council President presided over City Council meetings and signed ordinances, performing many of the duties formerly ascribed to the Mayor. As such, during his Mayoral tenure from 1873 to 1875, Kramer was the Chief Executive of the City but did not preside over Council Meeting. When he had served on the City Council, however, Kramer had been elected President of the Council and had presided over Council meetings from October 1871 to May 1872
Kramer was returned to the Mayoralty in April 1881 and served three more terms leaving office in April 1887. His tenure as an Alderman and as Mayor overlapped with his service on the school board.
A new Little Rock elementary school which opened in 1895 on Sherman Street was named the Fred Kramer Elementary School in his honor. Though the building’s bell tower was removed in the 1950s, the structure still stands today. It now houses loft apartments.
Frederick G. Kramer died on September 8, 1896, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. A few months earlier, he had traveled there with his wife and daughter Emma to recuperate from an illness. He is buried in Oakland Cemetery.
Little Rock Look Back: Mayor Eli Colby
On Christmas Day in 1814, future Little Rock Mayor Eli Colby was born in Warner, New Hampshire.
At the age of 23, he moved to Little Rock in 1838. After arriving, he soon became the editor and publisher of the Times and Advocate newspaper. As a publisher and printer, Colby also had the contract to print official state notifications and documents in the early 1840s.
Politically, Colby served as a Justice of the Peace for several years. In September 1843, he was elected Mayor of Little Rock in a special election to fill a vacancy. He left office in January 1844. He died March 15, 1844, at the age of 29 after a long illness and was buried with Masonic honors.
Little Rock Look Back: Robinson Auditorium Groundbreaking
On December 24, 1937, at 11:30 a.m., Little Rock Mayor R. E. Overman, Ewilda Gertrude Miller Robinson (the widow of Senator Joseph Taylor Robinson) and Alexander Allaire of the PWA turned dirt to participate in the brief groundbreaking ceremony for Little Rock’s municipal auditorium. That morning, the Arkansas Gazette ran a brief story on the upcoming groundbreaking. The story mentioned that the building would be named in memory of the late beloved Arkansas politician. This appears to be the first public pronouncement of the Robinson name for this civic structure.
Among others in attendance at the groundbreaking were Mrs. Charles Miller (sister-in-law of Mrs. Robinson), Mr. and Mrs. Grady Miller (brother and sister-in-law of Mrs. Robinson), the mayor’s wife, the three architects (George Wittenberg, Lawson Delony and Eugene John Stern), and D. H. Daugherty and Will Terry of the City’s Board of Public Affairs.
Construction had to start by January 1, 1938, in order to receive PWA funds. By breaking ground on December 24, there was over a week to spare. The site had been selected in late October 1937, and the purchase had not been finalized. But the PWA did give permission for the City to let a contract for excavation, demolition and filling on the site.
The groundbreaking took place at the corner of Garland and Spring Streets which was on the northeast corner of the block set aside for the auditorium. Today, Spring Street does not extend north of Markham; the street was closed to make way for the parking structure and what is now the Doubletree Hotel. Garland Street is basically an alley that runs parallel to Markham north of City Hall, Robinson Auditorium and the Doubletree Hotel.
Little Rock Look Back: Roswell Beebe
Roswell Beebe, Little Rock’s 16th Mayor
On December 22, 1795, future Little Rock Mayor Roswell Beebe was born in Hinsdale, New York. His family were wealthy English immigrants. At seventeen, Beebe went to New Orleans and fought with Andrew Jackson in the 1815 Battle of New Orleans. He stayed in the Crescent City for the next two decades building successful lumber and brick businesses.
Due to health concerns, he moved north to a drier climate in 1834. After first stopping in Fulton, Arkansas, he settled in Little Rock in 1835 at the age of forty. He stayed at the home of Chester Ashley and married Ashley’s sister-in-law, Clarissa Elliott. He and Clarissa had two children, Roswell and Cora.
For nearly 30 years, Little Rock had a complicated history of deeds, titles and land ownership. In 1839, Beebe went to Washington DC and received the original patent from President Martin Van Buren. He then set about clearing up the land and title issues, as well as drawing up a plan for the city and laying off blocks and streets. Beebe deeded the streets and alleys to the City for a dollar. He also donated the land on Markham Street for a new State Capitol building (now home of the Old State House Museum). Along with his brother-in-law Chester Ashley, he donated the land for the establishment of Mount Holly Cemetery.
In 1848, Beebe was elected to the Little Rock City Council. The following year, he was elected Mayor. He served as Mayor of Little Rock from April 1849 to February 1850.
While his primary business focus in the 1840s had been real estate, in the 1850s he focused on railroads. Beebe was named president of the Cairo and Fulton Railroad Company in 1853.
While on a visit to New York, Beebe died on September 27, 1856. His body was returned to Little Rock, and Roswell Beebe was buried at Mount Holly Cemetery. The town of Beebe, Arkansas, is named in his honor.
Little Rock Culture Vulture 