Tag Archives: City of Little Rock

Little Rock Look Back: First Council Meeting after Civil War

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First 1866 minutesOn January 8, 1866, the Little Rock City Council resumed meeting. This was the first meeting since the body had disbanded in September 1863.

Mayor J. J. McAlmont, a physician, presided. The Council members present were I.A. Henry, Henry Ashley, M.H. Eastman, Richard Bragg, P.O. Hooper, G. S. Morrison, John Collins and Alexander George.  Alderman Henry had actually served on the 1863 City Council which had voted to cease operation.

Thomas C. Scott was named constable and collector, and Augustus F. Woodard was appointed City Attorney.

Mayor McAlmont announced the creation of eight committees: Finance, Streets, Ordinances, Mount Holly, Fire Department, Police, Schools and Gas. Though a police committee was established, at a future meeting the Mayor appointed a committee to visit with the commanding Union officer over Little Rock to discuss the establishment of a police force.

One ordinance was introduced. It would establish a rate for licenses. It was read one time, and would be amended at future Council meetings.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the City Constable was charged with finding a room “for temporary use of the City Council.”

The Council would meet again the next night to continue discussions as they revived a dormant government.

Little Rock Look Back: John Gould Fletcher, LR 32nd Mayor

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IMG_4006Future 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. His grandson William Terry (son of Adolphine Fletcher Terry) and members of his family still reside in Little Rock.

Little Rock Look Back: Pulaski Heights Annexed into Little Rock

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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, LR’s 29th Mayor

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Botsford GraveOn 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 Kramer, LR’s 31st and 33rd Mayor, first LR School Board President

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Mayor KramerOn 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.

Hurst to lead Department of Arkansas Heritage

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stacy-hurstYesterday Governor-Elect Asa Hutchinson announced that Stacy J. Hurst of Little Rock will be the next director of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.

“Stacy is extremely bright and hardworking, and she understands the importance of protecting and preserving our state’s incredibly rich history and culture. I have no doubt she will do a remarkable job in her new position as the director of the Department of Arkansas Heritage,” Hutchinson said.

As director of the agency, she will serve as the state’s chief preservation officer. She will oversee the Arkansas Arts Council, Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, Delta Cultural Center, Historic Arkansas Museum, Mosaic Templar’s Cultural Center, and Old State House Museum.

From January 2003 until December 2014, Hurst represented Ward 3 on the Little Rock City Board.  A native of Pine Bluff, she moved to Little Rock in 1985 after graduating from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville with a degree in Communications.  Since 1996, she has worked at Tipton & Hurst, Inc.  Prior to that, she worked for Arkansas Children’s Hospital Foundation for twelve years, retiring from the organization as Vice President.

From January 2007 to December 2008, she served as Vice Mayor of the City of Little Rock.  Prior to her election to the City Board, she served as co-chair of the Vision Little Rock, Recreation and Tourism workgroup.  She also served as a member of the Little Rock Zoo Board of Governors from 2000 to 2002.

Hurst chaired the three (3)-year community-wide planning process that led to a vision and Master Plan for the renovation of War Memorial Park.  Since the plan was adopted by the Board, over $2 million has been devoted to improvements within this signature park.  She was instrumental in the revitalization of the Midtown Redevelopment Corridor.  These efforts started with the Statement of Expectations planning document and a Design Overlay District adopted by the Planning Commission and board of Directors.  As a result of this work, tens of millions of dollars of private investment in the Midtown Corridor that continues today.

She was founding chair and board member of the City Parks Conservancy, which raises money for the City’s parks.  She has served as chair of the Nature Conservancy Board of Trustees in Arkansas.  She is currently a sustaining member of the Junior League of Little Rock, after having led the League’s efforts to purchase and restore the historic Women’s City Club in downtown.  Her numerous other community memberships include the Nature Conservancy,Arkansas Arts Center, Youth Home Board of Trustees, Arkansas Women’s Forum, CARTI Foundation Board of Trustees, Little Rock Garden Club, First Tee of Arkansas Board of Trustees, Arkansas Children’s Hospital Auxiliary, Alzheimer’s Arkansas Advisory Board.

Little Rock Look Back: Ground Broken for Robinson Auditorium

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ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT photo of Mayor Overman, Mrs. Robinson and Mr. Allaire at the groundbreaking. The Broadway Bridge balustrades are visible in the background.

ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT photo of Mayor Overman, Mrs. Robinson and Mr. Allaire at the groundbreaking. The Broadway Bridge balustrades are visible in the background.

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.

Approximate site of the 1937 groundbreaking. Once again it is a construction site as the Robinson renovation is underway.

Approximate site of the 1937 groundbreaking. Once again it is a construction site as the Robinson renovation is underway.