19 LR Cultural Touchstones in 2019. Part 4: Downtown murals, New sculptures, and River Market Entertainment District

Posted on December 31, 2019 by Scott

On the last day of 2019, continuing the look at 19 Little Rock cultural milestones in 2019 with numbers 11 to 13.

11 – Downtown Little Rock Partnership Murals. The Downtown Little Rock Partnership focused on increasing murals throughout the downtown area. In the summer, Jason Jones’s Playtime was painted and dedicated.

Playtime, Jones’s mural, depicts many features of downtown Little Rock in the playful setting of a child’s red wagon. This 5,000 square foot mural, on the side of the Union Plaza building, attracted proposals from over 70 artists for the $30,000 commission.

In the fall, Guy Bell painted a mural on the parking deck behind the Arkansas Repertory Theatre. It depicts Buffalo going up the deck. The mural is approximately 900 square feet, and the area runs along a ramp that goes up to the second floor of the deck.

Also in the fall, Joel Boyd was selected to paint a mural on the Simmons Tower Garage. The space contains three sections measuring approximately 28×26 feet, 28×9 feet, and 28×26 feet, and the mural will measure roughly 1,700 square feet. The project is sponsored by Flake & Kelley Commercial and the Simmons Tower ownership. The design, which depicts thoughts inside a male’s and female’s heads is meant to illustrate a moment of reflection or a quiet moment of peace for the subject.

The DLRP has also sponsored a party to paint the surface of Baker’s Alley as well as commissioned artists to paint doors in that alley.

12 – Women’s Suffrage Sculpture in Riverfront Park. While 2020 marks the centennial of the formal adoption of the 19th Amendment, 2019 marked 100 years since Arkansas ratified it. In tribute to that, a new Women’s Suffrage Plaza with a sculpture was dedicated in October. Jane DeDecker’s Every Word We Utter is the centerpiece of a new plaza inside the Vogel Schwartz Sculpture Garden.

DeDecker’s sculpture features Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Stanton Blatch, Alice Paul, and Ida B. Wells, all national leaders in the Women’s Suffrage movement. It also features two Arkansas women who played important roles: Josephine Miller Brown and Bernie Babcock.

The sculpture is based on the concept of a drop of water not only causing ripples but also rising up again after its impact with the surface. The women are presented in a series of levels, each building on the work done by previous generations.

On the base of the sculpture are engrave the names of other courageous Arkansas women who were part of the decades-long women’s suffrage effort. These include: Frances Reeve Edmonson Almand, Freda Hogan Amerigner, Dr. Ida Joe Brooks, Mary Ascena Burt Brooks, Anne Wade Roark Brough, Haryot Holt Cahoon, Florence Lee Brown Cotnam, Cate Campbell Cuningham, Eliza Bradshaw Dodge, Mary Fletcher Drennan, Pauline Floyd, Elizabeth Wallin Foster, Minnie Ursula Oliver Rutherford Fuller, Lizzie Dorman Fyler, Mary Knapp, Mary W. Loughborough, Clara Alma Cox McDiarmid, Josephine Irvin Harris Pankey, Charlotte Andrews Stephens, Adolphine Fletcher Terry, and Gertrude Watkins.

Other notable sculpture installations in 2019 included Darrell Davis’ Lions Pride in the War Memorial Park roundabout, Ken Newman’s Taking Attendance in the Heights, and Clay Enoch’s Community in Hillcrest. Davis, DeDecker and Enoch are members of the National Sculptors’ Guild.

12 – Launch of River Market Entertainment District. After passage of a new state law earlier in 2019, some River Market merchants started working with the Downtown Little Rock Partnership, the Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau, and the City of Little Rock to create an entertainment district.

On Friday, August 23, the new River Market Entertainment District had its inaugural evening. The River Market Entertainment District (RMED) is a space in which guests aged 21 and older can carry alcoholic beverages in approved cups throughout all public spaces and participating commercial properties. The Entertainment District spans the 300-600 blocks of President Clinton Avenue, the 100 block of Ottenheimer and St. Vincent Plaza and the entirety of Ottenheimer Market Hall and the River Market pavilions. RMED boundaries are defined by branded light pole banners, signage and sidewalk decals.

Alcohol may be carried throughout the district during the following times and holidays:

Friday – 5 p.m. to midnight
Saturday – 8 a.m. to midnight
Sunday – 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Exceptions to the rules are:

New Year’s Eve (December 31) – 8 a.m. to 12 a.m.
New Year’s Day (January 1) — 12 a.m. to 2 a.m., 8 a.m. to 12 a.m.
Valentine’s Day (February 14) – 8 a.m. to 12 a.m.
Patrick’s Day (March 17) – 8 a.m. to 12 a.m.
Independence Day (July 4) – 8 a.m. to 12 a.m.
Christmas Eve (December 24) – 8 a.m. to 12 a.m.

Patrons looking to take alcohol outside of the point of purchase and into public spaces within the District will be required to wear an RMED wristband given to them when they receive their RMED cup. Both cups and wristbands will be available at all participating bars and restaurants within the District. Due to state regulations, alcoholic beverages may not be taken from one bar or restaurant into another. Additionally, visitors to the RMED cannot bring any outside alcohol into the District, nor can any alcohol purchased within the District be taken outside its borders.

Participating Restaurants: Buenos Aires Grill & Café, Club 27, Cache Restaurant, Courtyard by Marriott (Bar), Damgoode Pies, Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken, Flying Saucer, Stickyz Rock’N’Roll Chicken, Rev Room , Sonny William’s Steak Room, Willy D’s, Nexus Coffee

Beverages in Official Cups are permitted inside: The Galleries at Library Square, Bobby L. Roberts Library Arkansas History and Art, The Barn Mercantile, UA Little Rock Downtown, Kilwin’s, Freckled Frog, Four Square Cafe and Gifts, Ottenheimer Market Hall, Little Rock River Market Pavilions

Dedication of the Little Rock High School Auditorium on October 31, 1927

Posted on October 31, 2019 by Scott

The stage and front seating area of the Central High Auditorium in September 2017.

On October 31, 1927, a recital took place in the auditorium of the new Little Rock High School which served as a dedication ceremony for the new high school auditorium. The school had been serving students for several weeks by the time the recital took place. The first day of school was Wednesday, September 14, 1927.

The star of the recital was Mary Lewis, a Little Rock High School graduate (from the previous location on Scott Street) who had made her Metropolitan Opera debut and become a toast of New York City.

The evening started with remarks from former Arkansas Governor Charles Brough, who had made a name for himself as an advocate for education before, during and after his stint in the statehouse. He was followed by Miss Lewis, who sang over a dozen arias and musical selections. For her final number she was supposed to sing “Home Sweet Home.” After several attempts to sing it, she was so overcome with emotion that she had to abandon the effort.

For more on the opening event, read Jay Jennings’ excellent book Carry the Rock: Race, Football, and the Soul of an American City.

The 1927 schoolbuilding replaced one built in 1905 at 14th and Scott Streets (with an auditorium completed a few years later at 14th and Cumberland). This new building was located in the western edges of Little Rock on what had been city parkland. The former West End Park was now site to Little Rock High School. The adjoining Kavanaugh Field was a baseball field on which Earl Quigley’s football Tigers also played their games.

Architects John Parks Almand, Lawson L. Delony, George R. Mann, Eugene John Stern, and George H. Wittenberg (virtually all of Little Rock’s full-time working architects at the time) designed the $1.5 million structure, which the New York Times dubbed the most expensive school ever built in the United States at that time.

Featuring a combination of Collegiate Gothic and Art Deco architecture, Central High spans two city blocks, comprising over 150,000 square feet of floor space, upon its completion. Requiring 36 million pounds of concrete and 370 tons of steel, the finished product consisted of 100 classrooms (accommodating over 1,800 students), a fireproof 2,000-seat auditorium, a gymnasium, and a greenhouse.

The six-story structure (counting the bell tower and basement) features a middle section containing the auditorium with four classroom wings (two per side) flanking a reflection pool in the foreground of the building. Faced with brick, the building’s highlights include pilasters and colonnades of cut stone, double-hung window frames with twelve lights per sash, and a main entry terrace supported by a colonnade of five masonry arches rising above Corinthian columns of stone.

Artober – Monuments. Jane DeDecker’s EVERY WORD WE UTTER commemorating the Woman’s Suffrage Centennial

Posted on October 26, 2019 by Scott

October is Arts and Humanities Month nationally and in Little Rock. Americans for the Arts has identified a different arts topic to be posted for each day in the month. Today’s feature is Monuments.

Earlier this month, a monument was dedicated in Little Rock which commemorates the Woman’s Suffrage Centennial. Jane DeDecker’s Every Word We Utter is the centerpiece of a new plaza inside the Vogel Schwartz Sculpture Garden.

On the based of the sculpture are engrave the names of other courageous Arkansas women who were part of the decades-long women’s suffrage effort. These include: Frances Reeve Edmonson Almand, Freda Hogan Amerigner, Dr. Ida Joe Brooks, Mary Ascena Burt Brooks, Anne Wade Roark Brough, Haryot Holt Cahoon, Florence Lee Brown Cotnam, Cate Campbell Cuningham, Eliza Bradshaw Dodge, Mary Fletcher Drennan, Pauline Floyd, Elizabeth Wallin Foster, Minnie Ursula Oliver Rutherford Fuller, Lizzie Dorman Fyler, Mary Knapp, Mary W. Loughborough, Clara Alma Cox McDiarmid, Josephine Irvin Harris Pankey, Charlotte Andrews Stephens, Adolphine Fletcher Terry, and Gertrude Watkins.

Dedication of sculpture for 100 years of Women’s Suffrage in Arkansas

Posted on October 10, 2019 by Scott

Today, October 10, 2019, Jane DeDecker’s Every Word We Utter sculpture and the Women’s Suffrage Centennial Plaza will be dedicated in the Vogel Schwartz Sculpture Garden in Riverfront Park.

The ceremony will take place at 11:00am. Among the speakers will be Gov. Asa Hutchinson and Mayor Frank Scott, Jr. as well as the sculptor.

In July 1919, in part largely to the leadership of Gov. Charles Brough and First Lady Anne Roark Brough, the Arkansas General Assembly approved the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution, making Arkansas the 12th state of the 36th needed.

Two years earlier, Arkansas had given women the right to vote, but only in party primaries. This was not the first attempt at granting Arkansas women the vote. In 1868, a bill was introduced to allow voting regardless of gender but it failed.

As throughout the United States, the efforts to establish women’s suffrage in Arkansas began prior to the Civil War. By 1869, articles started appearing in local newspapers about women’s suffrage efforts. In 1881, the Arkansas Woman Suffrage Association had been founded. The Arkansas Equal Suffrage Association was created in 1888. Both of these early groups disbanded when their leaders died. However they planted the seeds for future efforts.

The Political Equality League was founded in Little Rock in 1911. That year an amendment to the Arkansas Constitution was proposed which would have granted women the right to vote. While it failed, the effort created momentum, and women’s suffrage leagues were created throughout Arkansas which led to ultimate victory in 1919.

It also features two Arkansas women who played important roles: Josephine Miller Brown and Bernie Babcock.

This sculpture features two Arkansas women: Josephine Miller Brown and Julia Burnell “Bernie” Babcock. Brown came to Arkansas to work on the woman’s suffrage movement and decided to make it her home, while Babcock grew up in the state and learned about the suffrage effort as a teenager. Both have descendants in Arkansas to this day. This duo were chosen to represent the many women who worked on the suffrage movement. Some were from Arkansas, others came here–all of them worked for decades in this state to advance the cause of women’s suffrage.

Other courageous women who were part of the decades-long women’s suffrage effort in Arkansas include: Frances Reeve Edmonson Almand, Freda Hogan Amerigner, Dr. Ida Joe Brooks, Mary Ascena Burt Brooks, Anne Wade Roark Brough, Haryot Holt Cahoon, Florence Lee Brown Cotnam, Cate Campbell Cuningham, Eliza Bradshaw Dodge, Mary Fletcher Drennan, Pauline Floyd, Elizabeth Wallin Foster, Minnie Ursula Oliver Rutherford Fuller, Lizzie Dorman Fyler, Mary Knapp, Mary W. Loughborough, Clara Alma Cox McDiarmid, Josephine Irvin Harris Pankey, Charlotte Andrews Stephens, Adolphine Fletcher Terry, and Gertrude Watkins.

Birth of Little Rock civic and elected leader Ben D. Brickhouse (June 8, 1873)

Posted on June 8, 2019 by Scott

On June 8, 1873, future Little Rock Mayor Ben D. Brickhouse was born in Virginia. He moved to Texas as a child before his family settled in Arkansas.

His first job was with the Missouri Pacific Railroad. He eventually attended law school at the University of Arkansas. As an attorney, he remained interested in labor relations throughout the rest of his life.

In 1914, Brickhouse was elected to the Little Rock City Council. He was reelected in 1916. In 1918, he was appointed Labor Commissioner for the State of Arkansas by Governor Charles Brough.

Brickhouse was elected Mayor of Little Rock in 1919. He was relected twice (1921 and 1923). Though other Little Rock mayors in the 1920s to 1950s would seek a third consecutive term, Brickhouse was the last who succeeded prior to the change to the City Manager form of government in 1957.

Mayor Brickhouse ran for a fourth term as Mayor but was defeated. In 1923, he had openly opposed the Ku Klux Klan, which was then a major player in Democratic politics in Little Rock, in Arkansas and in the nation. In the next Democratic primary for Mayor, Brickhouse did not secure the nomination.

During Mayor Brickhouse’s tenure the City purchased the land to make Fair Park (now War Memorial Park). He also served as chair of the State Fairgrounds. After leaving office Brickhouse remained active in civic affairs, often speaking out in favor or opposition to local issues.

Brickhouse retired from public life in 1925 but returned in 1938 when he was elected to the Arkansas House of Representatives. He was reelected in 1940. On June 1, 1941, not long after the conclusion of the legislative session, Brickhouse died.

Little Rock Look Back: Little Rock Celebrates End of The Great War

Posted on November 11, 2018 by Scott

Portion of a Pfeifer Brothers ad in November 11 1918 ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT

When the residents of Little Rock awoke on Monday, November 11, 1918, they discovered that the Armistice had been signed. A celebration of Peace broke out and continued on throughout the day.

The Arkansas Democrat (an afternoon paper) got the ball rolling when it issued a special edition at 2:27am that the treaty would be signed. In addition to being distributed around the City, copies were rushed to Arkansas Governor Charles Brough and Little Rock Mayor Charles Taylor. Mayor Taylor declared he would issue a proclamation setting aside Saturday, November 16, as a day of celebration in the city.

Unwilling to wait that long, throngs of people filled the streets greeting each other with handshakes and hugs. From the wee hours of the morning through late at night, friends and strangers alike were treated as familiars as the celebratory love swept through the city.

Firecrackers, car horns, whistles, and church bells competed with each other and with the shouts of the citizenry in contributing to the din of celebration. An impromptu parade formed at Third and Main around 9:00am and eventually stretched the length of Main Street’s business district. Student forgot their studies and participated in the parade instead of going to the high school at Scott and 14th Street. (While many businesses closed that day, the schools did not. But one suspects that attendance was light.)

At 10am, there was five minutes of silence. Most men stopped and removed their hats while many women were seen offering silent prayers. Then the Governor and Mayor addressed the crowds gathered at Capitol and Main Streets.

Two hundred recent arrivals from Puerto Rico who were in to Little Rock to work at a factory grabbed an American flag and joined in the parade once they were informed of the news. They joined a throng that cared not about race or ethnicity, class or status, faith background, gender, or occupation.

Three thousand employees of the Missouri Pacific Railroad marched in a parade led by a coffin with an effigy of Kaiser Wilhelm in it. Next came the railroad’s marching band, followed by row after row of railroad employees. Interspersed were rail company trucks equipped with railroad bells which had been rung previously as part of war bond rallies. Now they were rung in tribute to peace and victory.

Around noon, the crowds moved back to sidewalks and side streets, turning Main Street and Capitol Street over to an automobile parade. Cars, trucks, and other vehicles were festooned with red, white, and blue bunting and packed with people. Overhead throughout the day, airplanes performed acrobatic feats to the delight of crowds below.

Government offices closed early as did factories and most businesses. About the only people working that day seemed to be the Little Rock police. They reported no major incidents, although one officer did have to rescue his hat from being nearly trampled by a group of dancing women. The only quibble seems to have come from various groups claiming to have been the first to start the celebration.

Little Rock Look Back: Dedication of LR High School Auditorium

Posted on October 31, 2018 by Scott

The star of the recital was Mary Lewis, a Little Rock High School graduate (from the previous location on Scott Street) who had made her Metropolitan Opera debut and become a toast of New York City.

The evening started with remarks from former Arkansas Governor Charles Brough, who had made a name for himself as an advocate for education before, during and after his stint in the statehouse. He was followed by Miss Lewis, who sang over a dozen arias and musical selections. For her first encore, Miss Lewis sang “Dixie.” Her second encore was supposed to be “Home Sweet Home.” After several attempts to sing it, she was so overcome with emotion that she had to abandon the effort.

For more on the opening event, read Jay Jennings’ excellent book Carry the Rock: Race, Football, and the Soul of an American City.

Little Rock Culture Vulture

Cultural events, places and people in the Little Rock area

Tag Archives: Gov. Charles Brough

19 LR Cultural Touchstones in 2019. Part 4: Downtown murals, New sculptures, and River Market Entertainment District

Dedication of the Little Rock High School Auditorium on October 31, 1927

Artober – Monuments. Jane DeDecker’s EVERY WORD WE UTTER commemorating the Woman’s Suffrage Centennial

Dedication of sculpture for 100 years of Women’s Suffrage in Arkansas

Birth of Little Rock civic and elected leader Ben D. Brickhouse (June 8, 1873)

Little Rock Look Back: Little Rock Celebrates End of The Great War

Little Rock Look Back: Dedication of LR High School Auditorium

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