Celebrate the New Year with a musical journey!
During 2nd Friday Art Night on January 11, the Bob Boyd Sounds will perform a mix of popular standards, swing, and popular jazz spanning several decades.
Stone’s Throw Brewing will serve Arkansas-made brews, including the award-winning Pre-Prohibition Porter.
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.
Mosaic Templars Cultural Center will celebrate the holiday season with its annual Holiday Open House, featuring the sixth annual “Say it Ain’t Say’s” Sweet Potato Pie Contest, from 2-5 p.m. on Dec. 2.
In addition to the baking competition, the Holiday Open House will feature performances by several local musical groups and performers. The museum will also host a holiday craft-making station for children.
The “Say it Ain’t Say’s” Contest derives its name from Little Rock restaurateur Robert “Say” McIntosh who is known for his popular sweet potato pies. A panel of celebrity judges will select first- and second-place winners in both the amateur and professional categories, and a “People’s Choice” award will be determined by open taste-tasting beginning at 2:30 p.m.
Open to the public, MTCC’s Holiday Open House is a free event, though visitors are encouraged to bring a toy to donate to the Stop the Violence organization, which was founded by Robert “Say” McIntosh.
For more information, please call (501) 683-3593 or visit mosaictemplarscenter.com.
Mosaic Templars Cultural Center is an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.
Admission is free, and a trolley will be available to take patrons between Old State House Museum, Historic Arkansas Museum and Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, as well as the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion, at no charge.
Help ring in the holiday season at the Old State House Museum on Sunday, December 2, at Holiday Open House!
Visitors will find the Old State House colorfully decorated for the season, and local music groups will perform delightful carols. Fun, hands-on activities will be available to children; they can create unique holiday cards and more.
The hours are 1pm to 5pm, and admission is free.
Schedule of performances at Old State House Museum:
1:30 — Bethel Middle School Bryant
2:00 — Little Rock Central High School Madrigals
2:30 — Sweet Adelines, Top of the Rock
3:00 — Clarksville High School Choir
3:30 — Forest Heights STEAM Middle School Choir
4:00 — JA Fair High School Choir
4:30 — Pine Bluff High School Choir
The Old State House Museum is an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage. A trolley will be available to take patrons between Old State House Museum, Historic Arkansas Museum and Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, as well as the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion, at no charge
Sunday, December 2 is the 51st annual Historic Arkansas Museum Christmas Frolic!
The Frolic celebrates Christmas as it was in the 1800s with living history, carols, reenactments, live music, dancing and more.
Visitors come from across Arkansas each year to sample Historic Arkansas Museum’s famous hot cider and ginger cake, and to shop for unique Arkansas-made holiday gifts in the Museum Store.
Frolickers will enjoy a variety of activities for children and adults, including: living history performances and pioneer games.
This event runs from 1pm to 4pm and is free.
Historic Arkansas Museum is an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage. A trolley will be available to take patrons between Old State House Museum, Historic Arkansas Museum and Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, as well as the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion, at no charge
It has been fourteen years since the Clinton Presidential Center opened on a wet, cold Thursday.
The days leading up to it had been glorious. And while the weather may have literally dampened spirits a bit, it was still an important day for Little Rock and Arkansas.
The events leading up to the opening included a concert by Aretha Franklin with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and an appearance by Senator John Glenn at the Museum of Discovery. Events were hosted by the Arkansas Arts Center, Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Historic Arkansas Museum, and Old State House Museum. There were scores of receptions and parties as Hollywood, New York, and DC descended on Little Rock.
November 18 dawned rainy and cool. As the day continued on the precipitation continued while the temperature did not warm up. Years of planning for a grand opening ceremony came down to this. But at the appointed time, festivities began.
On the site of an abandoned warehouse district and unofficial dump which had previously been a train station, many leaders of the free world were gathered. They rubbed shoulders with thousands of Arkansans from probably every county in the state.
It had been seven years and eleven days since Bill Clinton had announced the site of his presidential library. It had been five years since artifacts and articles started arriving from Washington DC in Little Rock. There had been lawsuits, threats of lawsuits, the threat of a Counter-Clinton Library, and countless meetings.
After speeches from Presidents Carter, Bush 41 and Bush 43, remarks from President Clinton and then-Senator Clinton (who was made even wetter by water pouring off an ill-placed umbrella), and even a musical performance by Bono and The Edge, Chelsea Clinton turned over the ceremonial key from the Clinton Foundation to the National Archives to officially open the Clinton Presidential Center.
In his capacity leading the Clinton Foundation, Skip Rutherford oversaw the planning for the Clinton Library and the grand opening festivities. He, along with the foundation’s Executive Director Stephanie S. Streett, oversaw a phalanx of volunteers and staff to anticipate every detail. The 1,000 days countdown sign that had been on the construction site (the brainchild of Tyler Denton) finally reached 0.
Isabelle Rodriguez, Shannon Butler, Mariah Hatta, Jordan Johnson, Lucas Hargraves, Ben Beaumont, Denver Peacock — among others — had been putting in twelve plus hour days for months on end to get ready for the opening. City Manager Bruce T. Moore led a team of City officials who had assisted on the planning and execution of the site preparation and making sure Little Rock was ready to welcome the world. Moore and City Director Dean Kumpuris had been appointed by Little Rock Mayor Jim Dailey to lead Little Rock’s efforts to land the library. After Clinton’s announcement of the site, Dailey, Kumpuris and Moore continued to work together to ensure the library would be successful.
Among those present were Oscar winning actors Barbara Streisand, Robin Williams, and (of course) Arkansan Mary Steenburgen. Future Oscar winner Morgan Freeman was also in attendance. Among the Oscar nominees who were present were Bono and The Edge (who performed at the ceremony) and Alfre Woodard. It was the first public appearance by Senator John Kerry after his loss earlier in the month to President George W. Bush. Scores of Senators and members of Congress as well as countless Clinton Administration staffers were also in attendance.
While the weather on November 18, 2004, may have been a disappointment, the people who were gathered knew they were witnesses to history. And fourteen years later, is a day people still talk about.
The Clintons following his remarks.
On October 3, 1991, Governor Bill Clinton strode out the front doors of the Old State House Museum and announced his intentions to seek the 1992 Democratic Party’s nomination for President of the United States.
He was the fifth major Democrat to announce for the office. That there were that many by early October was somewhat surprising considering that the first half of 1991 saw many national Democrats announce they were NOT seeking the office.
Jerry Brown, Bob Kerrey, Paul Tsongas, and Tom Harkin were also in the race. Clinton was seen as a centrist, along with Senator Kerrey while the others were viewed as being from the far-left wing of the Democratic Party.
In its coverage of the announcement, The New York Times noted the significance of Gov. Clinton’s remarks on race. In the speech he referenced his desire to strengthen relations and remove barriers between the races. As the Times pointed out, it was at the Old State House that Arkansas held two conventions on the issue of secession prior to the state’s entry into the Civil War.
At the time of the announcement, Gov. Clinton was far from a frontrunner. His national profile was probably the lowest of any of the announced candidates. Most of the knowledge of him outside of Little Rock came from his lengthy speech about Michael Dukakis at the 1988 Democratic Convention and the subsequent appearance on “The Tonight Show” where both he and Johnny Carson poked fun as his loquaciousness.
Regardless of their views on his chances, the Governor’s family, friends, and fans packed the front lawn of the Old State House to cheer him. The national media treated him as a serious, albeit largely unknown, candidate. After having had Wilbur Mills, Dale Bumpers and others flirt with running and then backing out, the local media were probably thrilled to finally have someone from Arkansas actually running for the presidency.
One local media outlet would not see much of the campaign. Just fifteen days later, the Arkansas Gazette would close. As a paper which had covered nearly two decades of his career, the Gazette was often Clinton’s champion, though the paper was not afraid to point out times the two differed. However, there would be no Gazette headline about Clinton in New Hampshire, at the Democratic Convention, or a general election victory.
On Election Day in 1992 and again in 1996, Bill Clinton would repeat the stride out the front doors of the Old State House accompanied by his wife and daughter. Those two times the crowds would spill down the streets in all directions. Instead of a handful of media outlets there would be scores of them.
But it all started on a sunny autumn day in Little Rock in early October 1991.
Little Rock Culture Vulture 