Pulaski
County
Early History
Contributed by JoAnn Scott
Little Rock is the capital of Arkansas, U.S. It is the seat of Pulaski
County, on the Arkansas River in the foothills of the Ouachita
Mountains in the central part of the state. In 1722 Bernard de la
Harpe, a French explorer, saw on the bank of the Arkansas River two
conspicuous rock formations, which he reputedly named La Petite Roche
and La Grande Roche. Near the smaller rock was a Quapaw Indian
settlement, which La Harpe made his trading post. The “little
rock” later became the abutment for a railway bridge. The
“big rock,” 2 miles (3 km) further upstream, was
the site
of an army post and later a veterans hospital.
In 1812 William Lewis, a trapper, built his home at the
“little
rock.” In 1819 Arkansas became a territory, with its capital
at
Arkansas Post. The site of Little Rock was surveyed in 1820, and the
territorial capital was moved there the next year.
The capitol building where the legislature met from 1821 to 1836 is
preserved in the Territorial Capitol Restoration, along with a block of
buildings of the period, including the Old State House (designed by
Gideon Shyrock and the second of Little Rock's three state capitols)
and the first print shop of the Arkansas Gazette, which merged in 1991
with the Arkansas Democrat to form the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Little Rock was strongly anti-Union at the outbreak of the
American Civil War, and the Federal arsenal was seized by state
authorities in 1861. In September 1863 Federal troops under General
Frederick Steele occupied the city and established a pro-Union
government.
With the expansion of the railways in the 1880s, Little Rock became an
important transportation centre. Industry in the metropolitan area
experienced planned, diversified growth beginning in the 1940s, mainly
because of the proximity of raw materials (timber, oil, gas, coal, and
bauxite).
The city became a river port in 1969 with the opening of a system of
locks and dams on the Arkansas River. Large railroad shops are located
across the river at North Little Rock. Little Rock is the chief market
for the surrounding agricultural region.
In 1957 the city became the focus of world attention over the right of
nine black students to attend Central High School under a gradual
desegregation plan adopted by the city school board in accordance with
the 1954 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court holding racial segregation
in public schools unconstitutional.
The result was a test of power between the federal and state
governments. Governor Orval E. Faubus ordered the state militia to
prevent blacks from entering the school, but the state was enjoined
from interfering by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who sent
federal troops to the city to maintain order. Within the next decade,
desegregation was accomplished in all public schools. In 1998 President
William J. Clinton signed legislation designating Central High School a
national historic site and awarded each of the “Little Rock
Nine” the Congressional Gold Medal.
Little Rock's economy is based on government and financial services,
food processing, and the manufacture of such items as cosmetics,
telecommunications equipment, and data-transmission equipment.
 |
 |
| Visit our State site. |
Visit our National site. |
©2009
Genealogy Trails
|
|
|
|
