LITTLE ROCK

LITTLE ROCK is on the Arkansas River some 150 miles above its confluence with the Mississippi River. The place name was identified in 1721 by the French explorer Benard LaHarpe with his journal entry noting a "point of rocks" on the south bank of the river. Little Rock, a derivative of that name, was established in 1821. Decisions by the territorial legislature to designate the city as the seat of government and in 1836 the state capital secured the city's future.

The Civil War left the city unscathed, and in the last quarter of the nineteenth century investments in railroads and natural resources led to steady economic growth. This pattern, coupled with a growing presence of state and federal agencies, continued in the twentieth century. Employment opportunities stimulated by World War II accelerated a population boom that continued a full decade following the war. Growth was curtailed by the Little Rock school crisis in 1957. The city became an international symbol for racial prejudice when some of its citizens supported the governor's attempts to stop integration at the city's Central High School. Major reform efforts to improve the city's image and national demo-graphic changes fueled by interests in recreation, retirement, and an energy crisis allowed the city to regain its momentum. Governor Bill Clinton's election as president brought added attention to the city. By the year 2000 Little Rock's population exceeded 180,000.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Herndon, Dallas Tabor. Why Little Rock Was Born. Little Rock, Ark.: Central Printing, 1933.

Lester, Jim, and Judy Lester. Greater Little Rock. Norfolk, Va.: Donning, 1986.

Roy, F. Hampton, Sr., and Charles Witsell Jr. How We Lived: Little Rock as an American City. Little Rock, Ark.: August House Publishers, 1984.

C. FredWilliams

See alsoArkansas ; Segregation .