About Little Rock

Wikipedia describes Little Rock’s beginnings. “ Little Rock was actually named for a little rock. Early travelers used a stone outcropping on the bank of the Arkansas River as a landmark. ‘La Petite Roche’ (French for ‘The Little Rock’), so named in 1722 by French explorer Jean-Baptiste Bénard de la Harpe, marked the transition from the flat Mississippi Delta region to the Ouachita Mountain foothills. Travelers would refer to the area as ‘the Little Rock’ and the name stuck.”

Some big happenings have occurred in Little Rock last century, especially in 1957 and 1958 when the schools were integrated one year and Gov. Faubus closed the three high schools the next year. In 1968, the Stevie Wonder song, “I Was Made to Love Her,” mentions Little Rock, a much more benign notice than all the notoriety that came ten years before. In 2004, President Clinton’s Presidential Center opened in Little Rock. Since 2006, there has been a building boom, including Dickey-Stephens Park, where the Arkansas Travelers play minor-league baseball.