LITTLE ROCK, the capital and largest city of Arkansas, U.S.A., and the county seat of Pulaski county; on the south bank of the Arkansas river, near the centre of the State. It is the intersection point for Federal highways 65, 67, 167 and 7o; is served by the Missouri Pacific, the Rock Island, and the St. Louis Southwestern railways; and has an airport of 125ac., 21T1. from the centre of the city. The population was 65,142 in 1920 (26.8% negro) and was 81,679 in 1930 by Federal census. The aggregate population of the urban unit, including North Little Rock, across the river, and other suburbs, was estimated at over I 30,00o.
Little Rock lies at the edge of the Gulf coastal plain, at an altitude of 25o to 400ft., with the foothills of the Ozarks rising to the west. Its area is 17.5 sq. miles. Besides three railway bridges, there are two beautiful highway bridges of concrete across the Arkansas, memorials to the men of the army and of the navy who died in the World War. The State capitol, of Arkansas marble (built in 1912), has a fine site in a park of 12 acres. The State fairgrounds (23oac.) are a beautiful grove of native trees, contain ing four large exhibition halls, 23 other buildings, and a grand stand with seats for 5,o0o. Many of the State institutions are in Little Rock, including the deaf-mute institute, the school for the blind, the penitentiary, the industrial school for boys, the library, the hospital for nervous diseases and the Confederate home. The medical school of the State university is here, and among the other educational institutions are Little Rock college (Roman Catholic ; established 1906), Arkansas Baptist college (for negroes), the Arkansas Law school, and St. John's theological seminary (Roman Catholic). The city is the see of Roman Catholic and Protestant Episcopal bishops, and there are numerous charitable institutions under private auspices. The philanthropic agencies are financed jointly through a community chest. There is a branch of the Federal Reserve Bank here, a U.S. land office, a U.S. district court, and a U.S. Veterans' bureau hospital. The airport, built around the Air Intermediate Depot established by the Government during the World War, is the headquarters of the 154th Aero Squadron of the Arkansas national guard, and is also used for commercial purposes. In 1926 it was the scene of the national balloon races and air meet.
The fertile agricultural region surrounding Little Rock produces large crops of cotton, corn, alfalfa, potatoes, small grains, fruits and vegetables. Within a short distance are vast stands of high
grade timber and deposits of coal (including a smokeless semi anthracite), oil and natural gas, marble, clay, flint and many other mineral resources. The bauxite mines just outside the city pro duce 90% of the country's total output. At Remmel dam, 6om. south-west of Little Rock, is the first unit of the great hydro electric development on the Ouachita river. There are over 300 industrial plants in Greater Little Rock (including large railroad shops across the river), and the annual value of the manufactured products in 1926 was estimated at $125,000,000. Chief among them are cotton-seed and lumber products. Little Rock has a large trade in cotton, lumber and agricultural products. Pur chases on the cotton market in 1926 amounted to $30,000,000. The wholesale houses do an annual business of $100,000,000, and annual retail sales aggregate $130,000,000. Bank clearings in 1926 were $765,400,000. The assessed valuation of property was $60,075,665.
In 1722 Sieur Bernard de la Harpe, exploring the Arkansas river, gave the names of La Petite Roche and La Grande Roche (or Le Rocker Francais) to two conspicuous rocky formations on the banks of the stream, one of which (the "little rock") is now the abutment of a railway bridge. The big rock, 2m. upstream on the north bank, was the site of a U.S. army post, now discon tinued. Near the smaller rock was a settlement of Quapaw Indians, which De la Harpe made his trading post. In 1812 William Lewis, a hunter and trapper, built ,his home here. In 1819, when Arkansas was made a territory, preparations were made to move the seat of government to Little Rock from Arkansas Post (founded in 1686 by Henri de Tonti near the mouth of the river), and in 1821 the town was surveyed. It was incorporated as a town in 1831 and chartered as a city in 1836. Construction of the first State house (now the War Memorial building) was begun in 1833. The leading daily newspaper, the Arkansas Gazette, established at Arkansas Post in 1819 and soon moved to the new capital, was one of the first papers published west of the Mississippi. At the out break of the Civil War, Little Rock was enthusiastically anti Union. The U.S. arsenal was seized by the State authorities in Feb. 1861. In Sept. 1863, Federal forces captured the city, and it remained under Federal control for the rest of the war. The decades of most rapid growth in the city's history are 1860-7o, when the population increased from 3,727 to 12,380, and 188o-90, when it almost doubled.