Pulaski Heights
Pulaski Heights is a section of the city of Little Rock, Arkansas, located in the north-central portion of the city. The area comprises two distinct neighborhoods representing an historic suburb dating from the 1890s that was among the first areas to be annexed into Little Rock.
Incorporated in 1905 and annexed to Little Rock in 1916, Pulaski Heights today remains among the more independent-minded areas of the city, with a strong sense of community in both its northern, upper-elevation portion (The Heights) and its southern, lower-elevation portion (Hillcrest). Throughout Pulaski Heights there curves a beautiful east-west thoroughfare, Kavanaugh Boulevard (including portions formerly known as Prospect Avenue), named for W. M. Kavanaugh, a former Pulaski County judge and local businessman who was also a founder of the Little Rock Baseball Association. The lovely tree-lined boulevard passes by a number of shops and boutiques unique to Little Rock, as well as historic buildings and locations such as the former Pulaski Heights Town Hall, the former Pulaski Heights Assembly Hall, Mount St. Mary Academy, and the original headquarters site of Allied Telephone Company (the earliest incarnation of Alltel and particularly its spinoff, Windstream Communications).
Neighborhoods
The Heights
"The Heights" is the northern-most section of Pulaski Heights and has been long considered to be one of the most affluent neighborhoods in Little Rock, as it is home to many established, old-money families. Many large, majestic homes line the streets of The Heights, especially in its historic Edge Hill and Prospect Terrace additions, which were primarily first developed in the 1920s. The neighborhood has been home to the exclusive Country Club of Little Rock since the club's founding in 1902, and its commercial areas offer a number of fashionable shopping and dining destinations. Administrative offices for the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and Roman Catholic Diocese of Little Rock are located at St. John's Center on North Tyler Street. A variety of architectural styles can be found in The Heights representing the decades from its earliest settlement to the present day.
One early attraction of The Heights was Forest Park, developed soon after the Little Rock Traction and Electric Company introduced streetcar service into Pulaski Heights in 1903. The park, located at the end of the Pulaski Heights streetcar line, was intended to increase ridership and income for the company, especially on weekends. Special attractions offered at the park included band and vocal concerts, gardens, a small zoo, and a swimming pool. In 1939, the park was closed and its land sold, although its name is preserved today by the neighborhood Forest Park Elementary School and the Forest Park Station of the United States Postal Service.
After the park's closure, its land was subdivided and platted, and the area was rechristened as "Forest Heights." Already, there were a considerable number of smaller 1920s craftsmen bungalows located nearby, and after the Second World War many small, modest "Brayle Homes" (named after a local developer) were constructed on the former park land; these were especially intended for purchase by returning war veterans eager to start new families and begin post-war "nest-building." A large number of Brayle-type homes can still be found today in Cammack Village, a small separately incorporated enclave that immediately borders The Heights to its west.
In recent years, in what has become a matter of controversy, many of the former Brayle Homes in Forest Heights have been "scraped" and replaced by new "McMansions"; surviving smaller homes are then overshadowed (some would say overwhelmed) by the new adjoining structures. While there have been discussions about instituting a Heights Municipal Historic Preservation District to limit the number of such demolitions, no such district has yet been created.
Hillcrest
"Hillcrest" is the southern-most section of Pulaski Heights. It also encompasses the oldest and most historic portions of Pulaski Heights. Sale of residential lots by the Pulaski Heights Land Company and subsequent construction of homes began here in the 1890s, and on some blocks examples of the early Queen Anne and Colonial Revival architectural styles can still be found. Also located here are the former Pulaski Heights Town Hall and Assembly Hall buildings and one of the oldest educational institutions in Arkansas—Mount St. Mary Academy—a girls' Catholic school.
As with The Heights, Hillcrest also is the location of some very large, stately, and imposing historic homes; many of these can be found along Hillcrest's Midland Avenue, portions of its South Lookout and Woodlawn streets, and along its Hill Road, where the former residence of the late Winthrop Rockefeller, Governor of Arkansas, can be found. Most typically, many blocks in Hillcrest contain an eclectic and pleasing mix of various early twentieth century architectural styles, with larger homes and charming bungalows interspersed together.
In order to encourage preservation of Hillcrest's unique historic character and heritage, the Hillcrest National Historic District was established in 1990, with its boundaries soon being expanded in 1992. Moreover, also to help secure the neighborhood's attractiveness, the City of Little Rock has established a Hillcrest Municipal Conservation District, which specifies height and set-back requirements for new structures and renovation of existing structures.
Little Rock's first streetcar system once extended into Hillcrest, with its entry into the neighborhood being at the current intersection of Markham Street and Kavanaugh Boulevard in the Stifft's Station area of Arkansas's capital; the streetcar line then followed Kavanaugh Boulevard through Pulaski Heights up to the line's ending at Forest Park. The streetcars, in time, aided in the growth and linking of Pulaski Heights to Little Rock. Uniting the two municipal entities increasingly seemed to make sense and was finally achieved when the citizens of Pulaski Heights voted to merge into the City of Little Rock on January 4, 1916, in part to obtain better fire protection.
External links
- Historic information on Little Rock and Pulaski Heights, from the Little Rock City Manager's official web page
Coordinates: 34°45′26″N 92°19′01″W / 34.757198°N 92.317032°W