Little Rock Central High School Historic Site

Little Rock Central High School was the scene of the famous 1957 confrontation concerning the integration of public schools. President Dwight Eisenhower used troops from the 101st Airborne Division to escort the first nine African-American students through the doors of this school. In 1997, the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site was set up in a renovated Mobile gas station across the street from the school.

Little Rock Central High School was built in 1927 and was named America’s most beautiful high school by the American Institute of Architects. There are four Greco-Roman cast stone figures above the doors signifying Ambition, Personality, Opportunity and Preparation as the solution to life’s problems.

The school is two city blocks long and has 150,000 feet of floor space. Over 36 million pounds of concrete and 370 tons of steel were used in construction. It cost $1.5 million in 1927. The school’s opening had hundreds of newspapermen from around the country.

Best Way To Get Around:
The Central High School National Historic Site is located west of downtown Little Rock at 2125 Daisy Bates Drive. Contact them by calling . Hours are Mon-Sat 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and Sun 1-4 p.m. Admission is free. Website:

What most people remember about Little Rock Central High School is the integration crisis in 1957 when Federal troops were ordered to Little Rock by President Eisenhower to ensure that nine African-Americans could attend school there that year. That event was watched worldwide on television, one of the first such news events ever seen on nationwide TV.

After the integration of the "Little Rock Nine" in 1957, it may not be well known that Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus signed a bill into law that allowed him to close all of Little Rock’s schools the next year to prevent further desegregation efforts, so schools were closed for the 1958-59 school year. They opened again in the fall of 1959 under the existing desegregation plan.

The Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site is run by the National Park Service and located in a renovated Mobil gas station just across the street from Central High. Mobil spent $100,000 renovating this station for the site and it looks much as it did in 1957. The site opened in 1997. Then in 1998, President Bill Clinton signed a bill that designates the school and nearby properties as a National Historic Site. The school is still very much in use today - there were over 1,000 high school students there the day I went.