In 2016, the Central Arkansas Library System opened a 160-space public parking deck adjacent to its main campus in downtown Little Rock's River Market District. The five-story deck is at the corner of Rock Street and Clinton Avenue. It provided needed parking for the booming neighborhood, but one thing was missing. The ground floor wasn't being used.
"The street-level space was never thought to be ideal for parking vehicles," a document from the library states. "Given its prime location in the heart of the River Market, the street-level space is much more suitable for pedestrian-friendly activities compatible with the library campus. The library itself has no immediate needs for finishing the space but has found a partner interested in using it in a way that's perfectly compatible with the neighborhood and the library."
That partner is the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Andrew Rogerson, the UALR chancellor, is a man with a vision for making UALR an even bigger part of the capital city. He views this as a space that will stress the university's urban setting and raise its visibility. Nate Coulter, the CALS director, is hosting a series of luncheons with the UALR chancellor to discuss Little Rock's future. Coulter believes the space will attract more attention to both UALR and the library.
The two men envision this as the home of a 40-foot mural painted by social activist Joe Jones during the Great Depression. The mural, The Struggle of the South, was painted in 1935 at Commonwealth College near Mena. The college, founded in 1923, was small and controversial as it trained students to participate in the labor movement and other reform efforts of the day. Future Gov. Orval Faubus, whose father had strong socialist beliefs, attended for a time. The college closed in 1940. The mural was removed and discovered decades later in a house south of Fort Smith. The Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council awarded UALR a $536,000 grant to conserve the mural, which the university acquired in 29 fragments in 1984.
"I'm not interested in painting pretty pictures to match pink and blue walls," Jones once said. "I want to paint things that knock holes in walls."
Jones, who was born in St. Louis, began work as a house painter after quitting school at age 15. He started winning art awards at age 22 in 1931 with his depictions of farmers and fields. Jones later offered free art classes to unemployed black and white workers in St. Louis. He alienated supporters when he announced he had joined the Communist Party. Jones became part of the Public Works of Art Project, a Depression-era program that offered work for artists, in 1934. He became a guest instructor at Commonwealth in August 1935.
Jones traveled Arkansas to get a sense of the state and then painted the mural on the college's dining room walls. He depicted farming, coal mining in west Arkansas and even lynchings. In 1937, Jones was awarded a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship to create a record of conditions in the Dust Bowl. He went on to work as a war artist for Life magazine during World War II. Jones died of a heart attack at age 54 in 1963 while living in Morristown, N.J.
Rogerson, it should be noted, wants the downtown space to be much more than a place to house the mural. He hopes it will be everything from a meeting place for advisory boards to an event center for donors. In others words, it will be thought of as a kind of billboard that advertises everything UALR does in terms of academic programs, research and athletics. Occasional classes might meet there. Lectures will be held in the evening. And it will be a place that tourists can explore not only to see the Jones mural but also to learn about the role of the university.
I've written that the next big thing for the state's largest city should be a concerted effort to make it more of a college town by capitalizing on the assets provided by UALR and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. UALR long has been hurt by the fact that its campus on South University Avenue is in a part of town rarely visited by most members of the central Arkansas business community, the very people who should be the university's most ardent supporters. Rogerson hopes there are efforts to improve the neighborhoods surrounding the school. Meanwhile, some in the city are advocating for UALR to have an even larger presence in the city's revitalized downtown.
"The most important game changer for Little Rock would be a significant downtown presence for UALR," one prominent civic leader told me. "At its core, it could be a new school focused perhaps on the graduate study of Southern cities. Such a program would combine architecture, urban planning, real estate development and political science. Places like Little Rock, Memphis, Birmingham, Jackson, Mobile and Baton Rouge have common issues. All of them have the potential to become great places during the next 30 years with the proper vision and direction. Such a program could be tied in with what's already going on at the Little Rock Technology Park, the Clinton School of Public Service, the Bill Bowen School of Law and UAMS. Imagine having hundreds of graduate students studying and living downtown. This urban center for learning could attract people from across the country, still leaving the campus on University Avenue to carry on its traditional mission."
At least people are thinking boldly. Let the conversation continue.
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Senior Editor Rex Nelson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He's also the author of the Southern Fried blog at rexnelsonsouthernfried.com.
Editorial on 06/23/2018