In 1982, when I was covering sports for the Arkansas Democrat, I wrote a column about W.H. "Scoop" Halliburton, who was a newspaperman in my hometown of Arkadelphia for more than 60 years. The following week, a package arrived in the mail from his daughter. It contained a signed copy of a small book titled Little Adventures in Newspaperdom.
The book had been written by Fred Allsopp of Little Rock in 1922 and presented to Halliburton as a gift. Halliburton's daughter, who knew that I loved Arkansas history and the newspaper business, thought I might enjoy this book from her father's library. I've cherished it ever since.
Allsopp, one of the more interesting characters in the state's history, was born in England (the country, not the city in Lonoke County) in 1867. He moved with his parents to Prescott when he was 12. By age 17, Allsopp was working at the Nevada County Picayune. Fascinated by the newspaper business, he came to Little Rock in 1884 to work in the Arkansas Gazette mailroom. Allsopp later transferred to the newspaper's business office after learning typing and shorthand. By the late 1890s, he was the Gazette's business manager.
"A lifelong lover of books, Allsopp recognized that he had a book-publishing opportunity within easy grasp with his newspaper's printing department and bindery," writes former Arkansas Press Association executive director Dennis Schick. "In addition to publishing books, he collected them and opened a bookstore, Allsopp and Chapple, the leading bookstore in Little Rock."
In a column last week about reviving Capitol Avenue in Little Rock, I mentioned the recent multimillion-dollar renovation of what had been the Legacy Hotel and a name change to the Hotel Frederica. That's close to its original name, the Hotel Freiderica. I've long thought that a first-class hotel and popular restaurant could give new life to the 600 block of Capitol Avenue, which is dominated by government buildings.
The Marion and Grady Manning hotels are gone. The Lafayette and Albert Pike hotels are used for residential purposes. Only the Capital and Frederica survive as historic hotels in downtown Little Rock. Allsopp built the hotel in 1914, naming it in honor of his wife, Mary Freiderica Chapple. When the federal courthouse and post office building was built across from the hotel in 1932, it guaranteed a steady stream of visitors for decades to come.
"Allsopp had commissioned Theodore M. Sanders to design the hotel," W.W. Satterfield writes in the current edition of the Pulaski County Historical Review. "Sanders may have been the first Arkansas native to have received a formal education as an architect. He graduated from Little Rock High School in 1897, and after graduating from the University of Illinois School of Architecture in 1902, he spent some time traveling in Europe and studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts Institute of Design in Paris."
Sanders designed a five-story brick building with a two-story portico at the entrance. There was a dining room, a coffee shop and the Freiderica Pharmacy (which still uses that name in the nearby Regions Bank Building). In 1935, Sam and Henryetta Peck moved from Fayetteville to Little Rock and signed a lease/purchase agreement to buy the hotel from Allsopp. They earlier had leased and operated the Fulbright family's Washington Hotel in Fayetteville. The name was changed in 1941 to the Hotel Sam Peck after the couple had completed purchasing Allsopp's shares.
"This began the era of live-in, hands-on management and constant renovation and improvement," Satterfield writes. "Sam commissioned Edward Durell Stone, a Fayetteville acquaintance, to design a 40-room annex in the back of the hotel. This was designed in the international style, a first in Little Rock, and was completed in December 1941. Penthouse suites were added to the original building as a sixth floor. Stone, a Fayetteville native, became an internationally famous architect. ... He later designed the motel section that was added to the rear of the hotel in 1960."
The Pecks enjoyed traveling and would purchase various objects to display in their hotel. Satterfield notes that "a pair of large Moorish blackamoors holding candelabra was added inside the main entrance. An Alexander Calder mobile was bought with encouragement from Stone. Private dining rooms were decorated in various themes and changed from time to time after Sam's travels. ... Sam also had a taste for food, and the quality of the restaurant was important to him. He was the food expert and sampled dishes before they could be served. He was constantly experimenting with new recipes while bringing back ideas from the couple's travels."
In the 1952 edition of Duncan Hines' Adventures in Good Eating, the Hotel Sam Peck is described as "an immaculate, comfortable hotel presenting a distinctive appearance as well as providing distinctive food. Mr. and Mrs. Peck have done an outstanding job in their dining room decorations, and the food is of the type we all long for and so seldom find--plain, well-seasoned and properly cooked. Their salad plates are especially appetizing and their regular table d'hote meals are equally good. Rolls and muffins are favorites as well as many other items such as Southern spoon bread with escalloped chicken."
Sam died in 1967. Henryetta continued to operate the hotel with her son before selling it in 1972. A long period of decline then began.
------------v------------
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 03/24/2018