1.  The Old State House Façade, Front Steps, and Gardens

The Old State House is recognized around the world as the backdrop for President Clinton’s Presidential Campaign. Mr. Clinton selected the Old State House for his 1991 Announcement and his 1992 and 1996 Election Night Victory Parties. But long before President Clinton’s rise to international significance, the Old State House played the role of backdrop for Arkansas history. An Enduring Image: Arkansas's Old State House was a temporary exhibit which showcased images of the Old State House including postcards, stamps, and artist's interpretations. A virtual version of the exhibit is available in our online exhibit archive. 

The Old State House, like most Greek Revival structures, is defined by its front façade. The porch or portico of the building is topped by a triangular pediment supported by four columns. The Old State House is made up of three structures connected by hyphens. These three buildings represent the three branches of government – legislative, judicial, and executive. The main or center building housed the Arkansas House of Representatives and the Arkansas Senate from 1836 to 1911. The East Wing housed the Supreme Court chambers and the West Wing housed the executive branch.

In 1842, the three structures were connected by single-level breezeways. As part of the 1885 renovation, the breezeways were enclosed and a second story was added. It was at this time that the wrought iron railings and other Victorian details were added to the building’s exterior. For more information on the construction of the Old State House and how the building has changed over time, check out Mary Kwas’ book, Celebrating 175 Years: A Pictorial History of Arkansas’s Old State House, available for purchase in our Museum Store.

While the breezeways connecting the three buildings ran east to west, the East Breezeway was an open-air passage running north-south between the Office of the Commission for Mines, Manufactures, and Agriculture and the Supreme Court Library in the East Wing that remained after the 1885 renovation. The space was not closed to the elements until the 1980s.

Front Lawn, Fountain, and Monument Garden – The Old State House Gardens and Front Lawn provide an oasis for visitors and locals alike. The Old State House grounds originally consisted of three hundred feet along Markham Street at the foot of Center Street, extending roughly 700 feet north to the Arkansas River. The grounds were known as the “Public Square” or the “State House Square.” Though Territorial Governor John Pope had hoped for a cast-iron fence to enclose the grounds, a modest wood fence was put up around 1840 and replaced by a cedar fence in 1848. During the 1840s, brick walkways were built and numerous shade trees were planted.

The grounds fell into disrepair during the Civil War. Stray hogs and cattle occasionally wandered through the dilapidated fence to forage and graze the lawns. A cast-iron fence was finally erected along Markham street in 1874, accompanied by white picket fences on the east and west boundaries of the property. In the 1880s a cistern was built on the northwest side of the central building and the well at the southeast of the central building was closed, though the pavilion over it remained until 1923. With the addition of a fountain and iron benches, the front lawn looked by 1900 like a lovely park.

With the removal of the seat of state government in 1911, both the grounds and the building entered another era of neglect and disrepair. Patriotic organizations who took interest in preserving the building also placed memorials on the grounds throughout the 1910s and into the 1920s. The Arkansas Pioneers Association began work to improve the grounds in 1919, including a major planting of flowers. In 1920 the Little Rock Garden Club began its two-decade effort to improve the exterior of the state house and its grounds. In 1956, in order to create LaHarpe Boulevard, the city of Little Rock cut through the slope of the north lawn of the Old State House and built a high retaining wall, separating the Old State House from the banks of the Arkansas River.

The front lawn is once again a pleasant, park-like setting, containing Maple, Magnolia, Live Oak, Willow Oak, Water Oak, and Lacy Bark Elm trees. Seasonal flower and herb beds around the fountain are maintained by the Pulaski County Master Gardeners Association.

The original fountain was the centerpiece in Arkansas’s exhibit at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. It was placed on the front lawn of the State House in 1878 and was connected to city water in 1880. The three tiers of the original fountain gradually rusted and fell away. The date of its final removal is unclear. In 1954, shortly after the Old State House became a museum, a two-tiered replica was installed. During the 1997 excavation of the Old State House foundation, a fragment of the original fountain was found cast off into the cistern. The fragment and photographs of the original were used to produce this replica, which has been in operation since the Old State House Museum reopened in 1999.

In the early 20th Century, several patriotic organizations placed memorial monuments around the front lawn of the Old State House, including plaques and several large granite boulders. By the mid-1920s, the front lawn was also home to a World War I military caisson, a mounted Gatling gun, four ammunition wagons, a howitzer gun, Lady Baxter (the cannon), and a number of signs. Mrs. Louise Loughborough, head of the Little Rock Garden Club, was the driving force behind restoration of the front lawn to a more historically authentic appearance. She had military equipment (except the cannon) moved off-site and created the Monument Garden on the East side of the building, where visitors can now see memorials to veterans of the War of 1812, Mexican-American War, Civil War, Spanish-American War, and World War I, as well as a monument to Confederate Women and a monument to David O. Dodd, “Boy Martyr of the Confederacy.”