Pulaski Heights, Little Rock, Arkansas

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, and was among the first areas annexed into Little Rock.

Incorporated in 1903 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 upper portion (The Heights) and lower portion (Hillcrest). Throughout Pulaski Heights, a major east-west thoroughfare is Kavanaugh Boulevard (including portions formerly named as Prospect Avenue), named for W. M. Kavanaugh, founder of the Little Rock Baseball Association. The street 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, 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 upper, northern section of Pulaski Heights, and long considered as one of the more affluent neighborhoods in Little Rock. The neighborhood has been home to the Little Rock Country Club since the club's founding in 1892, and offers a number of fashionable shopping and dining selections. Administrative offices for the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and the Diocese of Little Rock of the Catholic Church are also in the neighborhood. A variety of architectural styles can be found in The Heights representing the decades from its earliest settlement to the present day. The Heights borders the enclave community of Cammack Village.

Hillcrest

The Hillcrest Historic District is the lower, southern section of Pulaski Heights that includes the former town hall building, and one of the oldest educational institutions in Arkansas — Mount St. Mary Academy — a girls' Catholic school. Little Rock's first streetcar system once extended into Hillcrest, with its entry into the neighborhood near the current intersection of Markham Street and Kavanaugh Boulevard in the Stifft's Station neighborhood of Little Rock. The streetcars, in time, aided in the growth and linking of Pulaski Heights to Little Rock. As in The Heights, Hillcrest contains some of Little Rock's most historic construction in both commercial and residential areas. Additionally, part of Hillcrest overlooks Allsopp Park, a major city park situated between Hillcrest on the south side and the corporate/design-oriented Riverdale neighborhood to its north. Hillcrest tends to be more politically liberal than other areas of the city, including the nearby Heights area. In 2006, Hillcrest voters formed the core of a majority in Arkansas' House District 37, electing Arkansas' first openly gay member of the state's House of Representatives. [http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid39295.asp]

External links

* [http://www.littlerock.org/CityManager/Divisions/CityClerksOffice/OurHistoricalCity.aspx/ Historic information] on Little Rock and Pulaski Heights, from the Little Rock City Manager's official web page