Facts About Little Rock
- Little Rock has a total area of 116.8 square miles, of which 116.2 square miles is land and 0.6 square miles is water, according to the United States Census Bureau.
- Little Rock Central High School is the only operating high school designated as a National Historic Site.
- The capital of the Arkansas Territory was moved to Little Rock from Arkansas Post in 1821.
- Little Rock is the most populous city in Arkansas with an estimated population of 202,591.
- The region’s largest park is Pinnacle Mountain State Park, a 2,000-acre park surrounding Pinnacle Mountain in the Ouachita Mountains.
- Little Rock derived its name from a rock formation along the river, named the “Little Rock” by the French explorer Jean-Baptiste Bénard de la Harpe in 1722.
- In the 1930’s, Meyer’s Bakery in Little Rock invented Brown-N-Serve rolls. The company was founded in 1911 by Charles T. Meyer.
- Little Rock is twinned with the following sister cities; Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Hanam, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea; Changchun, Jilin, China; Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom; Caxias do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil; Scranton, Pennsylvania.
- Adolphine Fletcher Terry, born and raised in Little Rock, became a prominent advocate for women’s rights statewide. She graduated with honours from Vassar College and later organized Arkansas’s inaugural PTA.
- In 1812 William Lewis, a trapper, built his home at the “little rock.”
- Little Rock’s economic foundation relies on government and financial services, alongside thriving sectors like food processing, and cosmetics manufacturing, as well as the production of telecommunications and data-transmission equipment.
- Little Rock hosts the International Greek Food Festival.
- Little Rock falls within the humid subtropical climate zone (Cfa), characterized by hot, humid summers and mild winters with minimal snowfall. The highest recorded was as high as 114 °F on August 3, 2011, and the lowest was −12 °F on February 12, 1899.
- Little Rock is home to the Little Rock Air Force Base, which houses the C-130 Hercules aircraft.
- The median household income in Little Rock, AR is $56,928.
- The Big Dam Bridge is a 4226-foot bridge, connecting over 40 miles of riverside trails between Little Rock and North Little Rock, making it the longest bridge built for pedestrian and bicycle traffic in North America.
- Little Rock is the birthplace of the original, “Cheese dog”, invented in 1956 at the Finkbeiner Meat Packing Co.
- The median property value in Little Rock, AR was $179,500 in 2021.
- Little Rock houses the American Taekwondo Association and annually plays host to the ATA World Taekwondo Championships during the summer.
- In 1957, the world focused on Little Rock when nine black students sought to attend Central High School as part of the city’s gradual desegregation plan, following the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision deeming racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional.
