Flying back into Little Rock from Chicago a couple of years ago, the Southwest pilot was in a giving mood. We arrived over Central Arkansas not too removed from sunset, the sky in full spectacular gloam. This was going to be one of those times when all heads were cocked window-ward, and our pilot obliged by treating us to a whirlwind flyover of the city.
From the northeast, our descent glazed the north shore as we crossed the river a few thousand feet above downtown on the way to what would become a magnificent lap. And it was. The city lit up below as passengers strained to recognize landmarks and perhaps even their own houses.
War Memorial Stadium, the Arkansas River, Big Rock and all the bridges. The buzzing commerce of west Little Rock, evident even from so high above. And of course, Pinnacle Mountain, that sentinel peak signaling the march of the Ouachitas out of the alluvial sea to the east. That’s roughly the spot where we swung back towards the airport, for our side of the plane the thick, evergreen carpet of Saline County and beyond stretched out before us and fading steadily into the twilight.
Just before final approach, above the low hum of the engines, the pilot softly explained, “We were ahead of schedule, so I thought we’d give you a little treat.” Well, it was something very close to that. Was she a native, I wondered, or did she simply recognize an opportunity, a moment? Debarking passengers, one by one and in typical Arkansas manner, thanked her as she greeted us on our way off the plane.
It always feels good to return home, even when you didn’t think you were ready to do so. But on this night, it felt especially good to be home. And Little Rock — begging the forgiveness of native Levy-ites and Lakewoodians, I’m talking big-picture Little Rock metro — is a beautiful home, warts and all.
***
As a child, I once took pride upon learning from some long-forgotten source that Little Rock and Central Arkansas had been listed on a top 10 of likely Soviet Cold War targets. Remember all those Titan missile silos up around Damascus? Little Rock must really be important, I reasoned. To which an older cousin from New Orleans deadpanned, “Congratulations. We’ll remember you fondly.” Or, again, something very close to that.
Like all of Arkansas, Little Rock struggles a little with how it’s perceived by others. Maybe that’s because we never quite seem to fit. Arkansas-native-turned-Oklahoma-blogger Jimmy Peacock once wrote that Arkansas is the South of the Midwest and the Midwest of the South, and perhaps no truer thing has ever been written about the state. And Little Rock is the beating heart of it, the capital city of a geographical/political No Man’s Land. Cast into an eternal periphery. The front porch of the cabin out back reserved for the red-headed stepchild, be it Union, Confederacy, Southwest Conference or SEC. We’ve been considered that square peg in all of ‘em.
Veteran Arkansas scribe Rex Nelson says Little Rock, like Arkansas, is “a place in between.”
“It’s mostly Southern but also a tad Midwestern and a tad Southwestern,” he told us. “Just to the west, you can go to Perryville and be in the Mountain South. Just to the east, you can go to Scott and be in the Delta. Little Rock brings it all together. It’s in the perfect location, right in the center of a truly unique state.”
Senior editor and columnist for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Nelson is known as the premier chronicler of all things “Arkansas.” An Arkadelphia native, he’s spent most of his adult professional life in Little Rock. He sees only good things ahead for Central Arkansas and struggles to envision a time when it’s supplanted as the state’s beating heart. While much attention deservedly is heaped on the growth in Northwest Arkansas (the region recently was named one of the nation’s top five fastest-growing areas), Nelson thinks the planned Amazon regional hub in Little Rock could be a game changer.
He sees both regions continuing to serve as “growth engines” for Arkansas down the road.
“I don’t think people realize just how big the Amazon announcement is for Central Arkansas. It sets the stage to really make this a key distribution center for this whole part of the country. Having Walmart headquartered in northwest Arkansas and Amazon with Little Rock as a regional hub is a powerful one-two punch for Arkansas.”
The Amazon announcement indeed was a needed shot in the arm for Little Rock which, let’s face it, continues to battle stigmas related to crime and public schools. Most of the growth in Central Arkansas occurs in the ‘burbs, sure, but Little Rock continues to gain new residents each census period. Many of its contemporaries — Jackson, Shreveport and Birmingham come to mind — can’t say the same. The city proper’s 2019 population was estimated at 197,000 and change and according to the U.S. Census Bureau, it’s never suffered a decade of negative growth. May not be flashy, but that’s steady growth. And the Open Data Network projects a metro population of more than 772,000 by 2023.
Sure, Central Arkansas is the tortoise to NWA’s hare. But Nelson insists state leaders recognize the need for both urban areas to succeed, especially as rural populations shrink in Arkansas and other farm-focused states across the country.
“The ‘rivalry’ between the two areas is greatly exaggerated. Business leaders in both places realize we’re a state of only 3 million people and have to work together,” he said.
Nelson said Little Rock has five big things working for it:
• Central Arkansas remains the center of government, finance, media and law. He noted the growth of Bank OZK and Simmons Bank making the region’s financial structure, already boosted by Stephens Inc., “stronger than ever.”
• Little Rock is a regional center for medicine, the importance of which will only increase as the population increases and needs more services.
• A “rapidly expanding technology sector” led by financial tech has emerged thanks to companies like First Orion and Apptegy.
• The planned Amazon fulfillment center will lead to manufacturing and distribution growth near the Port of Little Rock and Clinton National Airport.
• And Little Rock will remain a regional hub for arts, entertainment and dining, bolstered by the Arkansas Arts Center expansion.
For sure, Little Rock has transformed the river downtown, the River Market and Main Street corridor providing a legitimate “city” feel that continues to take visitors by surprise. Little Rock has plenty going for it. But momentum is a powerful force. Perhaps the Amazon announcement will provide it.
***
For some reason, I asked Nelson to compare Little Rock and NWA to literary characters. He wisely chose Rooster Cogburn for both. One, because Rooster is the product of an Arkansas author, but also because they have “a little of the toughness and the ability to innovate on the fly that Rooster Cogburn exhibited.”
I like the grit of Rooster Cogburn as a fit for Little Rock, especially. Understated, loyal. Like War Memorial. Is there a more iconic symbol for the city? For many, Northwest Arkansas may represent the “future” of Arkansas, thus far unencumbered by the trials inherent to a (relatively) large city that serves as a center for government and commerce. And War Memorial is but a shadow of its former self. Kind of like ol’ Rooster by the time Mattie Ross rode into Fort Smith from Yell County. But we all remember who saved the day.
In his “Arkansas: A Bicentennial History,” former Arkansas Gazette executive editor Harry Ashmore, a South Carolina native, recognized the state’s seemingly eternal grapple with its own self-awareness. A grapple, I think, shared by Little Rock:
Deep in the Arkansas consciousness is a tragic sense that across nearly three centuries of existence as colony, territory, and state its people have been misunderstood and put upon… When explaining their special ways to strangers, Arkansans sound to the practiced ear as though they are resigned to dealing with fools but are too polite to say so.