Little Rock Train Station May Be Railroaded for Clinton Library
Choctaw Oklahoma & Gulf Railroad freight station in Little Rock, Ark.
Credit: Bill Pollard
Nov. 20, 2001
UPDATE: Choctaw station was demolished Nov. 21, 2001
Dear Preservation 911,
The 102-year-old Choctaw Oklahoma & Gulf Railroad freight station in Little Rock, Ark., is in imminent danger of demolition for the future construction of the Clinton Presidential Library. This structure now sits intact, and in remarkably well-preserved condition, within a modern warehouse that was built around it.
The Choctaw freight station is the last surviving example of the traditional two-story brick freight station in Arkansas. It is a companion structure to the adjacent Choctaw passenger station. Together, both structures provide a unique perspective on railroads' efforts to further both aspects of their transportation business in 1900—passenger and freight traffic.
In the late 1890s, the Choctaw, Oklahoma & Gulf Railroad was one of this region's major players during the railroad expansion era. In 1899, the company moved their general headquarters to Little Rock, and the passenger and freight stations constructed later that year were given extra architectural attention because they were considered the "flagship" structures of the new company in its national headquarters city. (Little Rock had previously been dominated by a competing railroad owned by Jay Gould and his associates.)
Unless public interest persuades the City of Little Rock and the Clinton Library Foundation to modify the presidential library blueprints, the Choctaw freight station will be razed so that a below ground archival "bunker" and a parking lot can be placed where the station now stands. The Friends of the Choctaw Terminal Web site provides additional information as well as e-mail links to both the City of Little Rock and the Clinton Library Foundation.
The controversy over the Choctaw freight station may have preservation implications far beyond this building. Efforts have been made to require the City of Little Rock to comply with the Section 106 review process mandated by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, since the ultimate user of this site, the Clinton Presidential Library, will interact with and receive assistance from numerous federal agencies. Section 106 was designed to protect historic properties that might be adversely affected by a broad range of federal activities, and failure to comply will establish a dangerous precedent of circumventing the intent of Section 106. If the Choctaw freight station is lost, private developers in the future may again choose the "Little Rock strategy," attempting to demolish a historic property before the site comes under the protection of Section 106.
Sincerely,
Bill Pollard
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