“The automobile has us in its grip. This is the age of decentralization, from the factory in its landscaped acreage to the regional shopping center out in the middle of nowhere, from the drive-in theater to the drive-in branch bank. The use of land has changed to meet our own pattern of living, and our cities must change too, to accommodate us the way we want to live, or our cities will die.<\/em>“<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n In 1947, Rebsamen donated 80 acres of his personal hunting grounds to Little Rock Junior College for a new campus. This wooded area four miles south of Cammack Village was accessible by a gravel road called Hayes Street (now University). In 1949, Little Rock Junior College relocated there from its 14th Street campus downtown. [1] Across the United States, the postwar demand for single-family housing resulted in a boom in residential developments. Elbert L. Fausett was a prolific Little Rock developer by the early 1950s, responsible for 12 subdivisions around Central Arkansas. In 1953, Fausett purchased 190 acres of Rebsamen\u2019s land on the other side of Hayes from the Little Rock Junior College campus. The first houses in the subdivision known as Broadmoor were built later that year, and the first residents moved in. Homes could be purchased for $11,500 to $21,600, with eighteen different plans to choose from. Fausett had a metal shop, a cabinet shop and a sawmill on site so that homes could be assembled quickly. The Broadmoor homes were advertised as being the first to include central heat and air. This unique fact has attracted the attention of the Quapaw Quarter Association, starting a conversation about the possibility of Broadmoor being considered a historic district. [2] By 1957, the subdivision had 553 homes. From the time the first residents moved in to Broadmoor in 1953 until 1965, the neighborhood was comprised of entirely white residents, until an African American lawyer named John Walker purchased the house at 105 Broadmoor. His neighbors reacted by breaking his front window and setting his shrubs on fire before he moved his family in. One Broadmoor resident said \u201c\u201cThe policy in Broadmoor is to ignore the Walkers. If no one says anything to them I think it will be only a matter of time before they move somewhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Walker responded by organizing 12 black families to buy lots in the adjacent University Park neighborhood in order to promote diversity. Many of those families still live there, and the demographic makeup of the area is one of the most diverse in the city of Little Rock. For additional information:<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Andrew McClain I\u2019m Andrew, a Little Rock native, freelance journalist and archival assistant working on the Mapping Renewal project. During my first postgraduate career as a delivery driver, I saw far corners of Little Rock that I had never…<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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