Union Park (Little Rock)

In 1925, the ten-acre area now known as Union Park, located at the intersection of 36th and Potter streets in Little Rock (Pulaski County), was purchased by the Colored Sunday School Union. The Colored Sunday School Union was organized in 1902 by fifty-two member churches with a mission to develop the collective social, educational, and spiritual needs of its children and young people. It purchased the land to provide a recreational space for the African American community, as there were no public recreational facilities for Black citizens in or around Little Rock at the time.

According to the 1935 Arkansas State Park Commission scrapbook documenting the work of Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Company 3777, the Colored Sunday School Union deeded the land to the State Parks Commission to encourage its development by Depression-era recovery programs like the CCC and Works Progress Administration (WPA), in order that Black residents could also benefit from these programs.

The scrapbook states that in 1935, Company 3777 built a large recreational building on the site. The photograph of the structure included in the scrapbook shows a large, enclosed log and native stone structure akin to the state parks lodges built by the CCC during the same period.

Sometime between 1935 and when the City of Little Rock annexed the area around the park in 1961, the structure was heavily damaged by a fire, and the park fell into disrepair. Over that period, the park was known as both Negro Park and Union Picnic Grounds. The city acquired the deed to the park in 1967 after condemning the land and named the new city park West End Park. According to residents, the park was named West End because at the time of its creation the area signified the westernmost edge of the city. (An earlier park named West End Park was located on land now encompassed by the campus of Central High School.)

On May 12, 2008, citizens of the John Barrow Neighborhood Association and John Barrow Historical Society petitioned the city to rename the park from West End Park to Union Park in recognition of the Sunday School Union’s original donation. At the time, the Sunday School Union was still active and went by the name Little Rock Sunday School Union. In September 2008, supporters of Union Park lobbied the city to include improvements to the park in a bond refinancing initiative, but directors voted down the proposal.

A survey of the property conducted in 2018 by the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program noted that the structure was built by a WPA project, but the Arkansas State Parks Commission records indicate it was instead built by CCC Company 3777 in 1935. It is the only CCC park construction in the state created for Black residents documented in the 1941 WPA report titled Survey of Negroes in Little Rock and North Little Rock. The book also indicates that the structure at the park was constructed by the CCC.

In 2019, the city approved funding to have ACS Playground Adventures demolish an older pavilion and build a new pavilion at the park while maintaining the original stone foundation and fireplace. In the twenty-first century, the pavilion remains intact, and the park also features a modern basketball court, a baseball diamond, and an American football field.

For additional information:
Arkansas State Parks Commission Collection (MSS.97.26). Butler Center for Arkansas Studies. Central Arkansas Library System, Little Rock, Arkansas. Finding aid online at https://cdm15728.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/findingaids/id/12328/rec/1 (accessed May 22, 2024).

Netterstrom, Kristin. “New Name for Park to Honor Its History—‘Union’ Recalls How Area Came to Be.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, May 7, 2008, pp. 1B, 5B. https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2008/may/07/new-name-park-honor-its-history-20080507/ (accessed May 22, 2024).

———. “Parks Get Boost; City Directors OK Bond Refinancing.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, September 10, 2008, p. 5B.

———. “Their Work Isn’t Done, 3 Directors in LR Say.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, October 28, 2010, pp. 1B, 5B.

Resolution No. 12, 683. City of Little Rock. A Resolution to Authorize the City Manager to Change the Name of West End Park to Union Park; and for Other Purposes, May 12, 2008.

Writers’ Program, Work Projects Administration of the State of Arkansas. Survey of Negroes in Little Rock and North Little Rock. Little Rock: Urban League, 1941. Available online in the collection of the CALS Butler Center for Arkansas Studies at https://cdm15728.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/search/searchterm/SNLRNLR_1941 (accessed May 22, 2024).

Danielle T. Afsordeh
CALS Butler Center for Arkansas Studies