# Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas in the 1930s

> A segregated state capital, river-and-rail trade center, and Depression city remade by federal work and local hardship.

- Place: Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas (34.746, -92.290)
- Years: 1930 to 1939
- Page: https://yorehistory.com/place/little-rock-pulaski-county-arkansas/1930s
- Step into it (interactive): https://yorehistory.com/?step=Little%20Rock%2C%20Pulaski%20County%2C%20Arkansas%2C%20United%20States%20of%20America&at=34.7465,-92.2896&year=1935

## Looking around

Stand downtown and turn toward the government buildings: Little Rock is the Arkansas capital[2], with the State Capitol axis[3] drawing the eye westward. Near Capitol Avenue, a new federal post office and courthouse[3] rises from Depression-era construction. The city is large for Arkansas, 81,679 people in 1930[1], but the decade has slowed its growth. Electric cars still run through the city, because the last streetcar will not stop until 1947[6]. To the south and east, West Ninth Street[2] is a Black business and church district, though Jim Crow governs public life. In Fair Park, the small zoo has WPA rock buildings[2]. Out beyond the older streets is the airfield the city bought in 1930[2]. On the edge of town, Travelers Field opens in 1932[2], putting baseball into the decade’s map.

## Work: Relief and trade

Little Rock is still a cotton and lumber market[3] and Arkansas trade center, but Depression work is scarce. By 1932, one in every three residents was out of work[4] and dependent on charity.

## Who lived here: A divided capital

The city holds 81,679 people in 1930[1], growing only slowly by 1940. Black residents make up about twenty percent of the population[5] but suffer more than half the unemployment.

## Law & power: Capitol and courthouse

Government is physically close: Little Rock is the Arkansas capital[2], and the federal government marks the city with a post office and courthouse completed in 1932[3]. In 1937, PWA money begins new state office buildings on the Capitol Mall[8].

## Faith: Churches on Ninth Street

The clearest local religious geography found is on West Ninth Street[2], where Black churches stand beside businesses, banks, and social halls. Jim Crow shapes church life because public life and schools are segregated[5].

## What people feared: Unemployment and Jim Crow

The everyday danger is economic first: one in three residents was out of work[4] by 1932. For Black Little Rock residents, Depression danger is doubled by discrimination: they are fifty-four percent of the unemployed[5] and receive less relief.

## Roads & news: Streetcars, radio, newspapers

Movement through the city still includes electric streetcars[6], while radio has been present since WSV began broadcasting in April 1922[2]. Printed news comes through the Arkansas Gazette[7], including the state centennial issue in 1936.

## In the air: Relief challenges old order

New Deal programs are not only work projects; they unsettle race and power. Arkansas whites often saw such programs as challenges to the racial order, and Black applicants were seldom hired on WPA programs[5] when whites objected to the pay.

## Home & table: Houses are harder to see

The search found strong evidence for institutions and streets, but no block-by-block description of ordinary houses in Little Rock during the decade. What can be seen clearly are public works such as the WPA rock buildings[2] at the zoo.

## Year by year

- **1930** (here): Little Rock purchased the airfield that had begun as a federal aviation site during World War I.[2]
- **1930** (here): The Mosaic Templars of America entered receivership after the start of the Great Depression cut premium revenue.[2]
- **1932** (here): The United States Post Office and Courthouse on West Capitol Avenue was completed.[3]
- **1932** (here): Travelers Field opened for the Arkansas Travelers baseball club.[2]
- **1933** (the country): Franklin D. Roosevelt took office and the New Deal began, bringing relief and public works programs that reached Arkansas.
- **1936** (here): Arkansas marked its state centennial, and the Arkansas Gazette issued a centennial edition on June 15.[7]
- **1937** (here): Public Works Administration funds allowed the first two state office buildings on the Capitol Mall.[8]
- **1939** (the world): War began in Europe, news that people in Little Rock would have followed by newspaper and radio before the United States entered the conflict.[2]

## What the sources say

- Little Rock was the state capital of Arkansas and the county seat of Pulaski County in the 1930s. (from the sources)[2]
- Little Rock’s population was 81,679 in the 1930 census, up from 65,142 in 1920. (from the sources)[1]
- By 1940 Little Rock’s population was about 88,000, showing much slower growth during the Depression decade than during the 1920s. (from the sources)[3]
- The Great Depression hit the city hard: a Little Rock preservation plan says that by 1932 one in every three residents was out of work and dependent on charity for food and clothing. (from the sources)[4]
- African Americans made up about twenty percent of Little Rock’s population in the 1930s but accounted for fifty-four percent of the unemployed. (from the sources)[5]
- Arkansas law and custom enforced segregated schools and public life, and the Encyclopedia of Arkansas says Black Little Rock residents received disproportionately less relief than white families. (from the sources)[5]
- Little Rock was described by the GSA as a cotton and lumber market and the chief center of trade for Arkansas after the Civil War, roles still shaping the capital city by the 1930s. (from the sources)[3]
- The United States Post Office and Courthouse at 600 West Capitol Avenue was built in 1931–1932 and completed in December 1932. (from the sources)[3]
- Electric streetcars still served Little Rock during the decade; the last streetcar associated with the system ceased running in 1947. (from the sources)[6]
- The Little Rock Railway & Electric Company had been acquired by Arkansas Power and Light in 1923, so city transit in the 1930s sat inside a utility company world as well as a transportation world. (from the sources)[6]
- Little Rock had radio by the decade: its first radio station, WSV, began broadcasting in April 1922. (from the sources)[2]
- Little Rock purchased its airfield in 1930; the field had begun as a federal aviation site during World War I. (from the sources)[2]
- In the 1930s the Works Progress Administration erected rock buildings at the Little Rock Zoo in Fair Park, now War Memorial Park. (from the sources)[2]
- For the first half of the twentieth century, West Ninth Street was an African American city within a city, with Black businesses, churches, banks, and social halls. (from the sources)[2]
- At Ninth and Broadway stood the three-story national headquarters of the Mosaic Templars of America, a Black fraternal insurance organization serving African Americans in twenty-six states. (from the sources)[2]
- Ray Winder Field, first known as Travelers Field, opened in 1932 as the home of the Arkansas Travelers baseball club. (from the sources)[2]
- The Mosaic Templars of America went into receivership in 1930 after premium revenue collapsed at the start of the Great Depression. (from the sources)[2]
- Little Rock’s daily political news reached readers through the Arkansas Gazette, which had been published in Little Rock since the nineteenth century and issued a State Centennial edition on June 15, 1936. (from the sources)[7]
- In 1937, Public Works Administration funds allowed construction of two state office buildings on the Capitol Mall, beginning a larger state-government complex there. (from the sources)[8]
- No single online source found in this search gives a block-by-block description of ordinary Little Rock houses in the 1930s. (not known)
- No local price list for groceries, rent, or streetcar fares in 1930s Little Rock was found in the quick online search. (not known)

## Sources

1. Little Rock Decennial Census Counts. City of Little Rock, 2020. https://www.littlerock.gov/media/16613/2020-census-counts-pop.pdf
2. Little Rock (Pulaski County). Encyclopedia of Arkansas, 2024. https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/little-rock-970/
3. Richard Sheppard Arnold U.S. Post Office and Courthouse, Little Rock, AR. U.S. General Services Administration, 2025. https://www.gsa.gov/real-estate/explore-historic-buildings/find-a-historic-federal-building/richard-sheppard-arnold-courthouse-little-rock-ar
4. Little Rock Historic Preservation Plan. City of Little Rock, 2009. https://www.littlerock.gov/media/19133/little-rock-preservation-plan-2009.pdf
5. Segregation and Desegregation. Encyclopedia of Arkansas, 2024. https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/segregation-and-desegregation-3079/
6. Little Rock Railway & Electric Company (LRREC). Encyclopedia of Arkansas, 2023. https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/little-rock-railway-and-electric-company-18733/
7. The Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock, Ark.) 1889–1991. Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn82014890/
8. State Buildings on Capitol Mall. SAH Archipedia. https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/AR-01-PU2

## The same place in other decades

- [Little Rock in the 1960s](https://yorehistory.com/place/little-rock-pulaski-county-arkansas/1960s/md)
- [Little Rock in the 1980s](https://yorehistory.com/place/little-rock-pulaski-arkansas/1980s/md)

## Nearby, about the same time

- [Annover, Cleveland, Arkansas in the 1910s](https://yorehistory.com/place/annover-cleveland-arkansas/1910s/md) (84 km)
- [Kingsland, Cleveland County, Arkansas in the 1950s](https://yorehistory.com/place/kingsland-cleveland-county-arkansas/1950s/md) (99 km)
- [Rye, Cleveland, Arkansas in the 1930s](https://yorehistory.com/place/rye-cleveland-arkansas/1930s/md) (114 km)
- [Rye, Hurricane Township, Cleveland County, Arkansas in the 1910s](https://yorehistory.com/place/rye-cleveland-county-arkansas/1910s/md) (114 km)

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Researched by Yore's AI historian (gpt-5.5) on 2026-10-24 from the sources listed. It is about the place and the time, not about any person. Statements marked "inferred" are conclusions, not records. Cite as: Yore, "Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas in the 1930s", https://yorehistory.com/place/little-rock-pulaski-county-arkansas/1930s