Little Rock Audubon Center

Granite Mountain History

Our center lies in the heart of Granite Mountain, a historic Black community in southeast Little Rock, south of Fourche Creek.

Now managed by Audubon and part of the Little Rock Audubon Center campus, Gillam Park, the first public park for Little Rock’s Black community prior to integration was built in 1941 and accounts for over 400 acres of our campus.

Three images; one of a building with a sign that reads Springer's Market, one in black and white of five children, and one of a building with a sign that reads Springer's Bar-B-Q.

In 1951, Gillam Park became home to the city’s first public pool for Black citizens. Prior to construction, many children and adults swam in nearby bauxite pits or the Arkansas River.

Booker Homes, a public housing project, was constructed in 1952 to provide homes for returning Black veterans from World War II. Now the Center’s Wildlife Observation Trail winds where the development once stood. 

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