Every street here belongs to the Central High School Neighborhood Historic District, the vicinity surrounding Little Rock Central High School. This district was designated to provide the historic context for that National Historic Landmark school, so everything here — the streets, the houses, the single restored service station — is part of that story. One focal point is the restored Magnolia Gas Station, a modest building that played a crucial role as a staging area for the media during the school integration crisis of 1957.
For decades afterward, and until the early 21st century, that same building served the public as the National Park Service visitor center for the historic district, welcoming people who came to learn about what happened here. Around you the neighborhood reads like an architectural map of changing tastes: cozy bungalows sit alongside houses with Tudor Revival character and the formality of Colonial Revival facades. Picture press tents once crowding the Magnolia Gas Station during the 1957 crisis, media staged for a story now framed by bungalows, Tudor Revival, and Colonial Revival homes lining these streets.