As is typical for all things Maumelle, what looks like a scandal becomes a big, fat nothingburger with even the shallowest bits of reporting.
The most recent example of this ongoing trend is Maumelle’s omission from the Historical Marker Database.
The occasion that led to a search of the database, available online here, is the National Historical Marker Weekend that starts this Friday and continues through Sunday.
Put on by the William G. Pomeroy Foundation, the weekend is billed as a weekend event “on caring for and cleaning historical markers.”
There’s an astonishing number of markers across the country as more than 210,000 are in the database nationally.
In Pulaski County alone, there’s 192.
But for Maumelle?
None. Zero. Nadda.
Scandalous, right?
Again, not really.
There are, of course, some markers in Maumelle. Notably, the city’s first new construction home, near the Maumelle Country Club, has a small sign noting the significance of the house.
For why Maumelle doesn’t have any markers in the database it meant asking around on why and Bob Cook had the answer.
Cook, a long-time writer, runs the Historical Marker Ahead account on BlueSky and also publishes a newsletter on markers. You can follow the account, @historicalmarker.bsky.social, at your leisure.
Cook knows a lot about historical markers, as many middle-aged dads do, and is he the country’s foremost expert on the subject? Sure, why not. Or, at the least, he’s the country’s foremost expert on the subject amongst the people I know.
He had a very simple explanation for why Maumelle didn’t make the cut.
“Your town hasn’t been around long enough for historical markers,” he said and noted Maumelle’s relatively youthful 39 years and 10 months age. “Normally it needs to be 50 to 75 years after an event before an agreed-upon narrative emerges for whatever event happened.”
And, while there were things in the rural part of Pulaski County that is now called Maumelle 75 years ago, most notably the munitions plant that is the reason why the bunkers are still at Lake Willastein, there wasn’t much else.
A cemetery. A few scattered houses, mostly in the Crystal Hill area and near the Arkansas River, then the homes, businesses and churches in Marche. And, really, not much else.
Befitting its age, Little Rock has 176 of Pulaski County’s 192 markers, so there’s not much else, elsewhere.
There are some things of interest in North Little Rock though as there’s a marker on Poplar Street in the Park Hill neighborhood for Confederate fortifications, installed by gen. Sterling Price in 1863.
Marker No. 36 was installed in 2012 by the Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission, North Little Rock History Commission, Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council, Preserve America and National Park Service, Department of the Interior. Click the image for more.
If you’re looking for a local landmark, just find North Little Rock Fire Department’s gorgeous No. 5 station and you’re there.
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Maumelle doesn’t make the cut for historical markers
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As is typical for all things Maumelle, what looks like a scandal becomes a big, fat nothingburger with even the shallowest bits of reporting.
The most recent example of this ongoing trend is Maumelle’s omission from the Historical Marker Database.
The occasion that led to a search of the database, available online here, is the National Historical Marker Weekend that starts this Friday and continues through Sunday.
Put on by the William G. Pomeroy Foundation, the weekend is billed as a weekend event “on caring for and cleaning historical markers.”
There’s an astonishing number of markers across the country as more than 210,000 are in the database nationally.
In Pulaski County alone, there’s 192.
But for Maumelle?
None. Zero. Nadda.
Scandalous, right?
Again, not really.
There are, of course, some markers in Maumelle. Notably, the city’s first new construction home, near the Maumelle Country Club, has a small sign noting the significance of the house.
For why Maumelle doesn’t have any markers in the database it meant asking around on why and Bob Cook had the answer.
Cook, a long-time writer, runs the Historical Marker Ahead account on BlueSky and also publishes a newsletter on markers. You can follow the account, @historicalmarker.bsky.social, at your leisure.
Cook knows a lot about historical markers, as many middle-aged dads do, and is he the country’s foremost expert on the subject? Sure, why not. Or, at the least, he’s the country’s foremost expert on the subject amongst the people I know.
He had a very simple explanation for why Maumelle didn’t make the cut.
“Your town hasn’t been around long enough for historical markers,” he said and noted Maumelle’s relatively youthful 39 years and 10 months age. “Normally it needs to be 50 to 75 years after an event before an agreed-upon narrative emerges for whatever event happened.”
And, while there were things in the rural part of Pulaski County that is now called Maumelle 75 years ago, most notably the munitions plant that is the reason why the bunkers are still at Lake Willastein, there wasn’t much else.
A cemetery. A few scattered houses, mostly in the Crystal Hill area and near the Arkansas River, then the homes, businesses and churches in Marche. And, really, not much else.
Befitting its age, Little Rock has 176 of Pulaski County’s 192 markers, so there’s not much else, elsewhere.
There are some things of interest in North Little Rock though as there’s a marker on Poplar Street in the Park Hill neighborhood for Confederate fortifications, installed by gen. Sterling Price in 1863.
Marker No. 36 was installed in 2012 by the Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission, North Little Rock History Commission, Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council, Preserve America and National Park Service, Department of the Interior. Click the image for more.
If you’re looking for a local landmark, just find North Little Rock Fire Department’s gorgeous No. 5 station and you’re there.