Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site

Little Rock High School opened in 1927 for white students at a cost of $1.5 million, which the New York Times called the most expensive school ever built in the United States at that time. Black students were sent to Dunbar High School, built in 1929 a few blocks away. In September 1957 the building became the center of a national crisis over school desegregation.

On September 2 Governor Orval Faubus announced that he had called out the Arkansas National Guard, and on September 4 the soldiers turned away the Black students who tried to enter. Elizabeth Eckford, 15, had no telephone at home, never heard the group's plan and walked up alone past a jeering crowd of more than 300. On September 23 the students got inside and were removed about three and a half hours later as a mob gathered outside. President Eisenhower federalized the Guard and sent about 1,000 paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division, and at 9:22 a.m. on September 25 the Little Rock Nine walked in under escort. Ernest Green graduated in May 1958, the first Black graduate of Central. That September Faubus closed the city's four high schools, and voters rejected integration 19,470 to 7,561.

The visitor center is free and open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Central High is still a working high school with no public access inside; ranger programs at 1 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday need a reservation 48 hours ahead and stay outdoors. The Commemorative Garden and the Elizabeth Eckford bench are open daily from 7 a.m. to sunset.