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The Legacy of Little Rock’s West Ninth Street
The Black business district of Little Rock known as West Ninth Street thrived after World War II but was erased during federal Urban Renewal efforts in the 1950s and ’60s.
The history of Ninth Street will always live. My siblings and I exist because we are historical markers of Ninth Street. Others currently alive in the city of Little Rock are here because of their parents’ interactions along Ninth Street. The area of Ninth Street between Broadway and Chester streets is a testimony to the lives of so many residents in Arkansas and nationwide today.
Historical city directories show many of the businesses and homes with the Ninth Street address. In the early 1960s, the 600 block of Ninth Street had the Century Building, where many professionals had offices. Physicians in the building included Oba B. White and George W. S. Ish. Lawyers in the building included Edward Trimble, Christopher C. Mercer Jr., Harold B. Anderson, and Delector Tilller. The offices of the Southern Mediator Journal publication were in the building. The Arkansas Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) held space in the building. The West Ninth Cab Company was at 613 W. 9th St., and Angel’s Hot Dog Stand occupied 614 W. 9th St.
The Raines Building was also in the 6oo block of West Ninth. The husband-and-wife dental team of Garman P. Freeman and Evangeline Upshur held office space in the building. Dr. William H. Townsend, an optometrist who later became an Arkansas legislator, was in the building, as were physicians John M. Robinson and Morris Jackson.
I. W. Muldrew and A. L. Shepherd used office space in the building. The 700 block of West Ninth was home to the Children’s Drug Store, Crenchaw Tailoring, Block’s Pawn Shop, the Tucker Hotel, the Gem Theater, Red’s Pool Hall, Little Rock Barber College, and Tyler Barber College. Maceo A. Binns, a local photographer who did many of the school photos for the Black community, was located at 808 W. 9th St. The 800 block also had Miller Funeral Home, United Friends Mortuary, Braswell Grocery, and Braswell Cafeteria.
The business that confirms my connection to the history of West Ninth Street is the Flamingo Hotel and Club, owned by Henry King. City directories show the address as 916 State Street. Charles Bussey Jr., Central Division campaign chairman for the March of Dimes, organized “jam sessions” at the Flamingo Club to raise money. Local radio station KOKY helped arrange artists and promote the annual event. The hotel is where my father, professional bass guitar player Louis Villery, stayed when in town for musical appearances. Born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, he was in Little Rock at the age of seventeen playing with Bobby Blue Bland. My mother, Louise Stewart, worked as a bartender in the Flamingo Club.
They connected at the Flamingo Club and created a little history of their own. My father has four biological children born in Little Rock to three mothers—two children born in Florida and one born in Texas. My mother has five biological children. My father was friends with the Mayfield family. Sisters Eva Mae and “Nookie” were friends of my mother’s and kept him informed about his Little Rock children. Their brother Acey worked for the Flamingo Club.
The traveling musician maintained a connection with the city of Little Rock. Some of the musicians who were in the Little Rock music scene at the time of his playing in Little Rock include York Wilborn and the Thrillers, L. C. “Totsie” Davis, Robert McGowan, the Charles Baker Band and the Imperials from Pine Bluff, Pharoah Sanders, and Art Porter Sr. In the early 1970s, he formed the African Music Machine, a funk band based in Shreveport, Louisiana.
He returned to Little Rock in the early 2000s and later settled in Carlisle (Lonoke County). He continued to play with Bobby Blue Bland. He played with local musicians and local churches until his health failed. He played music around the world, but the nest he returned to was Arkansas.
By Rhonda Stewart, genealogy and local history specialist for the Central Arkansas Library System’s Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, housed in the CALS Bobby L. Roberts Library of Arkansas History & Art
