Slum Clearance Referendum of 1950

The Slum Clearance Referendum of 1950 Clyde E. Lowry was a Little Rock insurance executive who spearheaded a successful 1950 effort to a pass slum clearance referendum in the city. The referendum empowered the city to accept federal assistance under a 1949 Federal Housing Act to remove dilapidated housing. Over the next decade the city tore down 628 houses and replaced them with 928 low-rent apartment units. [edit] References

Gene Foreman, "Urban Renewal: A Decade of Progress Has Brought Impressive Changes to Little Rock," Arkansas Gazette, May 29, 1960.

The Granite Mountain neighborhood is located on the southeast edge of the city of Little Rock.

The $1.3 million Granite Mountain slum clearance effort by the Little Rock Housing Authority and Urban Progress Association led to the destruction of one hundred and seventy two small homes scattered over 100 acres and occupied by black Little Rock residents. Only two of the homes had indoor plumbing. Residents instead fetched water from free-standing faucets. Sixty-nine new homes replaced the older structures. The clearance, approved on December 3, 1954, by the federal Housing and Home Finance Agency, was part of the Central Little Rock Urban Renewal Project. Slum clearance was approved locally in a May 9, 1950 referendum.

The executive director of the Little Rock Housing Authority at the time was Knox Banner.

The battle over slum clearance was contentious. Remembered Raymond Rebsamen ten years later, "When the urban renewal was first proposed, I was one of the few business men who spoke out in its favor. And don't think we didn't have plenty of opposition. Little Rock had some knock-down, drag-out, name-calling sessions prior to the referendum and before public forums, including our former City Council."

References

• Raymond Rebsamen, Little Rock: Poised Poised for Progress, (Little Rock, AR: Urban Progress Association, 1960).