Forest Park

Forest Park was a suburban recreational area located at the western terminus of the old streetcar line in the Hillcrest neighborhood of Little Rock.

Improvements to Forest Park were made beginning in 1904. The park would eventually have a 1,500 seat auditorium, a pavilion, zoo, carousel, and fun house. Child visitors to the park could also take free rides in goat carts or go roller skating. In the summer the Forest Park Theater put on performances of various shows, even attracting Sarah Bernhardt to perform in Camille.

The park became the site of the Pulaski County Fair around 1913. In 1916 the fair departed for Fair Park, now known as War Memorial Park. In 1921 Forest Park was purchased by the White City amusement company which built a pool where the Heights Theater now stands. The pool was taken over by the Little Rock Recreation Commission in 1934 and remodeled. The pool was torn out in 1939.

Forest Park declined in popularity as the automobile brought more distant attractions into reach. In 1941 the park was converted into a residential neighborhood of single-family detached homes.

References

• Arkansas Writers' Project, Arkansas: A Guide to the State (Works Progress Administration, 1941), 172.
• Jerry Dean, "In Early Days, Hillcrest was 'Way Out West,'" Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, June 15, 1989.