Philander Smith neighborhood

The Philander Smith neighborhood surrounds Philander Smith College in Little Rock.

In 1955 the city's Central Little Rock Urban Renewal Project received $282,928 in federal funds under the Housing Act of 1954 to engage in urban renewal activities in the Philander Smith neighborhood. This first federally-authorized "urban renewal project" in the city lasted until 1958. The project's directors tore down twenty-two "shacks" and other structures on 6.9 acres of land, and sold the cleared area to Philander Smith College. It represented the first federal urban renewal project west of the Mississippi River.

References

• Matilda Tuohey, "Little Rock Has Massive Urban Renewal Program," Arkansas Gazette, February 17, 1963.