PULASKI HEIGHTS ELEMENTARY

Pulaski Heights Elementary
319 North Pine Street

In 1908 the Pulaski Heights School was born in a small brick store at the corner of Prospect and Oak streets. It accommodated children scattered "out in the woods" as far west as Forest Park.

Pulaski Heights School (built in 1909).
Photo: University of Central Arkansas,
Torreyson Library archives.

During that first year, a woman named Lydia Dice sold five acres of land to the LRSD School Board for a very small sum because she was interested in the welfare of the children in the community. A four-room schoolhouse was built on the site in 1909. It had an enrollment of about 100 students. In 1910 a group of parents asked the School Board to construct a fence around the school since animals such as goats, mules and cattle had become "the source of considerable annoyance because the animals roamed at will and drank from school water pails and cups."

Photo: Students and staff of Pulaski Heights School, 1919.
Photo from Pulaski Heights Elementary.

A new, larger building opened in 1921; at that time, it housed both grammar school and junior high school students (this building is the current Pulaski Heights Middle School). Pulaski Heights Elementary was built next door to the existing building in 1927, and the auditorium and cafeteria shared by both schools were built in 1935. Building modifications were made in 1984.

The new Pulaski Heights library/media center,
between Pulaski Heights Middle School (left)
and Pulaski Heights Elementary (right).

In 2004 a two-story library/media center was completed; the elementary and middle schools each have separate floors in the structure. The school is named for the neighborhood in which it is located.

Sources:
LRSD archives.
Pulaski Heights Middle School web site, school history page: www.phms.org/tour/phhistory.htm
"From 52 pupils in 1853 to over 20,000." Arkansas Democrat article by Marion Fulk, 1 Nov 1981.

If you have information about a Little Rock school or photographs that you would like to contribute to this project (we will return photographs if requested), please contact us!
Updated March 2005