I finally got my husband to visit the Bill Clinton Library, as it is generally known, as we went to participate in a putt-off contest in Little Rock. He could have won a trip to the Masters but alas, he lost.
The Library is located at 1200 President Clinton Avenue in Little Rock Arkansas and has been ridiculed as looking like a trailer but is extremely nice and well laid out. It is also near River Market, a great restored area near the river which has become a favorite gathering spot and tourist attraction.
At the time of our visit there was a Peter Max exhibit and quite a few people visiting the center.
As we were leaving, however, we spotted this treasure within walking distance to the library.
I'd never read about it or noticed it.
It's called The University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service.
The architectural details were wonderful.
See a couple of close-ups below.
It is called the Choctaw Station and has been restored.
I found the following information about the Choctaw Station on the internet.
"The time is 12:30am on a cold November 10, 1967. After sixty-five years, the last Rock Island passenger trains on the Choctaw Route are being discontinued tonight. The final westbound run, train number 21 from Memphis, pauses at Little Rock before continuing on to Oklahoma City, Amarillo, and Tucumcari. The participants in this melancholy event don't know it yet, but the Rock Island is itself dying. In another 13 years, 1980, the railroad company and indeed the tracks themselves will begin to disappear.
After the end of passenger service, the Choctaw passenger station and surrounding land was purchased by the Arkansas Gazette. The Gazette presses were located in a new building south of the station, but the station itself was maintained by the Gazette for future use. After remaining vacant for a number of years, the building was acquired by the Spaghetti Warehouse restaurant chain, a company with a proud legacy of renovating historic buildings. This company is responsible for the preservation of the Choctaw passenger station -- their renovation reportedly costing more than any of the company's other other "vintage" restaurants. Although the restaurant experienced great initial popularity, there was not sufficient traffic to sustain the operation over the longer term, and it closed about a year before the River Market began attracting people to a revitalized downtown Little Rock."
You'll have to agree that not much architecture is done with this style anymore. We were unable to enter the building but just looking at the outside was a pleasure.
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