History

Adapted from an article by Dana Nixon

• The organization that eventually became the QQA was established in 1961 when John Robinson, in association with the Little Rock Housing Authority, established the “Significant Structures Technical Advisory Committee” and later adopted the name “Quapaw Quarter Committee” after the Quapaw Treaty Line that runs through the MacArthur Park Historic District.
• In 1963, the Quapaw Quarter Committee held its first tour of homes in the area and awarded its first awards for preservation projects. It also leased space in the famous Villa Marre in what is now known as the “SoMa” district.
• In 1968, the QQA was officially incorporated on April 22, 1968.
• In 1974, The Chronicle, the QQA newsletter, was first published. It won several journalism awards during this time. The Chronicle stopped publication from 1998-2000. In 2009 it was reorganized as an e-newsletter and is still published quarterly.
• In 1974, the QQA created a library of information related to preservation, including books, survey documents, city directories, and photographs of historic structures.
• In 1975, the board hired the first staff members. The staff has varied over the years from part-time staff to up to two full-time staff. Currently, it employs one full-time staff member and one part-time for QQA business directly, and another five part-time staff who work in Curran Hall.
• In 1975, the QQA helped develop some of the first laws in Arkansas designed to support preservation, which made the enforcement of easements on historic properties possible.
• In 1979, the Villa Marre was donated to the QQA along with an adjacent apartment building. The QQA headquarters remained at the Villa Marre until 2002 when the Board of Directors voted to sell the property. The QQA retained ownership of the adjacent apartments until 2004 when that property was also sold.
• In 1991, the QQA won a lawsuit to save the West Side Junior High School building and advocated to keep the Old Federal Building.
• In the 1990s, the QQA lobbied to save the Kramer School building from demolition and Curran Hall and the Donaghey Building.
• In 2007, the QQA developed a proposal to oversee the Little Rock Visitors Information Center at Curran Hall and the 1842 home that was saved from demolition in part by the QQA’s efforts. The proposal was accepted, and the organization moved its offices to Curran Hall.
• From 1999-2000, the QQA briefly changed its name to “Landmarks Trust of Greater Little Rock” when the mission changed to encompass more historic areas of the city. It was changed back to the QQA in 2000.
• In December 2014, the QQA purchased the Woodruff House, the former home of William Woodruff, the founder of the Arkansas Gazette newspaper, saving it from demolition. From 2014-2018, the QQA stabilized the property and is currently marketing it for rehabilitation. 
• The Cheryl Griffith Nichols Historic Marker program was relaunched in 2015.
• In 2018, the QQA celebrated 50 years of historic preservation in greater Little Rock.

Download a complete history of the QQA here.