Mitchell, James, School - Little Rock, Arkansas - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

The James Mitchell School is located in a predominately residential neighborhood.  It was built in 1908-09 as a neighborhood school.  The original portion of the school was designed by Little Rock architect Charles Thompson and was one of the first elementary schools in the city to be designed with integral bathrooms which were located in the basement. It was  originally a fairly small four room school house on two stories.   Over the years the building has several additions reflecting the growth in population in the neighborhood and also changes in educational theory and practices.  The first addition occurred 1910 when Charles Thompson was engaged to design a four room addition to the building.  Other additions were made over the years including a cafeteria and kitchen in 1952.

 Just as the school changed over the years the students it served changed over the years.  When the school was built it was built as a white school serving the fairly affluent white collar neighborhood.  Following  World War I the neighborhood became more blue collar.

Through the 1960s and into the 1970s the neighborhood transitioned yet again.  As Little Rock’s white population moved farther west the demographic make-up of the neighborhood became predominately African American and the white Mitchell School fell into a state of limbo.   With court ordered integration the school became integrated in the 1970's though it was through several different plans it was achieved. It was during this time the school was further expanded as other schools in the area were closed thus expanding the neighborhood Mitchell School served.  The school remained a neighborhood school until 1987 following the annexation of a portion of the Pulaski County Specially School District which resulted in the school seeing more bussed student.  In 2004 the Little Rock School District began renovating the school as part of a larger effort to upgrade schools system wide.  This renovation included removal of hazardous materials (asbestos and mold) however upon the completion of the abatement of the hazardous materials the school district decided to halt any further work and closed the school in 2005.  The school building has now passed to private ownership and is currently boarded up but is hopefully be converted to other use. - from National Register Nomination form

Street address: 2410 S. Battery St. Little Rock, Arkansas County / Borough / Parish: Pulaski Year listed: 2009 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Architecture/Engineering, Event Periods of significance: 1900-1924, 1925-1949, 1950-1974 Historic function: Education Current function: Project On-going Privately owned?: yes Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Website 1: [Web Link] Season start / Season finish: Not listed Hours of operation: Not listed Secondary Website 2: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   06/09/2012 goff-family visited it