Tower Building of the Little Rock Arsenal
historic property and museum in Arkansas, United States
The Tower Building of the Little Rock Arsenal, also known as the Main Building of the U.S. Arsenal at Little Rock, or Headquarters Building of the Little Rock Barracks, is the home of the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History. It is also a part of the MacArthur Park Historic District, in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Built between 1840 and 1841, it was part of Little Rock's first U.S. military installation. Since decommissioning, the building has housed two local museums. It was home to the Arkansas Museum of Natural History and Antiquities from 1942 to 1997 and the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History since 2001. It has also housed the Little Rock Æsthetic Club since 1894. The building receives its name from its distinct octagonal tower. Besides being the last remaining structure of the original U.S. military installation and one of the oldest buildings in central Arkansas, it was also the birthplace of General Douglas MacArthur, who became the supreme commander of U.S. forces in the South Pacific during World War II. It was also the starting place of the Camden Expedition during the American Civil War.
History
Background
The building and the surrounding park were used for many public purposes throughout the early 20th century. The Tower Building served as headquarters for the United Confederate Veterans Reunion, May 15–18, 1911.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Tower Building of the Little Rock Arsenal” is historic property and museum in Arkansas, United States. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Tower, Building and Little, not as a finished interpretation.
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Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7829641. The Library of Congress control number is sh2008007031. Authority coordinates are 34.738, -92.265. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1840, 1841, 1942 and 1997.
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This entry incorporates text from “Tower Building of the Little Rock Arsenal” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.