Begin your experience at Little Rock Central High School NHS in the Visitor Center.
Visitors should always park in the free Visitor Center parking lot. Central High School is an operating public high school with over 2,500 students, grades 9 through 12. Visitors may walk around the reflection pool and front steps of Central High on their own, but there is no public access into the active high school. Exhibits and bookstore are all located in the National Park Visitor Center. Traffic/parking can be congested on school days between 8:30 - 9:00 a.m. and 3:30 - 4:00 p.m.
All ranger-led tours begin inside the visitor center unless otherwise listed. Visitor center hours and days of operations can be found on our Basic Information page; the visitor center is closed on New Year's Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day unless otherwise designated.
Park Rangers and volunteers can provide people with disabilities access to the Durateq® Assistive Technology System with three services:
Audio description (AD) of the exhibits in the visitor center for visitors who are blind or have low vision
Assistive Listening (ALS) in the multi-purpose room and at the audio stations in the visitor center for visitors who are hard of hearing
Handheld Captions (HC) at the audio stations in the visitor center for visitors who are deaf
Visitors may check out a handheld device which provides accessible services from a park representative at the Visitor Center desk. Content is automatically activated on the devices via “invisible” infrared emitters installed throughout the exhibit space.
Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site Visitor Center
The visitor center features a detailed exhibit with interviews, news footage, and audio/video recordings of those directly involved as well as accessible restrooms and a Jefferson National Parks Association (JNPA) bookstore.
Physical Address
National Park Service 2120 West Daisy L. Gatson Bates Drive Little Rock, AR72202
Mailing Address
National Park Service 2120 West Daisy L. Gatson Bates Drive Little Rock, AR72202
Take the Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard exit (2B) off Interstate 630. Go south on Martin Luther King, Jr (away from Arkansas State Capitol). Turn right (west) onto Daisy L. Gatson Bates Drive. The Visitor Center and Visitor Parking will be on your Right at the intersection of Daisy L. Gatson Bates and Little Rock Nine Way, directly across from the historic Magnolia Mobil Gas Station and diagonally across from Central High School campus. All visitors should park and begin visit at the Visitor Center.
Sunday and Monday:Closed
Tuesday-Saturday:10:00 AM–4:00 PM
Visitors should always park in the free Visitor Center parking lot. Central High School is an operating public high school with over 2,500 students, grades 9 through 12. Visitors may walk around the reflection pool and front steps of Central High on their own. Museum exhibits and bookstore are all located in the National Park Visitor Center. Traffic/parking can be congested on school days between 8:30 - 9:00 a.m. and 3:30 - 4:00 p.m.
Email the park at this address for questions, directions, programming, or other general information. To reserve a guided tour, please call the park during business hours (9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. CST/CDT, daily).
Visitors to Little Rock Central High School NHS visitor center tour exhibits, watch the park's interpretive film, attend ranger-led programming and shop in the park's bookstore. NPS Photo
The visitor center features a detailed exhibit with interviews, news footage, and audio/video recordings of those directly involved plus a new park interpretive film. NPS Photo
The visitor center offers views of the Magnolia Mobil Gas Station and Central High School NPS Photo
books, gifts and souvenirs in the JNPA bookstore NPS Photo
a 1950s telephone sits on an exhibit entitled "Three Weeks in the World" NPS Photo
Essentials
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Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site
Locations:Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site
Little Rock Central High School, a functioning 9th - 12th grade facility, is a combined Collegiate Gothic and Art Deco style building that covers much of two city blocks and contains over 150,000 square feet. The school is closed to the public.
Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site
Locations:Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site
The Commemorative Garden, adjacent to both the visitor center on South Park Street and the north side of Little Rock Central High School, documents a photographic history, inlaid on brick and concrete arches, as a reminder of the bravery of the Little Rock Nine and a legacy of Central High School. Within this space are nine benches and nine trees to provide seating and shade for a visitor to sit and reflect in this tranquil landscape.
Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site
Locations:Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site
The historic Magnolia Mobil Gas Station at the southeast corner of South Park Street/West Daisy L. Gatson Bates Drive and across the street from Central High School’s campus played an important role in the 1957 desegregation crisis. This service station was one of the few businesses in the immediate neighborhood which had a pay telephone on site, so by default it served as the media headquarters for newspaper journalists, radio correspondents and television reporters.
Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site
Locations:Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site
The Elizabeth Eckford Bus Bench, located on the northeast corner of S. Park Street and 16th Street, is a replica from the 1957 desegregation crisis and a place for contemplative reflection.
Locations:Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site
When it was built in 1929, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in Little Rock was the most modern and complete high school constructed for African Americans in the state. It became known as "The Finest High School for Negro Boys and Girls in Arkansas."
Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site
Locations:Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site
The Daisy and L.C. Bates Home is nationally significant for its role as the de facto command post during the Central High School desegregation crisis in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site
Locations:Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site
"Testament" are a set of bronzed statues representing each member of the Little Rock Nine in 1957. The statues sit on the grounds of the Arkansas State Capitol and face the former office of Governor Orval Faubus, the leader whose resistance to see integration succeed at Little Rock Central High School was thwarted by President Dwight Eisenhower and the 101st Airborne.
