ARSENAL TOUR

This map provides locations and brief summaries of the exhibits available on your self-guided tour.

1. Museum Entrance

5. War & Remembrance

9. Fiction and Fantasy

Don’t miss the wide variety of souvenirs, gift ideas, and items for both children and adults in the Museum Gift Shop. Open during the museum’s operating hours. The gift shop phone number is (501)-376-4602.

Learn how photos, letters, and other memorabilia help us understand the Civil War perspective through memory and time.  Exhibit also examines the United Confederate Veterans Reunion held  in Little Rock in 1911.

Armed Services Edition paperbacks and pin-up photographs were instrumental in relieving the boredom and rigors of war during World War II as soldiers tried to stay connected to their families back home. 

2.  Turbulance to Tranquility

As you enter the museum, learn the history of the Little Rock Arsenal, established as a frontier military post in 1840, and subsequent uses of the site after the Arsenal closed in 1890.

3. The Sun Never Sets

Featuring a 1943 Willys Jeep, this exhibit traces the development of the military vehicle during World War II. By war’s end, the Jeep had become the “goodwill ambassador for the United States,” carrying everything and everyone from privates to generals and presidents.

4. The Allison Collection

Photographs in this gallery portray the war and its impact on both soldiers and society during World War II. These images are selected from the 4,600 photographs collected during the war by James Allison, a sports writer for the Houston Press. The rest of the collection can be viewed on our website.

6. Capital in Crisis

This Civil War gallery begins with the debate over secession in Arkansas, which led to a standoff between Federal authorities and local militia on these grounds, known as the Arsenal Crisis. The exhibit also covers Arkansas’s involvement in the Civil War and Little Rock’s capture by Union forces in September 1863.

7. David O. Dodd

17-year-old David O. Dodd was hanged as a spy in 1864 by Union forces near the Arsenal Building. Was he a boy martyr for the Confederacy, or a spy justly convicted and executed? The exhibit features the 1911 David
O. Dodd stained glass window.

8. The Camden Expedition

Launched from the Arsenal grounds in the spring of 1864, the Camden Expedition was a military disaster for Union forces who were forced back to Little Rock after only 40 days.

10. The Aesthetic Club

This hallway focuses on the Aesthetic Club founded in 1883 by a group of Little Rock women. The club was created for self-education and to help improve the community. In 1894, the club began meeting in the Arsenal Building and have continued to meet here for more than a hundred years.

11. Conflict and Crisis

On loan from the MacArthur Memorial, this exhibit covers President Harry Truman’s dismissal of General Douglas MacArthur in 1951 and the controversy that ensued. The event created an enduring debate regarding civilian authority over the military and the concepts of limited war versus total war.

Tour Map Continued

12. Duty, Honor, Country

13. Tower Theater

Learn more about Douglas MacArthur’s historical ties to Little Rock, from his birth in the Arsenal Building on January 26, 1880 to his only return visit on March 23, 1952 after the park was named in his honor. Highlights of his military career are examined.

Now Showing: The MacArthur Story, 22 minutes. The film discusses the life of Douglas MacArthur from his birth in Little Rock to his death in 1964, and his military career that spanned 52 years.

14.  Vietnam War

Photographs taken by Arkansas natives Bruce Wesson and Jim Guy Tucker are featured in this gallery, as well as personal artifacts from Hugh Mills, one of the war’s most highly decorated combat pilots. Names of Arkansans who died in Vietnam are also listed.

15.  First Call

Posters were used in World War I to justify U.S. involvement in the war and encourage citizens to support home-front efforts such as the Liberty and Victory war bond drives, volunteer organizations, food conservation, war savings stamp program, and the American Red Cross.  Learn how posters were effective in shaping public opinion.

16.  Medal of Honor

Twenty-five Arkansans received the Medal of Honor, the military’s highest decoration. This exhibit explores the medal’s history and the stories of those Arkansans who earned it. The gallery features Medals of Honor awarded to Arkansans, as well as medals of the Pyramid of Honor.

About the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History
The Arsenal Building was constructed in 1840 as part of a frontier military post. The building originally housed weapons, munitions, cannons, cannonballs, and gunpowder. In 1868, the Arsenal Building was converted into housing for officers and their families.
In 1879, Captain Arthur MacArthur was stationed
here, and on January 26, 1880, Douglas MacArthur was born in this building. He became one of the greatest military leaders of the 20th Century. In 1892, the military post was turned into Little Rock’s first public park, and all of the structures except the Arsenal Building were either moved or destroyed. In 2001, the Arsenal Building opened as the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas History, dedicated to preserving our state’s rich military heritage. The museum is operated under Little Rock Parks and Recreation.

Contact us about guided tours
MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History 503 East 9th Street			
Little Rock, AR 72202	Email:smcateer@littlerock.gov  
(501)-376-4602		     alind@littlerock.gov  
Hours of Operation:	             Find us online at
Monday – Saturday, 9:00 – 4:00 	www. arkmilitaryheritage.com 
Sunday, 1:00 – 4:00 		macarthur@littlerock.gov  
Cell Phone Audio Tour   (501) 707-0244
Find us on Facebook and Instagram at MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military