Taking Care of Business

One of the focuses of the Greater Little Rock Chamber of Commerce is the improvement of business in the Little Rock area. For the Chamber, “business” includes agriculture, freight, small business, and large industry. The Chamber works diligently on behalf of the city and region to increase the number of jobs, size of payrolls, and standard of living. The vision of the Chamber changed over the years as the business community grew and evolved, and these changes correspond to three periods of growth for the area. In the first fifty years, from 1867 to 1920, the areas of agriculture and freight consumed most of the Chamber's interests. During the next period, from 1920 until 1960, agriculture and freight continued in importance, but the Chamber also began focusing more attention on the needs of factories and small business owners. Within the past forty years, from 1960 to 1999, the Chamber focused its attention on bringing large industries and businesses to the area as well as maintaining and promoting existing enterprises. Through it all, the Chamber envisioned Little Rock’s potential to become a leading business city in the region.

Agriculture provided the main industry in the region in the last half of the nineteenth century. The Chamber worked in the producers’ interests to secure markets for their products. Working closely with other organizations such as the Memphis Cotton Exchange and the American Cotton Growers Association, the Chamber prevailed upon planters to stabilize their crop acreage when prices were high, thus alleviating the economic condition of large crops and lowering prices.

In April 1895, members of the Chamber expressed a need for a grain elevator, stating "we had no market adequate to handle this product." The Chamber appointed a committee to take immediate steps to look into the establishment of an elevator that would serve as the central place for the distribution of grain. This became a major project for the Chamber, consuming much of its time over the next several months. The Elevator Committee soon after secured a lease from the Little Rock Mill and Elevator Company for a storage room to accommodate 30,000 bushels of grain until such time that an elevator could be constructed. The committee reported to the Chamber that, through the sale of stock in the grain elevator, it raised only $2500—an amount inadequate to build the elevator. "Owing to the inexperience of our people along this line," the committee thought it wise to try another plan, advertising in the St. Louis Globe Democrat that Little Rock needed an elevator and packinghouse and that investors were invited to review the matter. By the harvest of 1896, the elevator was complete.

One of the Chamber’s major concerns during this period was ensuring businesses received quality prices for their products. Soon after its formation the Chamber provided the latest available cotton quotes to its members, as well as figures on imports and exports in the city. When the grading for inspection class on shipments of cotton, oats, or other crops was contested or suspect the Chamber acted to see that adjustments were made where appropriate. To protect the brokers and buyers in the grain trade, it amended the rules regulating this enterprise by adding a new grade of "Rejected -- to include all unsound and damaged corn and oats, not wet or hot, but unfit to grade as No. 4." In 1896 it passed a resolution attempting to stop the city of Little Rock from passing an ordinance concerning the weighing of certain commodities that passed through the city. These products, including cotton, were to be taxed according to their weight. The Chamber stated, "if the ordinance, with its tax, were passed planters would not bring their cotton to this market." The proposed ordinance failed. The Chamber also protested the action of certain agents of the Farmers' Union for sending cotton out of the state to sell, thereby denying the proceeds of those sales to the economy of the state.

With the expansion of the railroads during this period, securing fair rates for the shipment of products from the region to outside markets occupied much of the Chamber's attention. Because Little Rock was located off of the main arteries of transportation, Memphis and St. Louis often received more favorable freight rates than did Little Rock. The railroad companies established a Little Rock jobbing territory, or area serviced by railroads branching out of Little Rock, in attempts to secure differential rates. Pine Bluff and Fort Smith joined in this undertaking to solve the freight problem. In 1895, the Chamber passed a resolution "that the Transportation Committee be authorized and instructed to confer with attorneys and have a paper drawn up for signature by the merchants, binding them to stick together; and if the principle shippers sign the agreement, the Freight Commissioner be instructed to proceed on any line deemed advisable." If a signer of this agreement failed to follow the committee’s guidelines, they could be fined. This action was necessary to ensure that the negotiations for a fair rate were upheld. Only a few months after signing this agreement, a committee met with railroad officials from Memphis, St. Louis, and Little Rock for the purpose of securing an equitable adjustment of freight rates.

The Chamber realized other business needs, such as the city's need for a fine hotel. The Chamber appointed a committee to explore the possibility of building a hotel on Markham Street. In 1907, on Markham and Louisiana Streets, the six-story Hotel Marion opened to the delight of city residents. The hotel featured the most modern services and accommodations, as well as an elaborately decorated lobby. The hotel remained a Little Rock landmark until 1980 when it was razed in order to create room for the State House Convention Center. The Chamber, with involvement in the building of the Marion Hotel, drew regional attention to Little Rock as a modern city.

During the first fifty years of its existence, the Chamber worked diligently to bring Little Rock into an increasingly regional and national economy. By the First World War, Little Rock rose to meet the competition of interstate markets like Memphis and St. Louis. It was time for agricultural interests to make room for the business community, as a shift toward urbanization took hold across the nation.

Between 1920 and 1960 the Chamber continued dealing with agriculture and freight, but it also began placing greater emphasis on other business areas. It recognized the increasing importance of factories and small businesses in the economic development of central Arkansas. During this period, the business community grew and evolved through two World Wars, the Great Depression, the prosperous decade of the 1950s, and the beginnings of the Cold War. The focus of agriculture shifted during this period, as across the country family farms gave way to co-operatives and corporation-run venture farms. Arkansas was no exception to this change.

Early in this period of growth and change the Chamber created several committees to work with the business community. It considered the work of on committee, the Retail Merchants Bureau, an especially important part of the Chamber. The chief activities of this group included the issuance of copies of the daily confidential bulletins and the furnishing of credit reports. The daily confidential bulletins provided retail merchants with the names of customers who had credit problems, information that the merchants may find useful, as well as a change of address service. The Retail Merchants Bureau also began Thrift Days, a coordinated effort of simultaneous sales events proven to attract many shoppers to the city. Through the Bureau, the merchants of Little Rock worked jointly for the retail commercial development of the city. The Chamber also endorsed scheduling evening football games at the War Memorial Stadium. This schedule benefited the economy of the city by allowing people more free time to shop in the afternoons and increasing the number of patrons lodging over night.

By the 1920s trade union issues surfaced. Enacted throughout the country, anti-trust laws were enforced throughout the country and Little Rock was no exception. The Chamber opposed unionization of the trades, and fully backed an open shop policy beginning in 1919. The Open Shop Bureau of the Chamber operated in conjunction with the American Plan Open Shop Association. These two groups worked effectively and efficiently in the maintenance of open shop conditions in Little Rock. Feeling that the open shop policy afforded equal opportunities for workers, stimulated building, and produced increased labor efficiency and production, the Chamber publicly announced its resolution against unionization. The Chamber prepared "Open Shop Certificate of Indebtedness" totaling over $20,000 in the next few years to pay businesses for keeping an open shop. The open shop policy caused controversy, however; therefore, the Chamber outlined its position in the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce Bulletin. The Chamber printed excerpts from many sources, including San Diego's Open Shop News that stated, "closed shop unionism is the caste system transferred to America."

When the prosperous 1920s ended, however, the Chamber turned its attention to more urgent business matters than unionization. The crash of the Stock Market in 1929 led to the closing of banks and businesses across the nation, including in Little Rock. This affected several of the businesses in town. The Chamber strove to re-open Little Rock banks under the best possible circumstances, and formed a committee to work with area bankers to ensure their success. The Chamber also conducted and directed the campaign in Little Rock for the signing of blanket and trade organization codes dealing with the Federal Recovery Act. During this time, the Chamber continued working to bring new industry and business into the region. In 1934, the Chamber voted to develop a list of light manufactured products that could be brought to Little Rock. The Chamber also established an Industrial Fund of $100,000. This fund was to provide aid to new businesses, thereby attracting new industry to Little Rock by helping offset some of the start-up cost. In addition, two new garment factories opened in the city in 1935, Mid South Pants Manufacturing Company and Brown Garment Manufacturing Company. Together they created forty new jobs. In a time of hardship, forty new jobs brought hope of more prosperous times.

Indeed, the next few decades proved considerably more prosperous than the 1930s. In the 1940s and 1950s, the Chamber actively worked to bring new industry and business into the Little Rock region. Chamber committees courted several prominent companies, enticing them to move to Little Rock. The development of industrial areas for these new enterprises proceeded. However, when the Chamber attempted to secure the Westinghouse Electric Corporation for Little Rock it noticed the lack of a suitable industrial area in the city. Aware of the extreme scarcity of sites available for the industrial development in Little Rock, the New Industries Committee of the Chamber approached the Housing Authority of the City of Little Rock about their plans to clear the so-called "East-End Area." It hoped to earmark appropriate areas within this acreage for an industrial park. The Chamber envisioned many advantages of creating an industrial area southwest of the city limits: the area had railroad facilities, gas, and electric utilities. Plans were quickly made to secure the property. In 1953, the Industrial Committee tried to secure five hundred acres of industrial land at the south edge of the city. In acquiring and developing this land, the Chamber encountered a problem with the land’s zoning. Tied up in the courts for several years, the matter was finally resolved and the industrial land developed.

Also pending before the Chamber during this period was the money being held in trust as the Industrial Fund. The Chamber had created the Industrial Fund with the intent of using the money to attract businesses to Little Rock; however, until this time the Chamber had no compelling reason to open the fund. Negotiations with the Johansen Shoe Company changed this. The Johansen Shoe Company, interested in establishing a plant in Little Rock, was "unequivocally opposed to capital investment in plants outside the city of St. Louis." The Industrial Fund provided the key to this dilemma by enabling the company to establish a plant in Little Rock without risking its own investment. The Chamber passed a motion making the Industrial Fund fluid instead of frozen. It also decided that the Fund should be used for the purpose outlined originally: to defray the cost of relocating industries to Little Rock. The Chamber asked the Industrial Fund Trustees to make $15,000 available for moving expenses on condition of a refund if less than $2.5 million was paid out in payrolls. Following the passage of this motion, the New Industries Committee began negotiations with the Johansen Shoe Company, securing an agreement protecting the Chamber on the amount of funds being invested and a guarantee that the company would remain in Little Rock for five years with a designated payroll. This step paved the way for many new industries to come to the area.

While industry grew, the Chamber remained conscious of the needs of the agricultural economy. During the 1920s the Chamber sponsored agricultural contests within Pulaski County. Also, following the Spring Flood of 1927, the Chamber arranged an agricultural survey of Pulaski County by the United States Department of Agriculture. The survey recommended increasing dairy production. Therefore, under the supervision of the Agricultural Committee, the Chamber initiated an extensive dairy expansion campaign. It had the cooperation of the Arkansas Bankers Association, State Extension Department of the University, and the County Agent. The purchase of the Southwest Dairy Products Company by J. C. Penney provides one such example of this campaign.

Although during this period the Chamber worked primarily with the cotton market, in the 1930s the Little Rock area experienced a decline in the cotton industry. Cotton production was below that of other cotton producing areas in the region and production was also low relative to other cotton producing areas around the world. The Chamber worked toward re-establishing a stable market for the crops produced, but a pricing war between Little Rock and Memphis brokers hampered their efforts. Memphis brokers paid a higher price for cotton than Little Rock brokers could afford to match due to cheaper freight rates in and out of the Memphis area. Little Rock and Memphis also competed in the cotton refinement process. Again this placed Little Rock in a difficult position. In 1953, the United States Department of Agriculture issued a plan that eliminated Little Rock as a spot market in cotton. The Chamber valiantly sought to stop this move but with little effect.

During the 1940s and 1950s, the Chamber's emphasis shifted away from the cotton industry toward the small farm and livestock operations. During World War II, it petitioned the federal government in several areas of concern. The Chamber adopted a resolution asking the Draft Boards to give careful consideration for the deferment of essential and necessary farm laborers. It also used its influence with the local fertilizer distributors, trying to help farmers get nitrogen fertilizer for their crops. In the late 1940s, the Chamber began sponsoring a Pasture and Feed Contest in conjunction with the Arkansas Livestock Show. The Chamber formed an auction committee to organize buyers to bid on the FFA and 4H calves and barrows sale at the state show. It hoped this would guarantee a premium price for the youngsters' animals and promote interest in developing superior livestock in Arkansas. In 1954, the Arkansas Livestock Association took over the Junior Livestock Auction from the Chamber. They continue to be a sponsor of the livestock show today. In 1956, the Chamber's Agriculture Committee decided to focus on marketing conditions and consumer education, leaving the more direct operations of farming to the University's Co-operative Extension Service.

Early in this period the Chamber's focus shifted from agricultural interest to business endeavors. As the national economy became increasingly industrialized, the Chamber directed more of its energy directly into the business community. Little Rock was a growing industrial center in the region by the late 1950s, but the focus changed with the Central High School Desegregation Crisis in 1957. The School Crisis ensued when some citizens protested the admittance of nine black students into a previously all white high school. News of this violent conflict spread throughout the nation, causing an economic crisis when businesses feared locating in the greater Little Rock area due to the perceived hostile environment. Faced with turmoil in the city, the Chamber felt a responsibility to do everything in its power to stabilize and promote the economy of Little Rock.

The effects of the 1957 crisis continued, reaching into the following decades. Since 1960 Little Rock’s economy has been one of struggle and growth. The Chamber undertook efforts to reassure the business world that Little Rock was a place where their business could grow. The overall economy of the United States and the world was changing, and the Chamber recognized the need for Little Rock to obtain an increasingly global understanding of its own economy. W.P. Gulley, Chair of the Board in 1968, states that the Chamber's "aim and concentration was primarily on Little Rock, but we very soon realized that anything right around central Arkansas ultimately helps Little Rock."

In the early 1960s the Chamber sought to bring the business community and the city out from under the shadow of 1957. According to B. Finley Vinson, the members of the Chamber "felt their job was business...the [creation] of new business downtown, doing business with one another, and helping the businesses already there." In May of 1960, the Chamber called for the formation of the Better Business Bureau. This independent, non-profit organization strives to maintain a high level of service and credibility within the business community, as well as provide a valuable resource for the consumers of the city.

Discussion of the importance of attracting new industry to Little Rock occupied much of the Chamber's time. Other towns offered land to perspective industries that wanted to relocate. Little Rock needed to be competitive. One proposal suggested constructing a shell building of 40,000 to 50,000 square feet and offering that space to industrial prospects. However, the Chamber’s financial resources alone were too limited for such an undertaking. In 1963, a group of businessmen, themselves members of the Chamber, formed an organization to deal with the problem. They named the organization Fifty for the Future. Officially separate from the Chamber, this organization raised money for the needs the Chamber saw as necessary to the growth of the city.

When it was founded, Fifty for the Future's purpose was to help offset the relocation costs for a company moving to Little Rock. The group began with fifty businessmen who each contributed $2,500 a year for three years. The group used the money for economic or civic expansion as it saw fit. Primarily, it encouraged industrial prospects to move to Arkansas, preferably Little Rock, by purchasing land or buildings for the company. The first industry to locate in Little Rock under the Fifty for the Future banner was Jacuzzi Brothers, which agreed in 1963 to move to Little Rock. Orbit Valve soon followed. By the end of the 1960s, Fifty for the Future persuaded several other companies to locate in Little Rock and central Arkansas. Among them were A.O. Smith Inland, Armstrong Tire and Rubber, Remington Arms, and Teletype. The partnership between the Chamber and Fifty for the Future built a strong industrial base in the region as well as to restored confidence and credibility in Little Rock.

As awareness and concern about the environment grew around the country, the Chamber realized the need for environmental protection. In the 1970s, the Chamber's focus on new industries enveloped ecological as well as economic concerns. The Chamber secured money to undertake a study concerning the industrialization of the Arkansas River and the relationship of industry location to pollution problems. The Chamber also created the Air and Water Pollution committee to oversee the compatibility of new industries with the environment. Along this line, in 1979 the Chamber received a report indicating that the Little Rock Port Authority had announced the proposed location of a $750 million paper products plant near the port. The plant had already received approval from the Arkansas Pollution Control Commission. The Chamber also recruited other companies with similar ecological policies for the region. Sherman Tate, discussing the type of industry in the Little Rock area, states "The Chamber of Commerce has shaped [the business] community. The Chamber has played a pivotal role in attracting the right kind of industry. Little Rock [has] been very successful in…attracting the kind of industry we want. You don't see smokestacks here, polluting our environment. That is what the Chamber has done very quietly and very effectively that is not necessarily really noticed."

A few of the industries brought into the greater Little Rock area included the Siemens-Allis plant, the Levi-Strauss Distribution Center, the Leisure Arts company, and the Maybelline plant.

Through the efforts of the Chamber and Fifty for the Future, 2,500 new jobs were created within the first ten years of their cooperative venture. With the new jobs, more workers were needed. This meant that more people would come to the greater Little Rock area to work. The Chamber established a committee to investigate this situation, and worked to discover measures that could alleviate problems in such areas as housing and transportation.

During the last half of the decade, the Chamber approached Fifty for the Future about helping with the merger of the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce and the North Little Rock Chamber of Commerce. The promotion of economic development in the entire greater Little Rock area generated the push for the merger. According to 1977 Chair Jim Nichols, "The Chamber consolidation was necessary to provide the cohesive strength required to compete with powerful regions like Dallas." During this time the Chamber joined with other chambers of commerce in the area to form the Central Arkansas Marketing Committee. Made up of various Arkansas chambers of commerce, this group works to ease financial burdens throughout the state and to make the region competitive in the regional, national, and global markets.

In part as a result of the work and farsightedness of the Chamber, growth in the number of industries locating in and around Little Rock continued in the decade of the 1980s. During the first half of the decade the Chamber, in conjunction with the work of groups such as Fifty for the Future and the Central Arkansas Marketing Committee, secured several businesses for the region. The Poulan/Weedeater Distribution Center, the Target Distribution Center, and Carrier Corporation all located in Maumelle. The Air Traffic Services corporate offices, American Medical International regional offices, Buckeye Gas Products regional office, and Dillards Distribution Center were brought to Little Rock. The Little Rock Port attracted firms like Castle Equipment Company, the Chamberlain-Featherlite Distribution Center, Omega Tube, and Cammerzell Tool and Die Work, Inc.

In the last half of the decade of the 1980s, the Chamber and its affiliates actively attracted new industry to the region. J.M. Products, Inc. and Advanced Laundry and Research, Inc. located in North Little Rock. Universal Plating was brought to Malvern through the concerted efforts of the various entities, and the R.G. Sloane Company established offices in Little Rock.

As well as attracting new businesses to the area the Chamber continued to work to secure new jobs for the region. Teletype added four hundred employees to its payroll in 1980. Through growth and expansion Target provided an additional two to three hundred jobs for the region's workforce. When AMF announced that they would be closing their bicycle division, the Chamber attempted to get another division of AMF to locate in the existing plant in Little Rock.

Economic development remained a major focal point for the Chamber during the 1980s and 1990s. In 1983, Chair "Mack" McLarty introduced a Five-Year Plan to insure economic development. Part of this plan encouraged the Chamber to become a greater influence in government with regard to business activities, as well as to increase the regional, national, and international focus of marketing for the state. McLarty's original plan resulted in the 1994 formation of the Central Arkansas Economic Development Alliance. This group provides a regional marketing focus, and is comprised of representatives from eighteen chambers of commerce and economic development entities within a fifty-mile radius of Little Rock. In 1993 the Chamber also joined in a cooperative effort with the University of Arkansas at Little Rock to review greater Little Rock's economy. The results of the study are published quarterly as the Little Rock Area Business Trends.

During the final decade of this century, the Chamber remains a visionary leader in guiding greater Little Rock into the new millennium. Through its efforts, companies such as Alltel and Southwest Airlines have added millions of dollars to the economy. The Chamber's interest in the downtown area, especially the River Market District, has revived an almost deserted area into a thriving economic district.

The Chamber’s evolution and growth throughout its long history keeps in stride with, if not ahead of, the business community and its needs. No single group or industry dominates the Little Rock economy. If a certain industry struggles, Little Rock will remain viable. Janet Jones, Board chair in 1998, explains, "We have a diversified economy. The companies are [all] different...I think that the purpose of the different types of companies [is that they] help the economy." From helping merchants and farmers to working with some of the most influential businesses in the world today, the Chamber continually and diligently works on behalf of the city and region to increase the number of jobs, size of payrolls, and standard of living.