Clinton Library Jump-Starts
Downtown Little Rock
The Clinton Presidential Center under construction in Little Rock, Arkansas, has stimulated rapid growth in that city’s downtown area, which had been largely a boarded-up old warehouse district. The $160-million complex on the banks of the Arkansas River, due to open in fall 2004, has instigated another $700 million of commitments in other downtown projects, and will feature not only the library but also a museum with 20,000 square feet of exhibit space, the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service, a pedestrian bridge over the river, and a 30-acre public park.
Since the project was announced in 1998, property values in the area have doubled, population has increased, and shops, hotels, and restaurants have popped up in the now-booming River Market district. City officials are expecting about 300,000 visitors to the library in its first year, and a $10.7-million-per-year economic impact on the area after that.
Clinton Foundation President Skip Rutherford told American Libraries that the library will focus on the eight years of the Clinton presidency and will hold 80,000–90,000 documents, 75,000 artifacts, 2.5 million photos, and 40 million e-mails to and from the Clinton White House. He said that President Clinton himself plans to spend seven to 10 days per month at the facility, working on foundation projects and guest lecturing at the university.
“The presidential libraries all work together,” Rutherford said. “They tell the great American story of the only 43 people who have ever been President of the United States.”
Posted January 13, 2003.
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