Capitol View/Stifft's Station

The Capitol View/Stifft's Station neighborhood is the result of Little Rock's early 20th century westward growth. Located west of the Arkansas State Capitol, Capitol View and Stifft's Station were the combined result of numerous additions to, what was at the time, western Little Rock. The architecture of the neighborhood is predominately Craftsman, Craftsman Bungalow, and Bungalow with modest Tudor or Colonial Revival detailing; One may also find Shotgun Houses, Queen Anne or American Foursquare styled homes, as well as various period revival influences including Spanish Colonial Revival Style architecture. The Capitol View Historic District is contained within Section 4, Township 1 North, and Range 12 West of Little Rock, Arkansas. The architecture of the Capitol View Historic District is, like the entire Capitol View/Stifft's Station neighborhood, predominately Craftsman, Craftsman Bungalow and Bungalow with modest Tudor or Colonial Revival detailing. City directories, Sanborn maps, abstract records and other historical sources help to paint a picture of the neighborhood. Within its boundaries, one finds a plentiful offering of largely unaltered working class cottages accompanied by a still robust commercial strip along West Markham as well as a bustling elementary school and the landmark Lamar Porter Field made famous by the local hero Brooks Robinson who grew up playing in its outfield. Even the Billy Mitchell Boys and Girls Club with its playground and open spaces serves as a reminder of fields and woods where the children of Stifft Station Historic District played as their neighborhood grew from a sprinkling of scattered houses in the first years of the twentieth century to the fully realized and largely stable neighborhood it remains today. Stifft Station Historic District is a credit to its humble but handsome housing stock, reasonable real estate prices, minimal intrusive or unsightly infill and, significantly, its residents willingness to acknowledge the importance of an active neighborhood association. == Socioeconomic profile ==

In 1996, approximately two percent of the City of Little Rock's residents called the Capitol View/Stifft's Station area home. The racial distribution within the neighborhood is similar to that of the city: approximately 34 percent black and just under 65 percent white. However, also like the city, the neighborhood is subdivided geographically into different socio-economic zones. An example of this stratification is that almost 52 percent of the households in the area are classified as low and moderate income; however, the westernmost quarter of the neighborhood is over 61 percent low and moderate income, while 60 percent of the "Johnson - Woodrow area" households are higher income. Over 53 percent of the Capitol View/Stifft's Station area households were at an income level, in 1990, between $10,000 and $30,000. This compares to 38.1 percent of the households in Little Rock while, at the upper end, only 9.6 percent of households in the area had incomes over $50,000. The citywide percent of households with incomes over $50,000 was 22.2 percent in 1990. The population profile of the neighborhood, in 1996, showed an area more middle-aged than that of Little Rock (residents aged over 65 and less than 18 both represented a lesser percentage than that of the overall city population). In addition, the female population is slightly larger in the area than citywide (54.4 to 53.6 percent). Single parent households also account for a greater percentage of neighborhood households than citywide. All of the increases in single parent households come from female headed households. For the city, 11.4% of households are single parent homes. Family and household sizes are generally smaller in Capitol View/Stifft's Station than compared with the rest of the city. This is due in part to the high percentage of one person households (41.8 percent compared to 32 percent citywide). The neighborhood is overwhelmingly single family at over 63 percent. == City services ==

The Central Arkansas Transit Authority provides bus service in and through the neighborhood. One Downtown to West Little Rock route travels Markham Street to Kavanaugh Boulevard providing residents access to both Downtown and the Rodney Parham Road area. Bus routes along 7th Street and Capitol Avenue provide access to the West Markham Street area and the Otter Creek Neighborhood. The bus system is radial, downtown to the outskirts and back, much like the spokes of a wheel. Therefore, to go east, north or south, the rider must first go downtown and transfer. The Capitol View/Stifft's Station neighborhood has a service level as good as any residential area in metropolitan Little Rock. Capitol View/Stifft's Station has no fire stations, either historic or modern, within its boundaries. One surmises that this area's fire protection needs were served, initially, by either Fire Station #3, which was opened at 3515 12th in 1911, or Fire Station #7, in operation by 1916 at Beechwood and Prospect (now Kavanaugh). == Notable places ==

Schools • Woodruff Elementary School • Arkansas School for the Blind • Arkansas School for the Deaf Recreation • The Billy Mitchell Boys and Girls Club • Lamar Porter Field == References ==