Main building The five-story main building comprises of exhibition space, the Great Hall (used for banquets or forums), Forty Two (formerly Café 42, now a full-service restaurant; Clinton was the 42nd president), and classrooms. A private penthouse used by Clinton is located on the top (fifth) floor of the main building, one level above the public museum area. In 2007 the Clinton Foundation installed on the rooftop of the Presidential library the
private "
Rooftop Garden" with a golf course. The organization of the exhibits within the main building was inspired by the famous Long Room in the
Old Library at
Trinity College, Dublin, which Clinton first saw when he was a
Rhodes Scholar. The archives are housed in a building south of and connected to the main building, which also contains NARA facilities.
Clinton Presidential Park The Clinton Presidential Park occupies nearly of land and is located on the riverfront next to the museum. It is a leading example of
urban renewal, as the site was formerly a run-down
warehouse district. The park was built next to the site of abandoned railroad tracks of the defunct
Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad. The center of the park is Celebration Circle, a fountain plaza around which the center's major buildings are located.
Bridge The 1899 Rock Island Railroad Bridge across the Arkansas River, originally built by the
Choctaw and Memphis Railroad and leading to Choctaw Station, has been converted into a pedestrian bridge connecting to
North Little Rock. On the fifth anniversary of the library's opening, Clinton said that construction on the project would begin in 2010, but full funding had not yet been secured, as the project was still short about $3 million. The Clinton Foundation had originally planned to renovate the bridge for $4 million in exchange for a $1-a-year land lease from the state. In 2009, Arkansas Governor
Mike Beebe agreed to use $2.5 million of stimulus funds to fund part of the renovation. A previous $8 million earmark for the project had failed to pass the state legislature. In 2010, fundraising was finally completed for the bridge, renamed as the Clinton Park Bridge, and construction began on May 28, 2010. On September 30, 2011, Clinton spoke at a dedication ceremony for the bridge, which opened to the public on October 2, 2011.
Store For legal reasons involving state development funds, retail facilities were, for a time, prohibited on the same property as the library itself. The Clinton Museum Store was first located in the nearby River Market district. In 2016, however, the limitation expired and the store relocated to the library lobby. ==Exhibits==