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Little Italy, Arkansas

Coordinates: 34°56′15″N 92°35′10″W / 34.93750°N 92.58611°W / 34.93750; -92.58611
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Little Italy, Arkansas
Unincorporated community
Little Italy, Arkansas is located in Arkansas
Little Italy, Arkansas
Little Italy, Arkansas
Location of Little Italy in Arkansas
Little Italy, Arkansas is located in the United States
Little Italy, Arkansas
Little Italy, Arkansas
Little Italy, Arkansas (the United States)
Coordinates: 34°56′15″N 92°35′10″W / 34.93750°N 92.58611°W / 34.93750; -92.58611
CountryUnited States
StateArkansas
CountiesPerry
Pulaski
TownshipsBig Rock Township
Wye Township
Elevation
[1]
692 ft (211 m)
Time zoneUTC-6 (Central (CST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC-5 (CDT)
ZIP code
72135
72016
Area code+1 (501)
GNIS feature ID51290[1]
Websitehttp://littleitalyarkansas.com

Established initially as Alta Villa by Italian immigrants in 1915,[2] Little Italy is an unincorporated community in Pulaski and Perry counties in the U.S. state of Arkansas.[1] The culturally rich and historically significant village is located in high terrain along Arkansas Highway 300 amidst the northeastern foothills of the Ouachita Mountains[3] bestriding Wye Mountain[4] and Kryer Mountain.[5]

In 2015, as part of a multi-decade heritage preservation effort, Little Italy's residents unsuccessfully sought to become an incorporated municipality.[6][7][8] As part of that same effort to preserve its history and culture, the community opened a heritage museum in 2019.[9] With similar sentiment, Little Italy marks its important anniversaries with homecoming events and celebrations.[10][11] Since 1927, its residents also host an annual Italian festival highlighted by a spaghetti and sausage dinner featuring original, intergenerational recipes.[12][13][14]

See also

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Other historically Italian settlements in Arkansas

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Catholic Point, Arkansas
Sunnyside Plantation, Arkansas
Tontitown, Arkansas

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Little Italy, Arkansas". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
  2. ^ Whitworth, Katherine. "It takes a village: The hillside paradise of Arkansas's other Italians". Arkansas Life. November 2011, p. 15. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  3. ^ Dorer, Chris. "Little Italy (Pulaski and Perry Counties)". The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  4. ^ "Wye Mountain". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  5. ^ "Kryer Mountain". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  6. ^ "Becoming a Township". Little Italy. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  7. ^ Walkenhorst, Emily. "State's Little Italy denied bid to be town.". Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. February 27, 2016. Retrieved July 25, 2024.
  8. ^ Harrison, Judge Brandon J. et al. INCORPORATORS OF COMMUNITY KNOWN AS LITTLE ITALY v. PULASKI COUNTY (2018) Court of Appeals of Arkansas. November 28, 2018. Retrieved July 25, 2024.
  9. ^ Mackay, Mercedes. "Little Italy Arkansas Heritage Museum brings life to pivotal part of Arkansas' history". KTHV. September 15, 2019. Retrieved July 25, 2024.
  10. ^ Lane, Kim. Little Italy Celebrates 100 Years as a Community. AY Magazine. September 11, 2015. Blog. Retrieved July 25, 2024.
  11. ^ Price, Chris. “Immigrant Catholics Founded Little Italy 100 Years Ago”. Arkansas Catholic. August 11, 2022. Retrieved July 25, 2024.
  12. ^ Morgan, Rebecca. "A taste of the Old World in Arkansas—Little Italy." Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. August 1, 1999.
  13. ^ Hebda, Dwain "Serving God — and the best spaghetti in Arkansas". Arkansas Catholic. 2013. Retrieved July 25, 2024.
  14. ^ "LITTLE ITALY ITALIAN FESTIVAL". Arkansas Tourism Official Site. Maintained by the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage, and Tourism. Retrieved July 25, 2024.

Further reading

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  • Barnes, Kenneth C. Anti-Catholicism in Arkansas: How Politicians, the Press, the Klan, and Religious Leaders Imagined an Enemy, 1910–1960. Fayetteville, AR: The University of Arkansas Press, 2016.
  • Cia, M.B. "Notes on Little Italy." Pulaski County Historical Review 12 (December 1964): 53–55.
  • Dorer, Chris. “A Bootlegger’s Oasis: Central Arkansas’s Craving for Little Italy’s Prohibition-Era Concoctions.” Pulaski County Historical Review 65 (Spring 2017): 3–10.
  • ———. Images of America: Little Italy, Arkansas. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2015.
  • ———. St. Francis: Our Lives, Our Faith—Catholicism in Little Italy, 1922-2022. Little Italy, Arkansas. Little Italy Arkansas Heritage Museum, 2022.
  • Dorer, Christopher A. Boy the Stories I Could Tell: A Narrative History of the Italians of Little Italy, Arkansas. Winfield, KS: Central Plains Book Manufacturing Co., 2002.
  • ———. “Little Italy: A Historical and Sociological Survey.” Pulaski County Historical Review 51 (Summer 2003): 43–54.
  • Goldsmith, Adolph O. "Wine From Little Italy's Grapes: Italians of This Unusual Colony Near Little Rock Carry on Traditions of Native Land." Historical Document Archive. Little Italy Arkansas Heritage Museum, Little Italy, Arkansas. Facsimile of an apparent newspaper article printed circa 1939, missing name of newspaper and publication date.
  • Halliburton, Arthur. “Little Italy is Still Ethnically Closely-Knit; But Town Has Lost Old World Flavor since 1915.” Arkansas Democrat. November 26, 1972, p. 3A.
  • Hunt, Nicholas. "The Story of Dalsanto." Arkansas Life. September 8, 2015. https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2015/sep/08/the-story-of-dal-santo/ (accessed July 25, 2024).
  • "Little Italy Celebrates." Arkansas Gazette. August 9, 1931, pp. 9B–10B.
  • "Parish History." St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, Little Italy. https://stfrancislittleitaly.org/history (accessed July 25, 2024).
  • Price, Chris. "Catholics founded Little Italy 100 years ago." Arkansas Catholic. August 13, 2022, pp. 3-4.
  • Smith, Sybil. "Notes on the Italian settlers of Pulaski County" Pulaski County Historical Review 38 (Fall 1990): 51–57.
  • Tebbetts, Diane Ott. "Transmission of Folklife Patterns in Two Rural Arkansas Ethnic Groups: The Germans and Italians in Perry County." PhD diss., Indiana University, 1987.
  • Terry, Bill. “A Typical Night at Little Italy: Sausages, Beer, Bourbon, and Gas.” Union Station Times. August 1975, pp. 11–12, 29.
  • Womack, Patsy. Living the Times: A Bicentennial History of Perry County. N.p.: 1976.
  • Woods, James M. Mission and Memory: A History of the Catholic Church in Arkansas. Little Rock: August House, 1993.
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