West Ninth Street in Little Rock is returning to its roots this spring, thanks to a collaboration with the city, architectural firm studioMAIN, several local businesses and historic preservation groups.
"Beyond the Divide" is a pop-up Black-owned business district that hearkens back to the days before redlining and urban renewal destroyed what was a thriving minority community.
The district officially opened on Wednesday, and architectural designer Ernest Banks was a driving force behind it. He frames the market as a return to the neighborhood's glory days.
"West Ninth Street used to be this economic hub of wealth and development for the Black community. For many years, there used to be hundreds of businesses here, and once the interstate was constructed, all of that basically went away," he said. "This project is a modern way of bringing business back to the edges of downtown, keeping money — not only from the Black community that's on the other side of the interstate, but inviting new people to experience the wealth and the greatness of what the African American community has to offer.”
The "divide" refers to Interstate 630, which began construction in the early 1960s and effectively split the community by injecting a major thoroughfare with no stops or safe crossings for pedestrians.
Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. spoke about that history during opening remarks.
"The history, under the guise of urban renewal, this area was redlined, and then the federal government cemented those red lines through I-630. And it cut off economic activity that was created by the Black residents of this great city. And so that's the reason that you see that not so much has happened. We are very grateful that, in that time, we've been able to bring some things back.”
Angel Burt, executive director of the Dunbar Historic Neighborhood Association, was a partner for the event. She said the event was about revitalization and reunification.
"It's about bringing us all back together. 630 divided us. It divided our businesses. Urban Renewal, it hurt us. But today, we're back to celebrate us."
Wednesday's opening ceremony was well-attended, and several of the pop-up businesses were open and in full swing, including Tribe Aesthetic. Designer Bruce Brown said the event was an opportunity to bring out his fashion collaboration with Little Rock resident and "Project Runway" runner-up Korto Momolu as they work to open a brick-and-mortar location.
"This new Black business initiative that they are launching on West Ninth Street allows us to just come and show what we do to contribute art in different ways to the community," said Brown. "Being able to show up this way for the City of Little Rock, since I am originally from Little Rock, but she's been here for quite some time, and the city has shown up to support her in a lot of ways. So it only made sense for us to come and be a part of this."
The project was made possible by a $25,000 grant from Smart Growth America's Community Connectors program. Little Rock was just one of three U.S. cities to receive the funding.
Smart Growth America says the goal of the grant was to allow city teams to repair divisive infrastructure and provide the support necessary to make permanent reconnections.
Banks said the original plan was to implement a road diet and create an artistic corridor with murals and other pop-up features. He said a talk with faculty at Philander Smith University inspired him to do something more in line with the district's history.
Banks said he was thrilled with the turnout for opening night and hopes this success will lead to more permanent changes and other similar programs across Little Rock.
"Hopefully, the city adopts this idea as a community program, and we can do this kind of project in other underutilized places across the city, other communities, to be able to help build that economic wealth and development for needy communities."
The district is open Thursday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., and on Sunday, until 6 p.m. Special programming is planned for other days throughout the week, and the district will be open through Juneteenth.
A full calendar of events is available here.
