Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site
Arkansas
Tonight
🌗 46% moon
7.1 h fully dark
Hikes
Easy
🟢
Crowds
low
Open today
Open
Little Rock Central High School NHS: closed Dec 25 – Dec 25; Little Rock Central High School NHS: closed Jan 1 – Jan 1
Entrance
Free entry
In 1957, Little Rock Central High School was the epicenter of confrontation and a catalyst for change as the fundamental test for the United States to enforce African American civil rights following Brown v. Board of Education. Learn how the sacrifice and struggle endured by the Little Rock Nine have provided opportunities and opened doors for those seeking education around the world.
Activities
No entrance fee.
Hours & seasons
The Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site Visitor Center is currently open Tuesday through Saturday (10 am CST/CDT to 4 pm CST/CDT). The Magnolia Mobil Service Station & Little Rock Central High School are closed to the public and not available for public use. The commemorative garden is open daily for public visitation and use from 7 am CST/CDT until sunset. Guests may visit the NHS daily; we recommend the NPS App for digital content on days when the visitor center is closed.
⚠ Little Rock Central High School NHS: closed Dec 25 – Dec 25; Little Rock Central High School NHS: closed Jan 1 – Jan 1
Generally open:
winterspringsummerfallHours are reported by the park — verify before you go.
📞 (501) 516-7230
✉ chsc_info@nps.govConditions
Quietest months (fewer crowds): Jan, Nov, Dec
Typical crowds: low
Weather now: ⛅ Partly cloudy, 99°F
☁️ 100°/74°
🌧️ 99°/75°
🌦️ 96°/70°
Typical monthly recreation visits · NPS avg 2023–2025 — orange months are the quietest by crowds.
Quietest months
Relative crowds by month — lighter is quieter; ringed months are the calmest by crowds.
Jan
38%
Feb
57%
Mar
100%
Apr
79%
May
70%
Jun
69%
Jul
81%
Aug
48%
Sep
58%
Oct
43%
Nov
42%
Dec
38%
Log a sky reading
Measured the sky with an SQM meter or app? Add your reading (16 = city glow … 22 = pristine). Opt in under “Travelers like you” to share it on the community leaderboard.
Things to do
Walk the Footsteps of History
🟢 Explore the Park's Visitor Center
Stamp Your Park Passport
Visitor centers
Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site Visitor Center
Accessibility
13 audio-described place(s)
Reported by the park — verify before you go.
Parking
Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site Visitor Center · 32 accessible spacesaccessible
Magnolia Mobil Gas Station · 9 accessible spacesaccessible
Not an official safety source — always defer to NPS.gov and rangers for life-safety decisions.
By the numbers
A visual read on Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site — its character, trails, sky, and weather.
Park fingerprint
How this park scores across the dimensions travelers care about.
Trail difficulty
Difficulty mix across this park's trails.
3-day forecast
Daily high and low temperatures (°F).
People & stories
Figures tied to Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site — each spans a cross-park journey.
Daisy Bates
— Naacp, Civil Rights, ActivismDaisy Lee Gatson Bates
— Arkansas, Little Rock, Little Rock Central High SchoolDwight Eisenhower and the Central High Crisis
— Little Rock, Little Rock Central High School, Little Rock Central High School National Historic SiteEmmett Till
— Little Rock Nine, Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site, Civil Rights MovementThe Little Rock Nine
— Arkansas, Little Rock, Little Rock Central High SchoolThe Women’s Emergency Committee
— Arkansas, Little Rock, Little Rock Central High SchoolThurgood Marshall and the Central High Crisis
— Arkansas, Little Rock, Little Rock Central High SchoolThurgood Marshall: A Legacy of Civil Rights Leadership
— Thurgood Marshall, African American Civil Rights, Civil Rights Network To FreedomPassport stamps
Mark the stamps you've collected — they show in your memory and along your routes.
🎫 Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site Visitor Center
Places to see
Arkansas: Little Rock Central High School
Commemorative Garden
audio
Elizabeth Eckford Bus Bench
audio
Home of Daisy and L.C. Bates
audio
Kansas: Brown v Board of Education National Historical Park
Little Rock Central High School
audio
Magnolia Mobil Gas Station
audio
NW Corner of Park Street and Daisy L. Gatson Bates Drive
audio
North Curvilinear Front Sidewalk at Central High School
audio
North Junction of Front Curvilinear Sidewalks at Central High School
audio
Paul Laurence Dunbar High School
audio
Philander Smith College and the 1957 Crisis
audioAudio & media
🎧
🎬
🖼
Learn more
For African Americans, the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education encouraged and empowered many who felt for the first time in more than half a century that they had a "friend" in the Court. The strategy of education, lobbying, and litigation that had defined the Civil Rights Movement up to that point broadened to include an emphasis on a "direct action.
Seven rangers were awarded with a national or regional 2010 Freeman Tilden Award for excellence in interpretation. Learn more about their exciting and innovative projects.
View recipients of the National Park Service Freeman Tilden Awards, which recognize outstanding contributions to the practice of interpretation and education by NPS employees.
The architectural history of "America's Most Beautiful High School," Little Rock Central.
A look at Little Rock Central High School from its opening in 1927 until today.
Alyssa Smith is a 2016 graduate of Little Rock Central High School and an interpretation intern at Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site. Read about the inspiring projects she completed as a park service intern and what she hopes for as her path unfolds. Dare to Imagine is an NPF funded grant dedicated to telling the stories of barrier-breaking women in the park service.
South Carolina built over 700 modern schools for African American students in the 1950s and 1960s to avoid desegregating its school systems.
On September 25, 1957, public attention focused on nine African American students - the “Little Rock Nine” - as they again attempted to attend their first full day at Little Rock Central High School. The students effectively desegregated the historically white high school through their attendance that year. The school continues to operate, and the site is recognized for its significance in the Civil Rights Movement and its Neo-Gothic Revival and Art Deco style architecture.
Ranger School
Park-grounded courses you can learn with the Ranger.
Daisy Lee Gatson Bates (1914-1999)
Open →
You’re the Justice! A Landmark Case in Supreme Court History
Open →
“All the World is Watching Us”: The Crisis at Little Rock Central High School, 1954-1957
Open →
“Great things happen in small places...”: Government Authority and Civil Rights Activism in Arkansas, 1954-1959
Open →
How Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site connects
This park's activities, topics, location, and on-the-ground places — one hop in the graph. Drag to explore; click an activity, topic, or related park to follow it.
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Activity
Topic
State
VisitorCenter
PassportStamp
ParkingLot
ThingToDo
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