2023.01.12 Q STREET IN THE HEIGHTS PLUS CLASS NEWS

Here is another fascinating story by Jim Pfeifer about Little Rock history:

“Avenue Q” in the Heights

“Avenue Q” is a play which opened on Broadway in 2003, won the Tony award for best musical, and endured for over 2500 performances. Its lead character, a recent college graduate, finally finds a home he can afford ­ on Avenue Q in New York City. Wondering about his purpose in life, he takes advice from his eccentric neighbors. During his adventures with his new Avenue Q friends, he discovers the true meaning of friendship and develops his own sense of purpose.

The Heights neighborhood of Little Rock once had a “Q” Street. It was a little less eccentric than its namesake New York community, but it was full of young people starting their lives and following their dreams. Neighbors took in the breezes in porch swings and strolled across the street to visit with each other. One such family were the Parkins - Harry and Virginia, owners of a printing company, and their two children Jane and Carol. Jane Parkin, who lived her earliest years on “Q” Street, remembers sitting on her front steps reading the license plates of the twenty or so cars which might “slowly amble by” in an hour’s time, hoping to spot an out-of-state plate. Jane describes her "Q" Street neighborhood of the late 1930s and 1940s as “a place where the neighbors knew you and you knew them. You couldn’t get away with anything. It was just wonderful!”

Something happened along the way to drastically change not only the name of “Q” Street, but also to alter its character from a sleepy little neighborhood street between “P” and “R”.

“Q” Street became Cantrell Road/Highway 10, now one of our busiest thoroughfares!

“Q” first appeared in the 1917 city directory as a short dead-end road extending west from Kavanaugh to Pierce. The first houses were two wood frame bungalows built about 1924, and by 1930 “Q”had thirteen cottages, handsomely designed in Craftsman and English Revival styles.

The man who changed “Q” forever, was Deadrick Cantrell, a partner in the Rose Law Firm and an early president of Little Rock Country Club. Cantrell recognized in the early 1920s that from downtown there was only one reliable road to his club and to the developing Heights neighborhood where he lived - Prospect Avenue (now Kavanaugh Blvd), and it was “bumper to bumper” streetcars, automobiles and horse-drawn wagons. Mr. Cantrell envisioned and championed a second route to the Heights, up what is now known as Cantrell Hill. He encouraged Little Rock Country Club to join Heights land developers and the municipal government in funding the project. After removal of several thousand tons of rock, the two-laned road up Cantrell Hill opened in 1931.

By the early 1940s "Q" was renamed Cantrell and in 1960, Cantrell was widened to four lanes after a bitter fight by owners of the “Q” Street bungalows. Today over 22,000 cars a day travel this route.

Despite the neighborhood's disruption by traffic planners, most of the historic homes of Little Rock's “Avenue Q” remain, with interesting architectural features intact. Many current residents make the best of the situation, with ample rear yards serving as entryways from the alleys behind the homes. Jane Parkin McMullin, the little girl who read the plates of cars moving slowly by as a child, lives a few blocks away, after a 30 year career as one of our state’s first female stockbrokers.

Thanks for research assistance are due to Mike Hood, Richard Clark, Jane McMullin, Diane Turner, the Desk Staff of Roberts Library, and Encyclopedia of Arkansas.

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Still trying to get all of the pictures to you from Class of 1956 Men's Christmas Luncheon: L to R:  Jim Wallis, Carolyn Boshears (Gaylon's widow), Pat Wallis, Jim's wife, Sharon Douglass, Bucky Polk Thomas, Tommy Thomas and Vernon Newman

1956 CLASS NEWS

Our sympathy to Pat Mullins in the death of her husband.

1955 CLASS NEWS

GARNIER PURYEAR OBITUARY

July 3, 1937 - December 26, 2022

Garnier King Puryear, 85, of Colorado Springs, passed away Monday, December 26, 2022.  He was born July 3, 1937 to Mary Emily (King) and Sidney Garnier Puryear. He and older sister Elizabeth Ann grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma. When Gar was in his early teens, the family moved to Arkansas where he attended Little Rock Central High.  Gar studied at the University of Arkansas, graduating with a business degree in 1960. During that time he was a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity and an Arkansas Razorbacks cheerleader.  In 1961 he married Ann Martin and settled in Little Rock. Together they started a family as he established himself in the banking industry, rising to executive vice president at First National Bank of Arkansas. In 1978 they moved to Colorado Springs where Gar became president of Exchange National Bank. He ultimately headed eight regional banks with assets over half a billion dollars. In 1986 he transitioned into investment banking, forming the PGW group that grew out of Boettcher, Kemper, and Smith Barney.  Gar actively participated in the business community (Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce and Convention/Visitors Bureau, Colorado Bankers' Association). He was a volunteer leader in organizations that he believed in, including Board or Trustee roles with First United Methodist Church, Colorado Springs Symphony and Fine Arts Center, Center for Christian-Jewish Dialog, President's Council at Colorado College, and the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. He greatly enjoyed his membership at the El Paso Club.  After Ann's death in 1993, Gar married Patricia Corey. After Patricia's death, he married Susan Heim.  Gar will be remembered for his hospitality, strong will, sense of humor, and commitment to every endeavor. He enjoyed fine wine, his family, music, travel, playing bridge, and until recently, a long brisk walk every day.  Gar was dearly loved by his family. He leaves behind children Mary K. and Chuck Bridges, Beth (Villa-Lovoz) and Martin Puryear, Elizabeth and Jeremy Thies, plus ten grandchildren and one perfect four-month-old great-grandson.
A service for Gar will be held on Saturday, January 7th at 1:00 pm at First United Methodist Church, 420 N Nevada Ave., Colorado Springs, CO 80903
In lieu of flowers, you may make a donation to Penrose Hospital Cancer Center.

Published by The Gazette on Jan. 1, 2023.

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