More than 15,000 people found their way to the North Little Rock Visitors Information Center in Burns Park in 2014, even though the stretch of street it's on isn't shown on city maps or the GPS systems that many motorists now use.
The Visitors Center is on the first floor of the North Little Rock Visitors Bureau at 1 Eldor Johnson Drive, not far off Exit 150 from Interstate 40. Google Maps shows the correct location of the bureau, but there's no name on the street. The names of other streets in the public park do show up on Google Maps.
"I was trying to give some people directions recently, and it's pretty easy to give directions," said Bob Major, the Visitors Bureau's executive director. "I said let me check on GPS and see how it gives directions. And I kept getting a Johnson Drive in Sherwood. That was the only thing that would come up."
With a little investigation, Major said he discovered that Eldor Johnson Drive -- named for a one-term North Little Rock mayor -- has never been dedicated as a North Little Rock city street, so it isn't listed on maps. Mail and other deliveries arrive to the Visitors Bureau without any problem, Major said.
When Major raised the issue at last week's Advertising and Promotion Commission meeting, city Aldermen Linda Robinson and Charlie Hight pledged to sponsor legislation soon to dedicate Eldor Johnson Drive as a city street. Both are on the commission, which oversees the Visitors Bureau's operations and budget.
"I think it will be just a mere formality to go through," Major said, adding that city planning officials said the stretch of road had never been named as a street. "That's just something I guess we never realized."
Parks and Recreation Director Bob Rhoads estimated that the road has existed since the 1970s when the Eldor Johnson Pavilion is believed to have been built on the top of a hill at the end of the roadway.
"We can't find any records about it," Rhoads said. "Maybe there's a new need to put it on a street map."
Johnson, the roadway's namesake, was elected mayor in 1947 and served a two-year term. He is recognized as being influential to helping North Little Rock acquire more than 800 acres that would help form the now 1,700-acre Burns Park, said North Little Rock historian Cary Bradburn.
Johnson lost in the 1949 Democratic primary for mayor to Ross Lawhon during a time when primary municipal elections were held in the spring. A campaign issue that year was Johnson's preference for the city to acquire 878 acres over opposition from Lawhon, who didn't have an opponent in the general election, Bradburn said.
"They were fighting over the land that became Burns Park," Bradburn said. "Johnson lost in the Democratic primary in February. He was a lame-duck mayor. In March, he signed the papers to transfer the property to North Little Rock. Lawhon took office the first Tuesday in April in 1949.
"That's why you have Eldor Johnson Drive out there," Bradburn continued. "If he hadn't signed those documents, Lawhon wouldn't have, and the city wouldn't have acquired the property for Burns Park, or not immediately, anyway."
Not being displayed on GPS or city maps is just a bump in the road for the Visitors Bureau, which markets and promotes North Little Rock and its attractions for businesses and tourism. The Advertising and Promotion Commission's $1.13 million budget is mainly funded by collections from the Advertising and Promotion's 2 percent hotel-room tax and 3 percent restaurant tax on prepared food. Those collections added up to $622,059 and $259,256, respectively, in 2014, according to year-end totals from the Visitors Bureau.
The 15,093 visitors last year were a 5 percent increase over 2013 totals, according to bureau statistics.
The city's Downtown River RV Park and the Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum, both managed by the Visitors Bureau, generated $291,521 and $147,073, respectively, in 2014, according to bureau records. The RV parkhad 4,701 reservations in 2014, up from 4,154 in 2013. The average RV stay was 2.83 days, with all 50 states represented. The maritime museum, featuring the World War II Razorback submarine, had 20,166 visitors, with all states represented, Major said.
"We're really proud of the way things have gone this past year and the different kinds of visitors we're getting," Major said. "The attractions we have in North Little Rock -- there are just a few, but we share attractions with Little Rock. People will come in and stay at the RV park, and they'll go to the Clinton Library and they'll go to Central High School [both in Little Rock]. A lot will visit the Clinton Library, then come over to the submarine."
Metro on 01/25/2015