Sandwiching in History Lakewood Park 4500 Lakeshore Drive, North Little Rock October 4, 2013 By: Rachel Silva
1 Sandwiching in History Lakewood Park 4500 Lakeshore Drive, North Little Rock October 4, 2013 By: Rachel Silva Intro Hi, my name is Rachel Silva, and I work for the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program. Thank you for coming, and welcome to the “Sandwiching in History” tour of Lakewood Park! I’d like to thank the Lakewood Property Owners’ Association for allowing us to tour the park today, and I’d like to recognize a few people for their help— Ken Sullivan, executive director of LPOA; Joe Whalen, longtime Lakewood resident; And Sandra Taylor Smith, Cary Bradburn, and Suzanne Jackson with the NLR History Commission. In addition to its recreational amenities, Lakewood Park contains 6 faux bois sculptures constructed between 1933 and 1935 by Mexican artist Dionicio Rodriguez. Faux bois (meaning imitation or fake wood in French) is cement sculpted to resemble objects found in nature, like wood, stone, and thatch. His 2 sculptures in Lakewood Park were listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. Justin Matthews Forward-thinking businessman Justin Matthews, Sr., shaped much of the residential character of present-day North Little Rock and Sherwood when he developed Park Hill, Sylvan Hills, and Lakewood. Matthews commissioned Dionicio Rodriguez in the early 1930s to create faux bois sculptures at the Old Mill, Lakewood Park, and Crestview Park. Justin Matthews, a native of Monticello, Arkansas, moved to Little Rock in 1901, the same year he married Agnes Somers. Prior to his marriage, Matthews, who had a pharmacy degree, owned and operated three drug stores in southeast Arkansas. Agnes Somers Matthews, who was also from a prominent family, urged her new husband to take a job selling cotton oil mills over a four-state area for a company based out of St.
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