City board ponders new location of Arkadelphia’s downtown rock

City leaders in Arkadelphia still don’t know where to move a landscaping boulder that welcomes travelers to downtown.

The Arkadelphia Board of Directors held a roundtable discussion recently with City Manager Gary Brinkley to determine a new location for the “downtown rock”, which still sits in front of the now-razed KFC restaurant at 10th and Clay streets.

The rock, a downtown fixture for the past decade, will have to be relocated to make way for the Arkadelphia Bypass, a thoroughfare that will eventually tie 10th Street to Highway 67 via a due-south path from 10th’s junction with Caddo Street.

While no definitive conclusion was met at the Nov. 14 talk, city directors recommended a few proposals.

One suggestion was to move it a couple of blocks north, to a space made newly green from the development of Ouachita Baptist University’s newest student housing. Ward 3 Director Keith Crews said the downtown district should officially begin there. The bypass will widen that stretch of 10th Street that is between the traffic signal at Henderson Street and the aforementioned intersection of 10th and Caddo. 

Brinkley seemed somewhat keen on Crews’ idea, however would go on himself to suggest moving it to Country Club Road as a landmark pointing the way to the Youth Sports Complex. It was noted that the signage, which reads “Welcome to Downtown Arkadelphia”, would have to be changed to omit “downtown” in that scenario. Brinkley said the letters on the rock are glued on, so adjusting the message wouldn’t pose an issue.

The Arkansas Department of Transportation will be the entity responsible for physically moving the rock; Mayor Scott Byrd inquired whether storage was out of the question. It was, he swiftly learned, given the cost associated with moving it just once from its present situation. Byrd was prompt to say that he likes the idea of keeping the rock somewhere downtown.

Other suggestions included the green space at Pine and Caddo streets, the flower beds situated across from Professional Park Drive at the new traffic light, or where Red Hill Road enters Pine (that intersection will eventually cease to exist as the bypass will join Pine across from Arkadelphia Physical Therapy. 

Brinkley said the rock would have to be placed in a spot where it wouldn’t obstruct motorist’s view of other traffic. Asked for a timeline on a decision, Brinkley said a decision needs to be made “pretty soon.”