Below is a record of events directly and indirectly related to the planning, development, construction and opening of the Clinton School and the Clinton Presidential Library:
July 5, 1996 – River Market completed at a cost of about $3.5 million.
February 12, 1997 – President Clinton sends letter to University of Arkansas President Dr. Alan Sugg announcing educational partnership.
April 1997 – University of Arkansas receives $1.5 million state planning grant for Clinton School. Pat Torvestad leads planning process.
September 1997 – New Little Rock public library opens in what was the Fones Brothers building on Rock Street in the River Market at cost of about $13 million. Clinton School students now utilize the library regularly.
October 23, 1997 – William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation is incorporated.
November 7, 1997 – President Clinton chooses 27.2 acre site in east Little Rock for Presidential Library and Clinton School.
February 1998 – Museum of Discovery opens in renovated Arkansas Democrat printing press building at a cost of about $10.6 million.
August 9, 1999 – President Clinton names Polshek Partnership of New York City as architects for Clinton Presidential Library.
October 1999 – ALLTEL Arena opens at a cost of about $71 million.
April 27, 2000 – The University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Law is named for William H. Bowen. President Clinton is keynote speaker.
November 20, 2000 – 50 tons of material for the Clinton Presidential Library arrive from Washington D.C. and are temporarily stored at a former Oldsmobile dealership.
December 9, 2000 – President Clinton, First Lady Hillary Clinton, Clinton Foundation President Skip Rutherford and Architect Jim Polshek announce architectural plans for Clinton Library in the Roosevelt Room of the White House.
January 2001 – President Clinton Avenue street signs are installed in Little Rock’s River Market district.
December 5, 2001 – Groundbreaking of Clinton Presidential Library takes place in front of the old Choctaw Station, now Sturgis Hall, home of the Clinton School.
January 31, 2002 – Peabody Hotel grand opening.
January – May 2003 – Dr. Peggy Scranton of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock teaches the nation’s first course on “The Clinton Presidency.” The course is later offered as a Clinton School elective.
January 2003 – Dr. Tom Bruce, former dean of the College of Medicine at UAMS, is named dean pro tem of the Clinton School.
February 2003 – Holiday Inn Presidential Center opens.
May 2003 – Roy and Christine Sturgis Charitable Trust approves $4 million grant for renovation of the historic Choctaw Station, which houses the Clinton School.
September 2003 – Comfort Inn and Suites at the Clinton Library opens.
October 29, 2003 – Groundbreaking of the Heifer International global headquarters on property adjacent to the Clinton Center.
February 6, 2004 – Arkansas Department of Higher Education approves Clinton School’s Master of Public Service degree program.
March 24, 2004 – Senator David Pryor is named first dean of the Clinton School.
May 5, 2004 – David Alsobrook, director of the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library, is named first director of the Clinton Presidential Library.
September 18, 2004 – Senator Bob Dole gives first ever lecture in the Clinton School Speaker Series.
November 1, 2004 – Central Arkansas Transit’s River Rail system opens.
November 14-18, 2004 – Clinton Presidential Center grand opening festivities are held throughout downtown.
November 18, 2004 – Dedication of the Clinton Presidential Library and Clinton School. Project costs total roughly $165 million.
November 19, 2004 – Clinton School awards the first Daniel Cayce Award for outstanding public service to high school student Daniel Cayce of Bearden.
December 27, 2004 – 100,000th visitor tours Clinton Presidential Library.
August 22, 2005 – First ever Clinton School classes begin.
March 2006 – Clinton Foundation President Skip Rutherford is named 2006 Tourism Person of the Year at the Arkansas Governor’s Conference on Tourism.
May 2006 – David Pryor retires as Clinton School Dean and is succeeded by Skip Rutherford.
May 2006 – Clinton School Inaugural Class travels abroad for the first International Public Service Projects.
December 13, 2006 – Inaugural Clinton School class graduates. President Clinton delivers commencement address.
September 2007 – Clinton Library surpasses 1 million visitors.
November 2007 – Capital Hotel reopens after extensive renovation.
December 14, 2007 – Clinton School graduates second class. President Clinton delivers commencement address.
May 2008 – For the first time, Clinton School sends students to all six inhabited continents to complete international projects.
January 2009 – Clinton School opens River Market Campus in the Arkansas Studies Institute on President Clinton Avenue.
April 25, 2009 – Clinton School graduates third class. Assistant Secretary for Veterans Affiars Tammy Duckworth delivers commencement address.
April 25, 2009 – Idonia Trotter becomes the first Clinton School graduate to receive the concurrent JD/MPS degree in partnership with the UALR William H. Bowen School of Law.
May 20, 2009 – Clinton School admits largest class in school history.
June 5, 2009 – Heifer Internationals education center, Heifer Village, opens.
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