Douglas MacArthur

Douglas MacArthur was born in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1880 in an upstairs room of the The Tower Building of the Little Rock Arsenal while his parents were briefly stationed there . His parents were Lieutenant General Arthur MacArthur, Jr., a recipient of the Medal of Honor, and Mary Pinkney Hardy MacArthur of Norfolk, Virginia. Douglas MacArthur was the grandson of jurist and politician Arthur MacArthur, Sr. He was baptized at Christ Episcopal Church in Little Rock on May 16, 1880. In his memoir Reminiscences, MacArthur wrote that his first memory was the sound of the bugle, and that he had learned to "ride and shoot even before I could read or write - indeed, almost before I could walk and talk."

MacArthur's father was posted to San Antonio, Texas, in 1893. There, Douglas attended West Texas Military Academy (now known as T.M.I.: The Episcopal School of Texas), where he became an excellent student. MacArthur entered the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1898 (accompanied by his mother, who occupied a hotel suite overlooking the grounds of the Academy). An outstanding cadet, he graduated first in his 930-man class in 1903. For his prowess in sports, military training, and academic pursuit he was awarded the coveted title of "First Captain Of The Corps Of Cadets." Only two other students in the history of West Point surpassed his achievements (Robert E. Lee being one). MacArthur became a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

After leaving West Point, MacArthur served his first tour of duty in the Philippines. Later, MacArthur served as an aide-de-camp to his father, and visited Japan during the Russo-Japanese war. In 1906 he was aide-to-camp to Theodore Roosevelt. Leaving the White House in 1907, MacArthur performed engineering duties in Kansas, Milwaukee, and Washington D.C. until his assignment to the General Staff (1913-1917).

The Tower Building of the Little Rock Arsenal is a building located in MacArthur Park in downtown Little Rock, Arkansas built in 1840 as part of Little Rock's first military installation. Since its decommissioning as a military building it has housed two museums: The Arkansas Museum of Natural History and Antiquities from 1942 to 1997, and The MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History from 2001 to the present day. It also has been the home of the Little Rock Aesthetic Club since 1894. The building receives its name from its distinct octagonal tower. Besides being the last remaining structure of the original Little Rock Arsenal and one of the oldest buildings in central Arkansas, it was also the birthplace of General Douglas MacArthur who would go on to be the supreme commander of US forces in the South Pacific during World War II.

< The Tower Building was constructed shortly after Arkansas was admitted as a state in 1836. Its purpose was to store munitions and weapons for defense of the frontier. Eventually there would be over 30 buildings constructed in the surrounding area including barracks, officers' quarters, and any other building a working army base might need. Being originally constructed to store potentially explosive material, the building was designed with three foot thick exterior walls.