AR HR1049

A fire occurred on March 5, 1959, in a dormitory at the Arkansas Negro Boys Industrial School in Wrightsville, Arkansas, housing 68 boys with 21 fatalities resulting from locked doors and fire severity.

The Little Rock Fire Department was hampered by the lack of a local fire department in Wrightsville and had to lay 600 feet of hose to reach the nearest fire hydrant, resulting in the complete loss of the dormitory.

Fourteen of the 21 deceased boys were buried in a mass grave at Haven of Rest Cemetery without markers or headstones.

Former Senator Irma Hunter Brown led efforts through the Friends of the Haven of Rest to raise funds for a monument to commemorate the victims.

The House of Representatives is called upon to remember the 1959 fire and commend the efforts of those who ensured the boys who died will always be remembered.