University of Arkansas at Little Rock

The daughter, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of the businessman whose acumen and vision helped build Little Rock in the mid-20th Century unveiled today letters at its gates identifying the 80-acre site as UALR’s Raymond Rebsamen Campus.

“Look at the 80 acres today,” Chancellor Joel E. Anderson said at a short ceremony at the gates overlooking the tree-shaded campus. “That gift of land by Raymond Rebsamen is literally the foundation on which this institution is built. It was arguably one of the most significant acts of philanthropy the institution has received.”Rebsamen, who owned the Ford automobile franchise in Little Rock, also raised cattle on the outskirt of town near the Coleman family’s dairy operation on Asher Avenue, which was then the main highway from Little Rock to Hot Springs. At the time, University Avenue – then Hayes Street – was a gravel road.

In 1948, Rebsamen sold much of the property to develop Little Rock’s first post-war subdivision – Broadmoor Estates – and the businessman deeded 80 acres of pine trees on the east end of the tract to what was then Little Rock University.When LRU joined the University of Arkansas System, the campus was earmarked as the Rebsamen campus, but no designation was affixed publicly until now.

“I am so pleased and so grateful,” Ruth Rebsamen Remmel said after she and her grandchildren Ariana, Carina, and Remington Remmel unveiled the signs.

Other family members at the ceremony included Rebsamen’s grandchildren – Mary Remmel Wohlleb, her husband Jim, and Raymond Remmel and his wife Maggie.

Another Rebsamen grandchild, Karen Remmel Lowry, and her husband, Steve, and sons, Joshua, Justin and Jared, were unable to attend. Jared Lowry attends classes at UALR’s campus named for his great-grandfather.