Prior to the opening of the Governor's Mansion on January 10, 1950, the First Family had no official residency. The first attempt to receive funding for an official residence failed in 1945.

Two years later in 1947, Act 257 created a Governor's Mansion Commission with funding of $100,000 from the legislature. In December of 1947, Governor Ben T. Laney laid the cornerstone of the new structure to be erected on the site of the Arkansas Institute for the Education of the Blind.

During the two year construction period, three hundred thousand bricks from the original buildings on the property were used in the construction.

To learn more about the history of the Governor's Mansion, please visit www.arkansasgovernorsmansion.com.