HISTORY MINUTE

Fay Jones spent his life building and creating, bringing elaborate and stylish building designs to life. In the process, the Arkansas native became one of the most respected and innovative architects of the twentieth century.

Jones was born in Pine Bluff in 1921. As a child, his family moved to Little Rock and then to El Dorado. Here, his parents ran the People’s Cafe, a local favorite, for many years. Growing up in El Dorado, he developed a reputation for art as he drew constantly as well as his building all sorts of structures, from crude huts to an elaborate treehouse that featured a balcony and a fireplace.

After learning about famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright, he was inspired to turn his passion for art and building into an architecture career. Upon his graduation from El Dorado High School in 1938, he enrolled in the civil engineering program at the University of Arkansas. With World War II on the horizon, he enlisted in the navy in 1941 and served throughout the war as a dive bomber and a torpedo pilot.

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