Lafayette Gregg was a lawyer, educated in Fayetteville and at the Ozark Institute near Mt.Comfort. As was common practice at the time, he studied law while he was teaching, and began practice in the 1850's. Gregg was born in Alabama in 1827 and moved with his family to Arkansas when he was ten. He was elected to the legislature in 1855 and served as prosecuting attorney from 1856 to 1862. During the Civil War, Gregg rose to rank of Colonel in the Union Army. From 1868 to 1871 he was Associate Justice on the State Supreme Court. In 1886 he ran unsuccessfully as Republican candidate for Governor.

Judge Gregg married Mary Shreve of Kentucky in 1852 and they built their first house, a four room log cabin, on his property. While he was serving on the Supreme Court, the debate as to where the State University would be located began and Judge Gregg became active in trying to acquire it for Fayetteville. He donated 120 acres of land as part of the County's bid. When the school was awarded to Fayetteville, Judge Gregg and other leading citizens bought the McIlroy farm and the first classes were held in that home which was located near the Mullins Library site.

In 1873 when bids were let for a main building for Arkansas Industrial University, Gregg took first hand interest in the building, since he lived nearby. He hired the same builders, Mayes and Oliver, to build his house which remains at the corner of Lafayette and Gregg streets.

In 1889, Judge Gregg was elected president of the Bank of Fayetteville and remained in that post until he died November 1, 1891. Gregg is buried in Evergreen Cemetery, a short distance from his home and the University.

Bibliography:
One Hundred Years of Fayetteville by William Campbell
Historic Fayetteville, U of A Journalism Dept.project, by Charles Gray 1950

Click here for a map to Lafayette Gregg House