Rose Hill is loosely bounded by Whitman Avenue on the east, Cleveland Street on the North and Lindell Avenue on the west, with the top of the hill merging with the University of Arkansas campus.
The hill was named for Rose Leverett, a name shared by the wife and the daughter of Charles Leverett, a professor at the Arkansas Industrial University.
The family owned a significant portion of the property on Rose Hill, subdividing and developing it as single-family homes serving the university.
Common use of the name occurs by the early 20th century.
- Rose Hill Addition, 1903
- Rose Hill Chapel, 1922
- Rose Hill Literary and Debating Club, 1924
- Rose Hill Mercantile Co., 1915
- Rose Hill Methodist Church, 1916
- Rose Hill Mission, 1918
- Rose Hill Self-Help Club, 1922
In 1938, a proposal was put forward to change the name of Rose Hill Addition to University Heights Addition and referred to the city attorney, Price Dickson, for an opinion on whether a process existed for such a name change.
An unsigned letter to the editor from a property owner described the area as “a slummy part of town” and asked, “Why not give it a name that respectable people would be proud to mention and a name it deserves. … This hill can be made one of the beautiful spots in the city. It has some lovely building sites and a wonderful view. I fear it will never be as long as it has the historical name Rose Hill.
The effort did not move forward, and the addition is still known as Rose Hill.
During the 1960s, small apartment buildings began replacing the single-family homes to serve the growing student body at the university. In the 2000s, much larger apartment complexes began to further replace homes as well as some of the earlier smaller apartments.
The university itself also expanded north across the top of Rose Hill with offices and parking lots.