tea at the Empress of Little Rock B&B. But it was alcohol that originally built this magnificent structure. In the 1880s, James Hornibrook, a Canadian carpetbagger, made Little Rock his home. after setting up a saloon (something that locals weren’t allowed to do post-civil war). hornibrook amassed a fortune, built the most ostentatious house imaginable, and established a 24-hour poker game on the third floor of the mansion.