Hot Springs National Park

Archeological evidence suggests that humans have inhabited the area that would become Hot Springs National Park for almost 10,000 years. Native Americans probably came to this place to quarry the unique Arkansas novaculite, fashioning the smooth, dense stone into fine tools and projectile points. Without a doubt, they also knew of the many cold-water springs in the region and the hot water flowing from the tufa embankment at the base of what would much later be called Hot Springs Mountain. Over the intervening years, historians, anthropologists, and others have speculated just how the Quapaw, Caddo, and other native inhabitants might have used, and felt about, the thermal water. A swirling mythology grew around the springs, one that still lingers today.

When Pres. Thomas Jefferson selected explorer William Dunbar and scientist George Hunter to investigate the Ouachita River Basin in the southern reaches of the Louisiana Purchase in 1804, the expedition elected to journey to the “hot springs of the Washita” because they were already known to residents of the fledgling United States. While examining the area, members of the expedition found the remnants of makeshift structures and other signs that Europeans had been frequenting the area and using the springs.

The first permanent white settlers came to the Hot Springs area within a few years of the Hunter-Dunbar Expedition. Log houses and rough boards went up around the thermal springs so that visitors could partake of the “healing waters” in some semblance of comfort. More and more travelers braved the wilderness to trek here in search of relief for their ailments. Soon, frame structures, simple “hotels,” and other modest conveniences began to appear, replacing the primitive facilities. As fame of the thermal waters spread through the Eastern United States, a community began to take shape—one that not only used the thermal springs, but catered to a growing coterie of tourists. A pattern began to emerge for the future of this rudimentary spa in the middle of the southern wilds and, along with it, a desire to preserve it for everyone.

One of the first to record impressions of the springs was George Featherstonhaugh in Excursion through the Slave States. He arrived in 1834, discovering a small population renting lodgings to visitors. Unlike the pastoral scene depicted in this lithograph from his book, Featherstonhaugh describes accommodations as “four wretched-looking log cabins.” Of the springs, he writes, “At least thirty-five in number falling into the brook, raised its temperature to that of a warm-bath.”

Among the earliest permanent residents, John Percival and Hiram Whittington built crude wooden lodgings similar to this early cabin along Hot Springs Creek. Visitors seeking relief for their ailments would either share the limited cabin space with others or camp outdoors, all for the chance to bathe in the open springs nearby. Whittington also operated a store that provided basic necessities to bathers during their sojourn.

Even after the creation of Hot Springs Reservation in 1832, squatters continued to freely build campsites on federal land on Hot Springs Mountain. This is one of the encampments that sprang up near the springs, called “Ral City” (short for “neuralgia”), consisting of makeshift tents and cabins. Overcrowding and lack of sanitation in these camps aggravated the local population, businessmen, and bathhouse proprietors and eventually led to conflict.

The influx of indigent bathers to Ral City and other similar camps on the surrounding hillsides was a distinct nuisance to permanent residents of the valley. They considered the places to be disgraceful and the men who lived there to be deadbeats and ruffians. Many of the men who resided in these camps had been soldiers during the Civil War (1861–1865) and were seeking treatments for their wounds.

“Delmonico’s Café” in Ral City was a soup kitchen established by New York City restaurateur Charles Delmonico. During a visit to the reservation for thermal baths, he noticed the plight of the indigent population on the mountainside and left funds with the superintendent upon his departure to sponsor a simple scullery to feed the hungry inhabitants.

This primitive wooden structure was built in an indigent encampment on the hillside above the hot springs nicknamed “City of Siloam.” The first superintendent assigned to Hot Springs Reservation, retired Union general Benjamin Franklin Kelley, took office in 1877 and immediately set upon the eradication of these proliferating settlements of the poor on federal land.

The “Corn Hole” spring was believed to be advantageous for treating corns, bunions, and other disorders of the feet. It was used by both men and women for soaking, but the sexes were segregated to different times of day. A sign on the surrounding privacy screen warns bathers to leave the pool in a “sanitary condition.”

In 1875, the Weir & George Iron & Magnesia Bathhouse, located on the site of today’s Ozark Bathhouse, was accessed via a wooden footbridge over Hot Springs Creek. Even though bathhouse operators touted the various hot springs as good for different types of ailments, the water from each spring was actually no different from the others. Despite what bathers believed, soaking in one was much like soaking in any other.

Accessing some springs was occasionally a tricky affair for invalids seeking treatment. Wooden plank walkways and uneven rocky paths were difficult to negotiate on two legs, much less on crutches or in a wheelchair. However, believing certain springs to be good for specific ailments, patrons fought through all obstacles to reach the thermal water they thought would heal them.

The hot springwater is laden with minerals that form a type of porous stone called “tufa” when the water evaporates. This large tufa boulder sitting at the edge of Hot Springs Creek built up around Big Iron Spring, forming a natural basin. These visitors are drinking the thermal water directly from the spring, while pipes transport the water to nearby bathhouses.

Alum Spring was the only thermal spring located on the west side of Hot Springs Creek, situated about three feet above the stream. It averaged 133 degrees and discharged about four gallons per minute. Its white latticework enclosure stood just south of the Hale Bathhouse and Hotel. Visible below the springhouse are two visitors drinking the water. Above them on the bridge are three bathers returning from the bathhouse.

Without plumbing, transporting springwater to other areas of town could be difficult, but there were ways around it for imaginative entrepreneurs. Thermal water was not only used for bathing or treating ailments, but also to supply hotels and restaurants in the burgeoning city with drinking water. Magnesia Spring and the Government Free Bathhouse are visible in the background.

Rector’s Bathhouse and the Arsenic Spring pavilion connected to the south end of the first Arlington Hotel. The wooden bridge in the foreground allowed visitors to cross Hot Springs Creek. Completed in 1881 by D.W. Hashal at a cost of about $13,400, this was proprietor Henry Massie Rector’s second of four versions of his namesake bathhouse. Rector was the sixth governor of the state of Arkansas, serving from 1860 to 1862.

This tufa formation at the spring near the rear corner of the Big Iron Bathhouse was created as the thermal water flowed into Hot Springs Creek. The pipes visible in the upper right and lower left are transporting hot springwater to other bathhouses along the creek.

In September 1878, Superintendent Kelley ordered the removal of the crude structures covering the Ral Hole Spring and other “dugout” pools, citing the unsanitary conditions surrounding the improvised pools and the hordes of indigents using them. Local businessmen had been advocating the structures’ elimination, claiming they were scenes of indecency and a genuine nuisance for the legitimate bathing establishments in the valley below. The closure of the Ral Hole prompted a large group of its outraged patrons to stage an “indignation meeting,” during which inflammatory speeches decried Kelley’s actions and threatened violence against local businesses and citizens. The crowd proceeded to build a new, larger structure over the spring in defiance of Kelley and the local US marshal. Kelley immediately requested the dispatch of federal troops from Little Rock to quell the threat of violence.

This wooden shelter was built by New Yorker Charles Leland over a pool he dug out around Mud Hole Spring to treat his gout. When his condition improved, he returned home, leaving the structure for the indigent. Thus, it became the first free bathhouse on Hot Springs Reservation, providing poor bathers with the same opportunity to use the thermal waters as the paying customers using the other bathhouses in town.

This white frame building over the Mud Hole replaced the earlier free bathhouse at the site and is officially the first government-operated free bathhouse on the reservation. Magnesia Springs, on the east bank of Hot Springs Creek, is located below the structure. At the center of the photograph, a wooden trough carrying thermal water traverses the hillside along the creek.

Fire has been a reoccurring problem in Hot Springs. A catastrophic blaze took place on March 5, 1878, destroying all structures within an area of the city on Reserve Street, Spring Street, and Central Avenue, from the Hot Springs Hotel to the Big Iron Bathhouse just south of the Arlington Hotel. Here, only a small shack has survived the inferno along this section of Hot Springs Creek.

Gov. Henry Rector moved the state records to his bathhouse, the Rector, when the capital in Little Rock was about to be taken by Federal troops in 1862. Although no battles were fought in Hot Springs, the town suffered from marauding bands of Union and Confederate sympathizers, who each in turn tried to burn down the entire town. The empty lots with chimneys testify to how successful they were.

This historical view of downtown Hot Springs in the 1870s was taken from a window of the Hot Springs Hotel looking north. The two-story building with the cupola in the center of the photograph is the American Hotel. All of the buildings along the right are early bathhouses, and the last structure with a flagpole on the roof is the first Arlington Hotel.

Located along the east side of Hot Springs Creek, Magnesia Springs was a popular drinking site for visitors. The spring was situated just below the Government Free Bathhouse, making it a convenient stop for indigent bathers. The sign above the spring not only announces its name, but also advertises safe deposits across the street.

An integral part of the thermal water treatment involved drinking the water from the springs. These two couples are sharing a cup from Spring No. 1 on Hot Springs Mountain. The 47 springs scattered across the slope of the mountain produce an average of more than 750,000 gallons of water per day.

This white frame building with columned porch was the first Maurice Bath House. It predated the later Victorian-style bathhouse of the same name. Samuel Fordyce and Charles Maurice built it when they were having difficulty obtaining an interest in one of the already existing bathhouses. Later, after they took over the Independent and began building their own bathhouses, this structure became the Monarch gambling saloon.

This antique stereograph of Barnes’s Whetstone Quarry displays the large novaculite deposits that occur in the mountains around Hot Springs. Novaculite was mined by early native peoples because of its ability to be easily formed into a variety of tools and retain a sharp edge. Later, the rock was quarried by white residents to provide whetstones for sharpening knives and other metal tools.

Bathers relax in the interior of the Huffman and Hamilton Bathhouse. The building, originally known as the Hot Springs Bathhouse, was located adjacent to the Hot Springs Hotel. In 1871, it was acquired and renamed by John M. Huffman and his business partner Fred W. Hamilton. The Huffman and Hamilton Bathhouse operated until March 5, 1878, when a fire swept through multiple structures along Hot Springs Creek.

This early photograph of downtown Hot Springs shows how closely the buildings were constructed to the street. The second Hale Bathhouse (left) was constructed in 1880 on top of Hot Springs Creek to increase its access to a water supply. Although the street is dirt, the trolley car operates on tracks that run down the middle of the valley boulevard.

Bathhouse Row and the first Arlington Hotel (left) were very rustic in appearance in 1875. The buildings farther along the left side of the photograph are bathing establishments built over the available thermal springs and Hot Springs Creek. City businesses line the right side of the street.

Built by George M. French in 1877 for $18,400, the Big Iron Bathhouse had a wide wooden bridge to provide easy access to the facility located on the east side of Hot Springs Creek. Excavation for the building required the first blasting ever to be done around the thermal springs. The bathhouse was torn down in 1891 due to its dilapidated condition.

On January 1, 1912, the new Maurice Bathhouse was dedicated. To honor the day, a group gathered at the Maurice Spring for a commemorative photograph. William G. Maurice, the proprietor of the new bathhouse that bears his name, is at center in the first row, sporting a mustache and bowler hat. Bathhouse attendants, musicians, and guests surround the proud owner.

Arsenic Spring’s ornate Victorian pavilion connected the new Rector Bathhouse with the first Arlington Hotel. Built as an extension of part of the Rector Bathhouse in 1881, the pavilion’s positioning displeased reservation superintendent Benjamin Franklin Kelley. He felt that it blocked the circulation of air and light through the space. Despite this, the spring was a favorite photography spot for visitors to both establishments. These images show groups posing at the spring to commemorate their trip to the thermal waters. Eventually, the pavilion and the Rector would be incorporated into a new Arlington Bathhouse.

Christopher Columbus Cooper Jr. was hired in 1892 as the first Hot Springs Reservation policeman. His duties were to patrol on foot the park property adjacent to the hot springs and bathhouses, enforcing good order, preventing public nuisances, and arresting disorderly visitors. By 1910, Cooper had become the head male attendant and the assistant manager at the government-run free bathhouse.

Charles Henry Payton Jr. immigrated to the United States from England in 1854 and served in the Civil War with the 1st Arkansas Cavalry. A tailor by trade, he worked as the first night policeman at Hot Springs Reservation from 1896 to 1899. Continuing the tradition of family service to the park, his great-granddaughter Gail Payton Sears later worked at the park for 20 years.

After a fire that blazed through the city in 1878, the early 1880s heralded a change in the look of Bathhouse Row. Above, the Independent (left) boasts a wide bridge. Next door, the finishing touches are being put on the tower atop the Palace Bathhouse. The open access to Hot Springs Creek made it a convenient dumping site for all types of debris. Shown below, in the street view of the row looking north, are, from right to left, the Ozark, Magnesia, Palace, Independent, and Hale Bathhouses. The long wooden walkways span Hot Springs Creek and illustrate how perilously close the houses were built along the eastern bank. The telephone poles along the street were later removed and the wires rerouted to enhance the overall look of the reserve.

Built in the Victorian style in 1880, the third Hale Bathhouse was constructed using portions of the second as a base. Its decorative Mansard roof, named after the 17th-century architect Francois Mansart, was a popular building style from 1860 through the 1880s. Towels and sheets are hung to dry on the banister and on the clothesline strung between the posts on the right side of the building.

After patrons completed their baths for the day, they often wanted to find activities to occupy their spare time. They also wanted to see more sights than just the local bathing facilities. Enterprising locals began to offer tours on horseback or, as shown here, on mules to take bathers up the mountain trails surrounding the city. The reservation was evolving from simply a place for invalids to a popular vacation destination.

As the reputation of the city and the reservation bathhouses grew, cleanliness along Hot Springs Creek became an issue. In 1882, the government began planning construction of an arched enclosure for a portion of the creek, one that would improve sanitation, reduce flooding in the city, and provide a broad, attractive boulevard through town. Work began in 1883 on the archway, which ran for 3,500 feet from Whittington Avenue to near Malvern Avenue. At right, the arch has been completed in front of the Rammelsberg Bathhouse. Below is a photograph of construction of the junction of the arches spanning Hot Springs and Whittington Creeks at the intersection of Central and Park Avenues. The stone-arch construction project was later the subject of a Congressional hearing in Washington, DC. (At right, courtesy of the Garland County Historical Society.)

This early photograph of Central Avenue presents a wonderful view of the wooden structures of Bathhouse Row after 1888. Shown here are, from front to rear, the Superior, Old Hale, Independent, Palace, and Horseshoe Bathhouses. Along the street is the pavilion that covers the Alum Spring. Visible in the distance is the Army and Navy General Hospital and the tower of the Eastman Hotel.

The Government Free Bathhouse stood on this site, behind the Quapaw and Fordyce, from 1891 to 1923. These cooling towers and holding tanks had been used by it and other bathhouses to cool springwater, which was then mixed with the scalding-hot water coming straight from the ground. This made the temperature tolerable for bathers. Federal regulations, still in place today, prohibited mixing city water with springwater.

Named after Secretary of the Interior Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar, the first Lamar Bathhouse was built in 1888 in an unusual, asymmetrical Victorian style. Located on site No. 2 between the Rammelsberg and the Government Pump House at the south end of the row, the Lamar had 40 bathing tubs, for which it paid the government a water lease rate of $30 per tub per year.

Hot Springs Reservation superintendent William P. Parks, MD, assembled his staff in front of the Superintendent’s Office for this c. 1914 photograph. Parks is seen in the center of the first row in the light-colored suit. His wife is seated beside him. Posing with Parks are some of the 30 members of the reservation workforce.

The red tile roof and white stucco walls of the Superintendent’s Residence made a stunning appearance along Fountain Street. Designed by architect Phillip Van Patten, the house was home to superintendents from 1892 until 1913, after which the building became the residence of the assistant superintendent. In the ensuing years, the building began to deteriorate and was finally demolished in 1958.

The reservation greenhouse, built in 1902, nurtured plants such as banana trees and bedding plants for landscaping. The structure burned down in 1923, and the new greenhouse was moved farther east on Fountain Street, near the cold-water pavilion (far left). Trees, shrubs, and flowers were cultivated for plantings until the building was removed in 1933.

With the allocation of $549.89, the reservation built this maintenance shed in 1903. Using bricks available from the remodel of the Government Free Bathhouse, the 100-foot-by-20-foot structure was located on the slope behind the Superintendent’s Residence on Fountain Street. It housed horses, mules, wagons, and other supplies needed to maintain the reservation grounds.

This six-room brick caretaker’s cottage at the west end of Whittington Lake Park on Whittington Avenue was completed in 1910, replacing the old wooden gardener’s house that had been built there in 1897. Its occupant was in charge of maintaining the 11-acre park located between West Mountain and Sugarloaf Mountain. The cottage was removed in 1975.

Originally named the Independent, this bathhouse’s lease was purchased by Charles Maurice and Charles Converse in January 1892. They subsequently remodeled the old structure and reopened the business as the second Maurice Bathhouse in 1893. The moderately priced baths and the connections of son William Maurice with the entertainment industry made the bathhouse a success.

Often referred to as the White House, the first Ozark Bathhouse was located between the Magnesia and the Rammelsberg on the former location of the Weir and George Bathhouse, which burned down in the fire of 1878. The Ozark was initially owned by Samuel Fordyce, George D. Latta, and Charles Maurice, and the construction of this Victorian building in 1880 cost just over $16,000.

Built in 1890–1891, the third Government Free Bathhouse was a brick edifice on the site of the old Mud Hole, slightly behind the Horseshoe and Magnesia Bathhouses. Under the guidance of the reservation improvements officer, US Army lieutenant Robert R. Stevens, a paved entrance connected the bathhouse to the Magnolia Promenade. The bathhouse was remodeled in 1904 to provide additional dressing areas and steam heating.

Whittington Lake Reserve, designed in 1893, included two lakes with pavilions, five bridges, a tennis court, a music pavilion, and a carriage drive around the park. The lakes were initially praised for their beauty but were not very deep due to shallow bedrock in the area. When summer heat lowered the water in the ponds, they became stagnant. They were filled in with soil in 1905.

The new Rector Bathhouse, built in 1883, was the third facility constructed by Henry M. Rector. It was located just south of the second Arlington Hotel. Eventually, this building would be incorporated into the hotel as the Arlington Bathhouse, and Rector would move across Central Avenue to build his fourth bathhouse.

This street scene of Bathhouse Row shows the new lawns and trees that were planted after the arch was built over Hot Springs Creek. Shown here are, from left to right, the Horseshoe, Magnesia, Ozark, Rammelsberg, and Lamar Bathhouses. The 1891 Government Free Bathhouse is set back from the main row, located between the Horseshoe and the Magnesia. (Courtesy of Garland County Historical Society.)

Built over a spring, the Magnesia Bathhouse opened in 1888. At times considered an eyesore on the row and in need of renovation, the Magnesia did not close until December 1920. It was one of the last Victorian buildings to be replaced along Bathhouse Row. Today’s Quapaw Bathhouse was erected over the combined site of this bathhouse and the Horseshoe. (Courtesy of Garland County Historical Society.)

The Cooper Brothers sightseeing tours brought visitors through the park in horse-drawn coaches to gain a better appreciation of the mountains. The company’s livery stables were one of the many businesses destroyed by fire in the city in September 1913. Another of the Cooper brothers, Christopher, was the first reservation policeman.

Presidents were not the only prominent people who enjoyed the resort. Woodrow Wilson’s vice president, Thomas R. Marshall, and his wife, Lois Irene Kimsey Marshall, made a visit in 1915. Shown here in the front row are, from left to right, Mayor McClendon, Mrs. David Crockett, Mrs. Davenport, Lois Marshall, Thomas R. Marshall (seated), Mrs. Parks, Col. Samuel Fordyce, Miss Fergusson, Mrs. McClendon, and Mrs. Hobson.

Originally called Hale Spring, the Maurice Spring is located in an elevated plaza built into the tufa bluff along the base of Hot Springs Mountain. In 1896, Superintendent Little replaced its original walls with novaculite coped with white limestone. On the far right is Civil War veteran Patrick Dugan, who later became forester for the reservation. (Photograph by M.L. Fuller, courtesy of the US Geological Survey.)

To encourage visitors to enjoy all aspects of their time at the thermal waters, trails were developed on the mountainsides. This trail along the west slope of Hot Springs Mountain had markers informing hikers of the distance they had traveled. Called the Oertel Fitness Trail, it had four levels of difficulty for each color of trail, labeled yellow, green, blue, and red.

A crowd gathers at the opening of the second Lamar Bathhouse in April 1923. Construction started in 1922 to replace the old wooden building with a sanitary masonry, stone, and brick structure. Boasting a gymnasium used by both men and women and a large lobby and sun porch, this new bathhouse would operate for 62 years.

Supt. William P. Parks (center) and a group of rangers pose in front of the old headquarters building. Parks, the last superintendent of Hot Springs Reservation, helped usher in the new designation of Hot Springs National Park as its first superintendent. Instrumental in changing the look of the landscape, Dr. Parks introduced the Oertel Trail System to Hot Springs Mountain in order to promote health and enjoyment for visitors.

Hot Springs advertised itself as a place that was monitored and safe for everyone to visit. This image from a brochure shows the Stevens Balustrade with baseball players, women, children, and military personnel being watched over by a park ranger on horseback. Health and pleasure were to be safely had by bathing at the government’s thermal waters.