Water from
the Hot Springs Mountain are collected and distributed to each of the historic bathhouses-the leading tourist attraction in the state of&nbsp;Arkansas.&nbsp;An average of a million people per year visit
this National Park and its associated bathhouses&nbsp;to witness the historic area and enjoy its&nbsp;legendary "healing"&nbsp;waters. Besides visiting the
bathhouses and spas, the park also offers hiking trails, camping facilities, and
etc. Hot Springs National Park&nbsp;was established on July 5, 1933. Although it is the smallest park in the National Park system, it remains one of the most popular.&nbsp;. 

While the park is also one of the oldest in the National Park system, its history predates the establishment of the United States. For thousands of years, Native peoples&nbsp;came to this location to quarry novaculite--an important source of&nbsp;tools and
weapons. Novaculite is Latin for “razor stone”. In 1804, President Thomas
Jefferson sent the Dunbar-Hunter Expedition to explore the Louisiana Purchase. The first explorers to the area immediately recognized the unique value of the springs, which they believed held healing capabilities. By the turn of the century,&nbsp;Hot
Springs was known as the “American Spa.”

The first bathhouses were constructed prior to this time. In&nbsp;1830, Victorian style bathhouses were built at each spring. These wooden structures are not longer extant. The&nbsp;current bathhouses are a mixture of Spanish and neoclassical designs and were built during a period known as&nbsp;the Golden Age of Bathing (1911-1939).&nbsp;

For more information, please click on the link for this book by Ray Hanley, Hot Springs: Past and Present 

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Hot Springs National Park became the first of its kind when Congress approved a law that would preserve the area and its famous thermal springs. Hot Springs remains famous for its "healing" waters that have attracted people to the location from before the arrival of Columbus. Today, "Bathhouse Row" includes eight historic bathhouses built between 1892 and 1923. This area, along with the Grand Promenade was designated as a National Historic Landmark District in 1987.

Hot Springs National Park-Bathhouse Row

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Garland County was established in 1873. The county government first met in a store on Central Avenue and then in several locations. In 1879, it started to meet in City Hall and remained there until 1882 when it moved to a house. A fire destroyed the house in 1888 but it was rebuilt only to burn down again in 1905. To avoid another fire, the present courthouse was built and it included fireproof vaults. Unfortunately, the Hot Springs Fire of 1913 significantly damaged the building but the masonry-concrete frame remained intact, allowing for the courthouse to be rebuilt. Additions were built in 1930 and 1977.

Considered the finest example of Renaissance Revival architecture in Arkansas, the Garland County Courthouse has served as the seat of county government since it was built around 1905. The exterior features many decorative elements including a domed lantern on the roof with Ionic columns, arched windows on the third story with keystones, pedimented windows on the second floor, and a central bay with Ionic pilasters (columns) and a large pediment. The courthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

Garland County Courthouse

Following the attack on Fort Sumter and President Abraham Lincoln's call for troops to put down the rebellion in 1861, Arkansas and several other Upper South states seceded and joined the nascent Confederacy. Hot Springs and the surrounding area provided many men for the Confederate army, and a few for the Union army as well. The town played brief host to the Arkansas state government in 1862, and several small skirmishes occurred in the town's vicinity. Never directly occupied by armed forces, Hot Springs did suffer the economic consequences of the war and wartime fires consumed much of the town. In the early 20th century, the local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) sought to erect a monument to the region's Confederate veterans. The UDC erected many such monuments across Arkansas and the South; these monuments and their dedication ceremonies were often steeped in Lost Cause ideology, which minimized Confederate defeat, downplayed slavery's role in starting the war, and reinforced white supremacy in the South. The UDC ultimately placed two Confederate monuments in Hot Springs, both of which took a long to time to become a reality. The first discussions for a local Confederate monument began in 1907, shortly after the UDC took ownership of the Confederate veterans' section of the local Hollywood Cemetery. Following a decade of fundraising, the UDC placed a Confederate monument in the cemetery in 1919. Yet the UDC continued to raise funds for yet another monument in the town of Hot Springs itself. The UDC's fundraising efforts continued slowly over several ensuing decades. Only with a final contribution of $1,000 from the Arkansas state UDC organization were the necessary funds finally raised. The final cost was $5,000. The UDC contracted with the McNeel Marble Company of Marietta, Georgia, which specialized in Confederate monuments and built several others for Arkansas towns. The 18-foot tall monument features a marble Confederate sentinel atop a granite base. In 1933, the City of Hot Springs agreed to allow the UDC to erect its monument at Como Triangle--a small, triangular spot of land at corner of Market Street, Central Avenue, and Ouachita Avenue. Como Triangle holds a dark past, the site of two 20th centuries lynchings of Black men. In June 1913, Will Norman was accused of assaulting and killing a white woman named Garland Huff, the daughter of a local judge. Norman was seen fleeing the scene (the only direct evidence against him) and was caught following a town-wide manhunt. A mob of several hundred hung him at the Como Triangle, shooting his corpse and finally burning the body. Hundreds were on hand to watch the affair, and "a morbid crowd" picked through the charred remains the following day for souvenirs. In August 1922, Gilbert Harris was arrested for the murder of local businessman Maurice Connally and a series of break-ins. A large mob gathered at the county jail, broke in, held police officers at gunpoint, and brought Harris to the Triangle to hang him. Gilbert's lynching was the last in Arkansas. Thus when the Hot Springs Confederate Monument was finally dedicated in 1934, the statue stood on the death site of two Black men within recent memory. The dedication itself featured a variety of speakers, including a local reverend and Hot Springs Mayor Leo McLaughlin. Notably, the keynote speaker was Mrs. C.S. Lothrop, somewhat unusual given that most monument dedications featured male orators (often former Confederate veterans or politicians). Mrs. Lothrop "paid a very beautiful tribute to the heroes of the Confederate army and to all the Southern heroes."[1] The Hot Springs monument was the last one dedicated by the UDC in Arkansas. In 1953, the city granted the UDC the deed to Como Triangle. In 1996, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2017, Hot Springs Manager Bill Burrough first approached the UDC about relocating the monument, and in June 2020, in the wake of George Floyd's death and a national discussion over systemic racism and Confederate iconography, Burroughs tried again. An online petition likewise gathered over 10,000 signatures calling for the statue's removal. Yet while the city maintains care of the monument, the land and monument themselves belong to the UDC, which has stoutly refused to relocate the monument. The UDC has agreed to cease flying the Confederate flag above the monument.

Following two decades of effort to raise funds and secure a location, this monument was dedicated by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1934. Arkansas seceded in 1861, and Hot Springs contributed a large number of men to Confederate armies. During the war, the state government removed to Hot Springs briefly in 1862. Arkansas and the people of this region suffered serious economic devastation in addition to the loss of life. In 1907, the United Daughters of the Confederacy began an effort to create a monument to the area's Confederate soldiers. The effort stalled multiple times, but by the 1930s, the organization had secured funds and a location at Como Triangle in downtown Hot Springs. In recent years, there have been calls for the monument's removal, but the UDC has been unwilling to consider removing the monument from its privately-owned lot. The monument's location is also the site where African Americans had been lynched in 1913 and 1922. 

Hot Springs Confederate Monument

The Malco Theatre stands on the site once occupied by another venue called the Princess Theatre, which was built in 1910 and hosted vaudeville acts and showed early films. Eventually, the Princess Theatre became primarily a movie theater. On Christmas Eve in 1934, a fire destroyed all of it except for the foundation and the rear entrance on Broadway Street. The Malco was built the next year. It was designed by the firm Brueggeman &amp; Swain and it boasted 1,000 seats. The exterior features vertical piers separating vertically recessed strips of windows and colored tiles, and a large marquee with neon tubes and two "Malco" signs.The Malco was segregated until 1964. Until then, African American patrons had to enter through the Broadway Street entrance and were only permitted to sit in the balcony. The ticket window and concession stand were also separate.The Malco was renovated in 1946 and in 1962. In the 1980s, the auditorium was divided into two. In 1996, Maxwell Blade started performing here and the Hot Springs Documentary Film Institute began hosting its annual film festival as well. Blade moved to another venue in 2008 but returned in 2016 and restored the building to its 1940s appearance, including removing the wall separating the auditorium. He also updated the digital and audio equipment.

An excellent example of Art Deco architecture, the Malco Theatre has been a mainstay of entertainment in Hot Springs since its construction in 1935. It is also notable for being one of only two historic theaters in the country that still have separate entrances used by African Americans before desegregation. President Bill Clinton, who lived in Hot Springs from 1954 to 1961, often went to the Malco. Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2010, it is now home to the Maxwell Blade Theater of Magic.

Malco Theater

By the time the depot was built, Hot Springs had established itself as a popular resort town, attracting visitors to the many hot springs located in the area. The city's roots date back to around 1820 when small, wood-frame bathhouses started to be built. After the Civil War, the growing interest in hot spring waters, which were thought to have medicinal and therapeutic properties, drew visitors to the community. Gambling and other activities attracted visitors as well, and hotels and bigger bathhouses were built to accommodate them. The town grew even more when the predecessor of the Missouri-Pacific Railroad (the Cairo and Fulton Railroad) arrived in 1875, which provided a much faster and accessible way to get to the town. This resulted in a surge of visitors, which prompted triggered a period of sustained growth and prosperity. The depot was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992 for its association with this period and its architecture.

Now used as an intracity transportation hub, the Missouri-Pacific Railroad Depot is a historic train station in downtown Hot Springs. It was built in 1917 and designed in the Mediterranean style, featuring an Italianate tower with arched openings, large arched windows, a red clay tile roof, and Italianate brackets supporting the roof overhang. The depot represents the significant impact railroads had on the growth of Hot Springs as one of the country's premier resort towns.

Missouri-Pacific Railroad Depot

The town of Hot Springs, Arkansas became a well-known health and recreation resort during the last half of the 19th century. The town's famous hot springs, mountain trails, resort hotels, bathhouses, and many amenities attracted the wealthy to begin spending their time there on vacation. With the wealthy came the owners of sports teams and the famous baseball players themselves (such as Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Buck Ewing,&nbsp;Cap Anson, and Mickey Mantle) and they saw the town for its potential to be able to train for the season in the spring. The fervor was kicked off in 1886 when Cap Anson brought the Chicago White Stockings (became the Cubs) to the town. Soon after, multiple teams had fields and facilities in the town and hundreds of players trained here year after year. With the introduction of baseball to Hot Springs, it became a prime destination for players to vacation and train. Many future Hall of Fame players and baseball legends spent their springs here. Babe Ruth has a sign at Whittington Park commemorating when he hit a 573 foot home run into an alligator pond. Cap Anson, generally regarded as one of the best players of the 19th century, liked to spend time here as well. Spread throughout the town are markers that talk about different players that stayed there and what they did in the town when they were there. The baseball explosion in Hot Springs occurred in the late 19th century and throughout the 20th century. Much of the players that visited the town to play ball were white and it was like this for a few decades. In 1923, what became known as the National Baptist Hotel was built. This building would become the town's center of African American culture for many years. Whenever a Negro League player or a Black entertainer was in Hot Springs to play ball or do a show, this is where they would stay. The marker outside of the hotel says that famous Black entertainer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson stayed at the hotel. Robinson was close friends with Babe Ruth and a part owner of the professional the New York Black Yankees, a leading team in the Negro Leagues that once played and beat the New York Yankees prior to the decision of baseball commissioner&nbsp;Kennesaw Mountain Landis to bar games between Negro League and Major League teams.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Constructed in 1923 by the Supreme Lodge of the Woodmen of Union, an African American fraternal organization, this building served multiple purposes and was the center of life for African American residents throughout the area. The building included guestrooms and housed numerous African American athletes and entertainers. Hot Springs, Arkansas was a town with a reputation as a health and recreation resort that was famous for its hot springs and beautiful surrounding landscapes good for hikes and other outdoor activities. As its reputation grew in the latter half of the 19th century, wealthy people began to stay there and soon after, in 1886, baseball was brought to the town. The town also became famous as the place players went for spring baseball before the regular season began. By the early 1920s, Black teams also began to stay and play baseball in the city during the spring. 

National Baptist Hotel

The early 20th century was an era of many breakthroughs in illness and infectious diseases. Doctors began to understand that bacteria caused diseases to spread and the importance of antiseptics. As a result, the facility was remodeled in 1933 as a tower hospital to minimize the distance between wards and make the building more efficient. The hospital was over capacity and needed to be expanded to accommodate up to 500 patients. The facility saw a rapid increase in patients during World War II and admitted over 1,800 patients in June 1945. The hospital was used as a training facility for military personnel. The facility offered courses in laboratory, X-ray, dental, pharmacy, medical and surgical technicians. The Army established the first Medical Department Enlisted Technicians School for members of the Women’s Army Corps at the Army and Navy General Hospital in 1943. During World War II, the thermal waters of Hot Springs became popular for the use of hydrotherapy treatment. The newly renovated hospital had a modern bath, vapor cabinets, an underwater pool, and whirlpool equipment that used the steaming waters from the hot springs. The Army and Navy Hospital was used to treat Poliomyelitis and was the largest treatment facility for the disease. In 1943, the hospital established the first Army Arthritis Center; their primary goal was to provide relief of pain and improve range of motion. In the early 1950s, the Army and Navy Hospital was closed, and in 1960, the federal government gave the facility to the state of Arkansas. The institution reopened under a new name, The Hot Springs Rehabilitation Center. By the early 1960s, at least twenty-six courses were offered, with over 135 students enrolled. In the late 2000s, the medical wing of the hospital was closed, and the facility was renamed the Arkansas Career Training Institute. The facility focused on vocational training to train students for the outside world. Finally, in 2019, the building was closed and has remained vacant.

This historic building dates back to a previous structure completed in 1887 that became the first Army and Navy general hospital established during peacetime. The military hospital was built in proximity to the area's hot springs, which many people used for therapeutic healing purposes. In 1933, this building overlooking downtown Hot Springs was completed. After World War II, many soldiers from Europe were sent and treated for wartime injuries at this facility. In 1960, the facility was turned over to the state and changed to a rehabilitation hospital. In 2009, the facility became the Arkansas Career Training Institute, which closed in 2019. The facility is currently on a list of Arkansas's most endangered places.

Former Army Navy Hospital, Hot Springs

Gangsters were most known back in the eras of the Great Depression and the Prohibition. It came at a time when the traditional paths of sustaining themselves and a family was almost impossible. This instability caused many men and women to turn to criminal to gain monetary success, which was so heavily valued during this time. The success gave them power and eliteness that was only obtainable through this lifestyle. Gangsters were a big influence on crime and police in Arkansas during the 1930s. 	One of the first exhibit in the museum showcases Leo Patrick McLaughlin, the mayor of Hot Springs from 1927 to 1947. He is known for opening up the city by reopening Oaklawn Racetrack. This laid the stage for his infamous gambling ring that he and other influential members of society saw over. Gambling in Arkansas was illegal at the time. This attracted many of the other gangsters mentioned in this museum. These gangster came for the party but stayed for the profit. 	Many of the gangster just passed through to take in the illegal splendor and the spa but some stuck around and developed their kingdom. Owen Vincent Madden is an interesting gangster that saw the development of gambling in Hot Spring and in 1940 started the Southern Club. The gangsters were always protected under McLaughlin's laws and law enforcement. Once, Charles “Lucky” Luciano, a New Yorker gangster, was walking down Bath House Row with the chief detective of Hot Springs Police Department when he was approached by an NY state detective saw him. Eventually, the detective approached Luciano and asked him to come back to NY with him he replied with a quick no thanks and that was the end of it. 	The Gangster Museum of America was established in 2008 by Robert Raines, supported by Historical Attractions, Inc. There are seven galleries that offer a close look in the gangsters that ruled America and found sanctuary in the spas of Hot Springs, Arkansas. These can be viewed for $15 for general admission, $14 for senior, 6$ for children ages 8 to 12 and children under the age of 8 get in free. The museum can be found on Central Ave surrounded by restaurants and other attractions of downtown Hot Springs.

The Gangster Museum of America has seven galleries that offer a close look in the gangsters that ruled America and found sanctuary in the spas of Hot Springs, Arkansas. At the Gangster Museum of America shines a light on the criminals that impacted this area of Arkansas so much. Some of the gangsters featured in the museum are Al Capone, Charles “Lucky” Luciano, Owen Vincent Madden and even some politicians like Leo Patrick McLaughlin. There are exhibits that showcase places were the infamous were famous for frequenting, like the Arlington hotel and several restaurants. The museum can be found on Central Ave surrounded by restaurants and other attractions of downtown Hot Springs.  


Gangster Museum of Arkansas 

Architecture firm Almand &amp; Stuck, which was based in Little Rock, designed the building. A group of Little Rock investors financed the project after buying the property from a family that operated a bath house at the site. The building's tall windows and ceilings were designed to keep it cool during the summer. Its tenants were doctors and businesses and its early days, uniformed staff operated the elevators. By the mid-1980s there were few tenants left in the building. The last physician, Dr. George Fotioo, who opened his practice in 1945, left in 1991. The building was in serious need of repair and remained mostly vacant in the coming years except for the first floor. In 2012 it was added to the Historic Preservation Alliance of Arkansas' list of most endangered places in the state. The current owners bought the first 15 floors, which were owned by three owners (the owner of the 16th floor did not sell it). The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places for its architecture in 1978.

Hot Springs' Medical Arts Building is considered one of the finest examples of Art Deco in the South. Constructed in 1930, it was also the tallest building in Arkansas until 1960 when the Metropolitan Tower in Little Rock was built. The sixteen-story building features a tiered design, pilasters that extend the length of the building are topped by stone caps, some of which are decorative, and a decorative stone sign with the words "Medical Arts Building" above the main entrance. The entrance is also framed by pilasters and bas-relief designs depicting floral motifs. As of May 2021, the building is in the process of being renovated into a luxury hotel.

History of Hot Springs Arkansas Walking Tour

Hot Springs National Park-Bathhouse Row

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information