Hot Springs National Park
Nestled in the Ouachita Mountains about 50 miles southwest of Little Rock, Arkansas is a place where humans have been coming for centuries to experience the healing powers of natural hot springs. Within a few years of acquiring today’s Arkansas in the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, a report to President Jefferson was already reporting the remarkable abundance of thermally heated waters in the region. The first bathhouse was built here in 1830 on Fountain Street, and in 1832 President Andrew Jackson signed legislation to create Hot Springs Preserve to place the area under federal protection (four years before Arkansas was a state).
Following the Civil War, the promise of improved health drew veterans and others with disabling conditions to crowded camps near the open springs. These early settlers to Hot Springs ignored the federal claims to the land which resulted in a famous 1876 U.S. Supreme Court ruling siding with the federal government’s assertion that the thermal waters should be available to all. This led to the federal government beginning to regulate the private bathhouses and took active control over improvements that led to better sanitation and distribution of the water. Stephen T. Mather, the first director of the National Park Service, developed a special bond with Hot Springs during an inspection tour of the preserve in 1915. Instead of attending his department meetings, Mather was often found enjoying treatments in one of the bathhouses. He was a frequent visitor to the springs throughout his life and his devotion led to him convincing Congress to redesignate the preserve Hot Springs National Park in 1921.
The hot spring water that fills the tubs at Hot Springs is not from a volcanic process. Rain and melting snow trickles into cracks within the rock along the ridges of the Ouachita Mountains. Gravity pulls the water downward through a network of cracks in the Earth’s rock crust where the temperature increases with depth. When the water reaches a major fault on the west slope of Hot Springs Mountain, pressure propels it to the surface where it emerges at a temperature of 143°F. The thermal waters of Hot Springs National Park do not have a sulfurous smell and contain small amounts of silica, calcium, magnesium, sodium, and potassium. The water is safe to drink, and guests and residents alike fill up jugs at the numerous fountains throughout Hot Springs. Amazingly, the round trip from rainwater trickling down through the rock to thermal water emerging from the taps of Hot Springs National Park takes roughly 4,500 years!
For over one hundred years, the National Park Service has overseen the collection of the thermal waters. All the springs atop Hot Springs Mountain are enclosed in “spring boxes” where 650,000 gallons of hot spring water is collected daily and diverted to storage tanks. Before distribution to the bathhouses and hotels, the water runs through heat exchangers to lower its temperature to safer levels for bathing.
The early bathhouses were crudely built of wood and were utilitarian in construction. To protect public safety, the federal government stopped renewing the leases for the fire-prone wooden bathhouses in 1911. The bathhouses that replaced them and remain today on Bathhouse Row were built of stone or brick. The oldest surviving bathhouse on the row, the Hale (circa 1892) featured a sauna in a thermal cave carved into the mountainside. The Superior (circa 1916) was the smallest of the bathhouses and offered more affordable services. Today, the Superior is a popular microbrewery and restaurant. The structure of the very ornate Quapaw (circa 1922) featured a tiled dome decorated with an American Indian motif, scallop shells, and fish. Today, the Quapaw is a modern spa facility offering services rivalling any resort utilizing the thermal waters of Hot Springs. The Ozark (circa 1922) featured sculpted mystical creatures holding urns of water, encouraging the passerby to sample the healing waters. A third-floor lounge featuring a stone fireplace, painted mural, stained glass skylight, and an expansive view of Bathhouse Row was the defining characteristic of the Maurice (circa 1912). The Buckstaff (circa 1912) is the only bathhouse to operate continuously for over a century and visitors can still experience a classic bathing experience there today. The Lamar (circa 1923) featured marble bathtubs of different lengths for greater comfort and is used as the national park’s gift store today.
The Fordyce was the vision of wealthy Hot Springs businessman, San Fordyce, who wanted to have the biggest and most elegant bathhouse on the row. Opening in 1915 at a cost of over $212,000, the Fordyce was a total of 28,000 square feet with three main floors of services, two courtyards, a gymnasium, and parlors. The bathhouse also had 21 staterooms where the more affluent guests could change and rest in privacy. The Fordyce was the first bathhouse on the row to go out of business and cease operations in 1962. After an extensive restoration, the Fordyce re-opened in 1989 as a historically furnished museum and the visitor center for Hot Springs National Park.
In a time before advancements in modern medicine, hydrotherapy was often prescribed by physicians to treat such ailments as arthritis or rheumatism, stress, and immune disorders. Visitors arriving to Hot Springs, often had a course of treatment prescribed from their doctor back home or they could get one from the many “doctors” associated with the bathhouses. Though the water held no magical cure, such treatments offered some relief for patients who were suffering and it was often the last resort for healing. In the peak year of 1947, over one million bathers took a bath in the healing waters of Hot Springs.
A standard treatment would begin with a bath in the thermal waters for a prescribed length of time. Trained and licensed same-sex attendants would provide refreshing mineral water and exfoliate the skin with special mittens. Facilities were always segregated by sexes and patients moved from station to station wrapped in a sheet. Following the bath, many patients would have their body packed with hot towels heated by the thermal waters. Before returning to the cooling room to return the body to normal temperature, some customers would receive a massage or sit in a steam chamber. Following the hydrotherapy session, patients were encouraged to exercise in the well-appointed gymnasium within the bathhouse, or hike on one of the numerous trails that are still part of Hot Springs National Park today.
It should be noted that in the segregated South, African Americans often served as the attendants in the bathhouses, however, they were not permitted to receive the services themselves. The African American community established their own bathhouses off Bathhouse Row for their own use. It wasn’t until the desegregation of the South in the 1960s that African Americans could be clients on Bathhouse Row. Unfortunately, this also coincided to when the bathhouses shuttered for good.
The original Army-Navy Hospital in Hot Springs opened in 1887 to provide hydrotherapy to veterans, particularly those of the Civil War. The hospital was rebuilt and expanded in 1933 when it became the nation’s first hospital for both sailors and soldiers. The facility was well-known for its work treating arthritis and polio through hydrotherapy, but it is now used by the State of Arkansas as a career training facility.
Hot Springs National Park is kind of unique in that the park itself sits in the middle of the downtown district of Hot Springs, Arkansas. To the east of the magnolia lined Central Avenue is Bathhouse Row of the national park. On Hot Springs Mountain behind the bathhouses, is the Grand Promenade which is a half-mile, brick-lined walking path built to encourage exercise following hydrotherapy. On the west side of Central Avenue, is the business district where you will find historic hotels, restaurants, tourist attractions, and shops. This town of 35,000 residents hosts over two million visitors to the national park annually.
