Hot Springs National Park History

lisaonthebeach

February 1

While visiting Hot Springs NP last October, we made a visit to The Fordyce, a bathhouse that was restored as a museum and configured as the bathhouse was, back in 1915. Along with my book "Images of America Hot Springs National Park" I gained a great overview of the park's history.

A few fun facts about the early days:

The bathhouse operators touted the various hot springs as being good for different types of ailments
The "Corn Hole" spring was believed to be advantageous for treating corns, bunions and other foot issues. It was used by women and men for soaking, but the sexes were segregated to different times of the day
Soaking in one was pretty much the same as any other, it really made no difference
Fire has been a reoccurring problem in Hot Springs. The Hotel Hale that we stayed in was actually the third building, but was constructed using portions of the second as a base
Stephen T. Mather, the first director of the National Park Service, redesignated Hot Springs Reservation as Hot Springs National Park on March 4th, 1921
As modern medicine improved, and the ability to travel more broadly increased, business began to drop
Fordyce was the first to close, in 1962, and over the next 23 years the bathhouses slowly shut down until the Buckstaff Bathhouse was the only bathhouse that remained open
The Buckstaff remains in operation today and continues to offer traditional style thermos bathing experiences for its patrons
The other bathhouses sat empty, and with the heat and humidity, began to deteriorate
Recognition of their historial significance helped save them from ruin
In 1974 they were listed in the National Register of Historic Places and the Nation Park Service worked to obtain funding to protect the buildings from further deterioration
Slowly over the years they have found new life and are being repurposed as a hotel, museum, restaurant and more

And do you wonder, how much water really does come out of those springs?

The springs can produce more than 650,000 gallons of water a day
Enough to fill 13 standard sized bathtubs every minute
The water coming out of the springs today fell as rain nearly 4500 years ago

The museum was very much worth the time. It was fascinating to see a glimpse back in time and imagine how it must have been to enjoy the luxury of the natural spas. The bathhouses generally catered to the wealthy, however, there was a government owned free bath house that allowed those less fortunate to benefit from the hot springs.

As we started our tour of the museum, we saw rooms filled with baths and steamers, I thought these rooms looked cold and not very welcoming.

The stateroom looks more welcoming:

So grateful that they were able to save these amazing pieces and give us a glimpse of what was in the past!

The skylight:

The gym:

It was easy to see all the beauty in this room:

Below are some of the signs explaining additional areas. It was hard to see some of the rooms, but I did enjoy reading about them:

I'll end with some information on the Assembly Room, and a lovely photo that allows us to imagine the beauty and luxury the bathhouse offered to those who visited.