Hot Springs

Last weekend we needed to get the kids out of the house, so we headed down to Hot Springs for the day. We went to the Mid-America Science Museum first, and then visited downtown. After an early dinner at the Superior Bathhouse Brewery, we went out to take one last look at all the holiday lights (since it was well past Christmas, they were all going to be taken down the next day). We ended up at the Promenade and I got a few pictures from above the Hot Water Cascade, looking towards the Medical Arts Building and the Arlington Hotel.



There was just a little bit of steam rising up from the spring.



And then one last shot, of the holiday lights on the grounds of the park in front of the Arlington Hotel.

Hot Springs National Park

After having recently travelled hundreds of miles to visit a few National Parks located in other states, it's always nice to be able to make a quick visit a National Park just a short drive away. So the other weekend we drove an hour south and visited Hot Springs National Park. Even though we've been to Hot Springs lots of times before, we did the touristy things this time. We walked by the display springs, got our National Park passport stamped, and looked around the visitor center. As we were walking down Bathhouse Row, a summer thunderstorm popped up. It rained for a few minutes, and managed to drop the outside temperature down about 20 degrees.



I recently saw a video on Instagram from some content creator, which showed her making a frowny face by one of the display springs and giving a big thumbs down. She explained in the video's caption that she saw pictures of Hot Springs online and flew here from across the country. She showed the pictures to a Park Ranger, who then explained to her that the places in her photos don't exist. The pictures she saw were fake - made by AI.

Which I think explains a lot of the reasons why Hot Springs National Park usually ranks at the bottom of those "the WORST National Parks EVER!" lists. People are basing their rankings on stock or AI images and not actually visiting the park, or are completely uninterested in the park's history or what it has to offer. Hot Springs is a small park, but it is vastly underrated.

Hot Springs

Recently I took Jonah on a quick trip to Hot Springs to celebrate the end of summer and the start of the new school year. We first went by the Mid-America Science Museum, which is a fun little place for kids. Then we headed over to the Hot Springs Mountain Tower. The tower sits on the top of a hill in the National Park, and provides some nice views of the city and the nearby mountains.



It had been about 100 degrees when we made it to the Science Museum. But at the top of the tower it was actually quite comfortable, thanks to some cooling winds coming in from an approaching thunderstorm.



The tower stands 216 feet tall, and was built in 1983. It replaced two previous towers that had been built on the mountain, in 1877 and 1906.





We headed back to the car and followed the curvy road as it ran along the top of the mountains...



We dropped down into the city, which was busy with summer tourists. I pulled over and got a few quick pictures of my favorite building in Hot Springs - the Medical Arts Building.



The art deco skyscraper was built in 1929 and was the tallest building in the state. It had been almost entirely abandoned for decades, but is now in the process of being converted into a hotel.



Just down Central Avenue is the old Army-Navy Hospital, which was built in 1933. It sadly has been empty and vacant since 2019, and already you can see broken windows on the front of its imposing facade. I hope a new use can be found for this historic structure, and that it doesn't meet the same fate as the Majestic Hotel.



And then we made one last stop in Hot Springs, at one of the mountain overlooks. It provides a great view of the city and the old Army-Navy Hospital, along with the Tower. The massive storm was moving in, and it started raining while we were up there. I hurried back to the car and started driving home (perfect timing since we drove through pouring rain the entire way back to Little Rock!).

Hot Springs

Hot Springs is one of the most unique cities in the state. It's the only city within a National Park, which just happens to also technically be the oldest National Park in the US. The history of the city is interesting, with its gambling and mobsters and tourists. It makes you wonder what Hot Springs would be like if it was allowed to legalize gambling in order to compete with Las Vegas in the 1960s.

Hot Springs National Park is small and partly urban, so it doesn't get as much love from people who travel to all of the National Parks. I've seen it included many times on lists of the worst National Parks, I guess because people visiting expected to see something like Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon. But Hot Springs definitely has its charms. 

Because it is the oldest park, it was formed and managed in a way completely different than the parks that came later on. When the land around the hot springs was first protected by the federal government in 1832, the springs were already a popular tourist attraction. So the park was developed in ways to use the spring water to benefit the many tourists who were attracted to the springs for their supposed health benefits. If the springs were discovered later, perhaps the 47 hot springs would have been kept in more of a natural state and how they were displayed and managed would be different.

The city of Hot Springs was a massively popular tourist attraction. People from across the country travelled here to take the baths. And for a time, Hot Springs was also the first "Sin City," as gambling and prostitution was overlooked and allowed to flourish. The city was at its peak from the 1920s to the 1950s, but things began to decline in the 1960s. People began to stop seeking thermal waters for treatment, and the state began to crack down on the illegal gambling. Soon many of the luxurious bathhouses along Bathhouse Row closed, and sat empty for decades.

Recently the National Park Service renovated many of the old bathhouses and opened them up to new usage. It also seems like Hot Springs is emerging again. There is the fancy new casino added at Oaklawn Park. The old Medical Arts Building, which was once the tallest building in Arkansas, is being converted into a hotel. And the iconic Arlington Hotel is getting a much-needed facelift.

We made a quick visit to Hot Springs a few weeks back, and it's always a fun place to walk around and take pictures. I walked down Central Avenue after dark, trying to get a few pictures along Bathhouse Row. Here is a shot of the traffic along Central Avenue, near the Superior Bathhouse. The Superior was built in 1916 and is now home to the Superior Bathhouse Brewery. It is the only brewery located in a US National Park and the only brewery in the world that uses thermal spring water to make beer. I've tasted many of their offerings and they are all pretty good.



The fanciest and most ornate bathhouse in Hot Springs is the Fordyce, which opened in 1915. It now serves as a Visitor Center and museum.



Further down is the Ozark Bathhouse, which was built in 1922. It's now used as a Cultural Center that provides gallery space for art exhibits.



The Buckstaff Bathhouse opened in 1912 and is the only bathhouse to have never closed and has operated continuously for decades.



Walking back to the car, I passed by the Hale Bathhouse and stopped to get this shot looking down Central Avenue. The Hale was built in 1892 and is the oldest of the structures on Bathhouse Row. It is now used as a boutique hotel.



And one more shot, of traffic along the always busy Central Avenue. The taller building is the Dugan-Stuart Building, which was built in 1904. Originally it held medical offices, but was converted into a hotel. In the 1980s, the upper floors were left abandoned. On the far right is the Josephine Tussaud’s Wax Museum, which operates in the old Southern Club. The Southern Club was established in 1893 and soon became one of Hot Springs most popular casinos. It was Al Capone's favorite spot, where he had his own elevated poker table which provided a clear view of the entire room.



The next day I drove out to visit Garvan Gardens, which sits on the outskirts of Hot Springs along Lake Hamilton. The jewel of the gardens is the amazingly beautiful Anthony Chapel, which stands 57 feet tall is made of glass and wood.



I drove out there thinking that it would be hard to get inside, since it is a popular wedding venue. And sure enough there was a guard keeping people back while a lucky couple was tying the knot inside (the cost to rent the chapel for a wedding is about $3,000 to $4,500). Once the wedding party went off to celebrate elsewhere, I was able to get inside for a few pictures....





Next to the chapel is the Carillon, a 57-foot tall electric bell tower.



I drove back along Central Avenue to try to get a few more shots with the infrared camera. I parked by the old Army and Navy Hospital, which was built in 1933 and was the first general hospital in the nation that provided treatment to both Army and Navy patients. The hospital was at its peak after World War II, but was soon ran by the state who used it as a Rehabilitation Center. That center closed in 2019 and the building is currently vacant and unoccupied. Vandals have reportedly made their way inside, which is incredibly unfortunate. It's a shame that this huge landmark is empty, and hopefully it won't have the same fate of the Majestic Hotel (which was abandoned and then later burned). It is frustrating because the state of Arkansas is currently sitting on a billion dollar surplus. I would love to see some our state funds go to preserve our historic landmarks like this (but I know that won't ever happen, sadly).



And one last shot from Hot Springs, of the old Medical Arts Building. This is one of my favorite buildings in Hot Springs. It opened in 1929 and was the tallest building in the state. But by the 1990s, only the first floor was in use while the upper floors were abandoned. Luckily the building was recently purchased with plans to convert it into a hotel. I would love to stay there once it opens.

Hot Springs

From Chewaukla, we travelled back into Hot Springs National Park where we made a quick stop at the old electric mill on Stone Bridge Road.





The mill was built in 1921 and was used to generate electricty for a nearby house. The home and mill were both built by the Fordyce family (which if that name sounds familiar, they also built the Fordyce Bathhouse on Bathhouse Row).





To get into Hot Springs we headed down Hwy. 7 (or Park Avenue), which runs by a few old motels. One of those is the Tower Motel, which gets its name because it sits by an old Victorian home (built 1901) which has a distinctive tower. The home, with the motel next to it, does give off a certain Bates Motel vibe.



Just down the road is the old Park Avenue Motel, which features this old neon sign. It looks like the building is now used for apartments.



I turned onto Fountain Street to look for a place to park. Nowadays, most people hurry down this street to reach the road that heads to the Hot Springs Mountain Tower. But this area has a history, which is mostly hidden and forgotten now. This area was known as Happy Hollow. It supposedly got its name from African Americans who lived in nearby mountains who would come here in the 1870s to do washing in the springs. According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, they would sing songs of praise as they worked. Church services and revivals were held here, which because of the rejoicing, led to this area being named Happy Hollow.

In the late 1800s, an amusement park was established here. The park contained a zoo, a shooting arcade and a souvenir shop. It was also a place to get those cheesy photographs made, where people would look like they were sitting in an old bath tub, riding a donkey or sitting at a bar. The amusement park operated until the 1940s, but there isn't much left now. There is an old motel here called the Happy Hollow Motel that is still operating. The rest of the valley is occupied by the Park Motel and for parking lots that seem to be used for the Arlington Hotel. There is also this old motel, which sits empty and abandoned.



Along Fountain Street you will also find the start of the Grand Promenade, which runs behind Bathhouse Row.



Fountain Street runs into Central Avenue right at the feet of the imposing Arlington Hotel.



The current Arlington was built in 1924 is one of the most iconic hotels in Arkansas. Throughout its history it has hosted a wide range of guests, like Babe Ruth, Al Capone, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Tony Bennett and Yoko Ono. The old place will soon undergo a much-needed rennovation.



Across the street is the old Medical Arts Building, which was built in 1929 and has been mostly abandoned for decades. But it was recently purchased for $1.175 million and will soon become an upscape hotel.



Later one we drove up one of the mountain roads that provides views overlooking the city, and buildings like the old Army and Navy Hospital. The massive hospital was built in 1933, and recently was used by the state of Arkansas as a Career Training Institute. But the state closed the institute in 2019, and the building has been empty ever since. Last year, Preserve Arkansas included it on their list of Most Endangered Places. The old hospital dominates Hot Springs, and it's sad and dismaying that it is now left empty. Hopefully it doesn't meet the same fate as the Majestic Hotel.



Heading back down the hill, we stopped to get one last shot at this old house by the Arkansas School for Math and Sciences. The house looks like it has been abandoned in the past, altough it sits in such proximity to the school that it looks like it's being used for something (storage, maybe?). Hope they take care of this one too.

Chewaukla

The 47 hot springs in Hot Springs National Park aren't the only springs around Hot Springs. A collection of ruins now sit at the site of five natural springs, which sit just outside of Hot Springs in an area called Sleepy Valley.



In the 1930s, investors constructed several buildings around the five springs. The largest was the bottling factory, which apparently once had marble floors. Tourists who visited Hot Springs would also journey here to partake in the waters, which were said to have healing qualities.





The Chewaukla name comes from the legend of a Native American chief (possibly Quapaw?), who travelled to the Valley of the Vapors to seek relief from his various ailments. When the waters of the hot springs weren't working, his daughter took him to the cold water springs in the nearby Sleepy Valley. He drank from those waters and was healed. Because of this, he named his daughter Chewaukla, which supposedly translates to "Sleepy Water." After that, the springs were conisdered to be holy ground.





Who knows if the legend of Chewaukla is actually true, or if it was something invented to help lure in tourists later (kinda like the legend of Petit Jean?). But what was once supposedly a holy ground and then later a tourist attraction now lays nearly forgotten, crumbling and nearly completely hidden by trees.





The buildings were abandoned in the 1980s, and have suffered the same fate as most other discarded places. Part of the main building burned at one point, and the roof collapsed long ago.





Sadly, the ruins of Chewaukla are like so many other places in Hot Springs. Little bits of unique architecture and history that are vacant and neglected, and which shouldn't be so easily discarded. Hopefully no more of the city's places will meet such a fate (like the now abandoned Army and Navy Hospital).

Infrared Hot Springs

One place I've wanted to take the new infrared camera is to Hot Springs. Way back in the olden days, I took a bunch of pictures of Hot Springs on infrared black and white film. It would be interesting (to me at least), to see how the pictures taken now compared with ones taken way back in the year 2000 (which you can see here).

So one day my wife and I headed down to Hot Springs for a few hours. We parked the car and I headed off to take a few pictures while she had a leisurely stroll down Central Avenue perusing the shops (which was the better option, since all those places had air conditioning and it was already nearly 95 degrees outside). Here is a view of the old Medical Arts Building, which was built in 1929 and has been almost entirely abandoned for the past few decades. Amazingly, someone has bought the building and plans to convert it into a hotel.



I walked over to a paved trail that runs up the hill by the display spring towards the Promenade. It was shady and slightly cooler here amongst the trees.



And then back to Bathhouse Row, which was fairly crowded with people along the sidewalks. I waited for gaps in people to get a few pictures of the bathhouses, framed by the magnolia trees along the road. Here is the Quapaw Bathhouse, built in 1922:



And the Ozark Bathhouse, which was also built in 1922:



And the view of the Quapaw Bathhouse dome, from the Promenade:



And then one last shot from this visit, of the old Tom Moore cigar ghost sign. The sign is on the side of a building that was built in 1891.