Many of the first houses along Bathhouse Row were destroyed by fire and were replaced by even grander structures, often built of marble and tile, decorated with polished brass, murals, fountains, statues and even stained glass. The government offered a free public facility for those who could not afford the private ones. Private bathhouses ranged from simple to elaborate. This development coincided with the arrival of the railroad, which enabled more visitors to come, and they did by the thousands. In 1884, the government covered over the creek, put in an elaborate system of pipes - more than seven miles of them - to bring the water to central locations, and Bathhouse Row was born. These were replaced by wooden buildings, but the constant exposure to water and steam made wood vulnerable many collapsed or rotted away. In the early days, crude structures that were little more than tents were built over the springs. Now, most of the springs are capped to protect them from pollution and to divert much of the water for other uses. There are actually 47 separate hot springs in the area some 850,000 gallons of water flow from them each day. The government controlled and protected the hot springs themselves, but private enterprises built the increasingly elaborate bathhouses. Over those 175 years, there have been a lot of changes: rising to become a premiere resort that attracted both the famous and infamous, fading as changing times reduced the appeal of "taking the waters," and now entering a new phase of restoration and development that Fernandez thinks will return the park, if not to its glory years, at least to a once-more sought-after destination.įrom the first, the Hot Springs Reservation was a joint venture with the government and private businesses. This year we are celebrating our 175th anniversary." We're older than the Department of the Interior. Hot Springs did not actually get the national park designation until 1921, when it was the 18th park added to the nation's system.īut, points out Fernandez, the Hot Springs Reservation was the first, and if it had not come along, perhaps the whole idea of setting aside land might have been delayed. Technically, says Hot Springs National Park Superintendent Josie Fernandez, "that makes us the first national park." They get some argument from Yellowstone, of course, since it was the first area to be designated a national park. It was the first time the government had set aside land simply to protect a natural resource. In 1832, the government did just that - setting aside four sections of the springs in an unprecedented move. They began pushing for the federal government to "reserve" the springs for the nation. ![]() Such was the interest by the early 1830s that local folks began to worry that the springs might be over-developed and abused. Their report stirred up a lot of interest and more and more people flocked to the area to soak in the unique water. ![]() ![]() When the land became part of the United States with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, Thomas Jefferson sent an expedition led by William Dunbar and George Hunter to explore the springs. Old records show that native tribes visited the area during the late 1700s and early 1800s, and it is possible their ancestors did the same. French trappers, hunters and traders knew about the hot springs in the 17th and 18th centuries. Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto came through the region in 1514. No one's quite sure when the first people were attracted to these thermally heated waters. The "Valley of Vapors" in central Arkansas - now known as Hot Springs National Park - is one of those places. As often as not, that was in the mineral-laced waters of natural springs. Before there was aspirin, before there was penicillin, before there was much understanding of medicine at all, people took their healing where they could find it.
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