50 Fun Facts About Hot Springs National Park

Hot Springs National Park is in which US state?

It sits in Garland County, wrapped around the city of the same name in the mountains of central Arkansas.

In which year did Congress set aside the Hot Springs Reservation, the first federal land protected for recreation?

That was four decades before Yellowstone; the reservation formally became a public park in 1880 and a national park in 1921.

Hot Springs became a national park in which year?

Congress renamed the reservation and later grew it to about 5,839 acres, taking in Hot Springs, North, West and Sugarloaf mountains.

Until Gateway Arch was redesignated in 2018, Hot Springs held what distinction among national parks?

At about 5,839 acres it is still tiny, and it takes in parts of downtown, making it one of the most accessible parks.

Why was Hot Springs the first to receive its own America the Beautiful quarter, in April 2010?

Its 1832 reservation predates every other unit, though Yellowstone was the first to carry the national park title.

The springs flow from the western slope of Hot Springs Mountain, part of which range?

They emerge in a gap between Hot Springs Mountain and West Mountain, in a strip about 1,500 feet long and 400 feet wide.

What is the average temperature of the water as it emerges from the springs?

Since 1950 central cooling towers have brought it down to a safe temperature before it reaches the bathhouses.

Where does the springs' heat come from?

The chemistry shows the water never nears magma; it is simply rain that sank thousands of feet, warmed and rose again under artesian pressure.

Radiocarbon dating shows the spring water fell as rain roughly how long ago?

It seeps down through cracked rock at about a foot a year to depths of 4,500 to 7,500 feet, then rises in about a year along fractures.

How many thermal springs in the park are presumed to be flowing today?

Water from 33 of them is piped to a central reservoir that supplies the bathhouses and public fountains.

What did Native American tribes call the area when Hernando de Soto arrived in 1541?

By tradition the tribes laid down their weapons and shared the waters in peace; people had gathered there for over 8,000 years.

After ceding the springs by treaty in 1818, the Quapaw were removed in the 1830s to where?

They had already been pushed to a reservation south of the site before the treaty was signed.

Which president sent William Dunbar and George Hunter to explore the springs in 1804?

They found one log cabin and a few crude shelters used by people seeking cures; the first permanent settler arrived in 1807.

How many bathhouses stand along Bathhouse Row?

They were independent, competing businesses; the landmark district also includes the promenade behind them and the fountained main entrance.

Which bathhouse reopened as the park's visitor center in 1989?

It was the grandest and most expensive on the row, and the first to close, in 1962; it reopened as the visitor center in 1989.

Which two Bathhouse Row buildings were still operating as bathhouses in 2015?

The Buckstaff has run continuously since 1912; the Quapaw closed in 1984 and reopened as a spa in 2008.

The row's most elaborate bathhouse cost roughly how much to build and furnish in 1914-15?

Its builder, who credited the waters with saving his life after a Civil War injury, waited to see the Maurice go up so he could beat it.

Besides baths, the row's grandest bathhouse offered its patrons which recreational facilities?

It also had a gymnasium, a roof garden, a museum of prehistoric relics and staterooms for reading and conversation.

The Superior, the northernmost bathhouse, reopened in 2012 as what?

From 2012 it brewed beer with hot spring water; it was completed in 1916 on the site of an 1880s Victorian bathhouse.

The Quapaw bathhouse, built in 1922, is topped by what distinctive feature?

It is in Spanish Colonial Revival style with a small copper cupola; it was the moderately priced house, with no beauty parlours or extras.

The Hale, rebuilt in 1892-93, opened in 2019 as what?

The original 1841 Hale was reputedly the first bathhouse to offer more than just a bath; the building sat empty for years after a failed 1981 arcade.

What did the Ozark bathhouse reopen as in 2014?

It closed as a bathhouse in 1977; the Lamar next door became the park gift shop.

Bathhouse Row was designated what on May 28, 1987?

The landmark district also takes in the walkway on the hill behind the bathhouses and the fountained main entrance.

The brick-paved walkway on the hillside behind the bathhouses is called what?

Begun in the 1930s and finally finished in the early 1960s, it runs between Reserve Avenue and Fountain Street.

What did federal engineers do to Hot Springs Creek after taking direct control in 1877?

Squatters were evicted, rubbish cleared and a central plumbing system built by about 1890; Central Avenue runs above the buried creek.

Congress opened a free bathhouse for the poor at Hot Springs in which year?

About 100,000 free baths a year were given; applicants swore an oath of poverty, and the free house finally closed in 1957.

Under the 1930s bathhouse rules, a shower could last no more than how long?

Tub baths were capped at 20 minutes, and the next decade cut showers to a single minute.

In 1929 a full course of 21 baths cost roughly how much?

Single baths ran $1 to $1.40; the water was the same everywhere, only the trimmings differed.

Which federal department ran the Army and Navy General Hospital behind Bathhouse Row?

The 1933 building later served as a state rehabilitation center and career school until 2019, after which it sat empty.

Which Chicago gangster famously favoured the Arlington Hotel in Hot Springs?

Lucky Luciano, Frank Costello and Bugs Moran also visited a town known for speakeasies, illegal casinos and horse racing at Oaklawn.

Hot Springs is often called the birthplace of what baseball tradition?

The team now known as the Cubs brought its players to town in 1886 to get fit before the season.

Which team first brought Major League Baseball to Hot Springs in 1886?

Whittington Park was built for the teams in 1894, followed by Majestic Park in 1908 and Fogel Field in 1912.

Babe Ruth hit a famous long home run in Hot Springs into what?

He was playing first base for the Red Sox as a last-minute replacement, his first game at any position but pitcher.

Which US president grew up in Hot Springs?

He, his half-brother Roger and actor Billy Bob Thornton are all Hot Springs natives who frequented Oaklawn Park.

The 1878 fire in Hot Springs burned for eight hours and destroyed roughly how many buildings?

Later blazes burned 25 blocks in 1905 and 50 blocks in 1913, the last started by a laundry worker's iron.

How high did floodwater reach on Central Avenue during the storm of May 14, 1923?

Mountains on three sides funnel runoff into the narrow valley; a lightning strike the same night set downtown businesses ablaze.

How tall is the Hot Springs Mountain Tower that opened in 1983?

It is the third tower on the summit; the second was the wireless telegraph tower from the 1904 St. Louis world's fair, which stood 69 years.

Where did the second tower on Hot Springs Mountain, the Rix Tower, come from?

It was a wireless telegraph tower moved to the mountain in 1906 and torn down in 1975 as unstable.

Where is the park's public campground?

It is about two miles from downtown; the park is open year-round and has miles of mountain trails.

Which two tree species dominate the park's old-growth stands on North and Hot Springs mountains?

About 230 acres there were never logged, with many trees over 130 years old and a few over 200; the forest is recognised by the Old-Growth Forest Network.

Who was the first European-American to settle at the springs, in 1807?

After two years of bathing and eating local food restored his health he went home to his Louisiana plantation; trappers Perciful and Cates soon followed.

The bathhouses began using vapor cabinets around 1884; how hot did the vapor get?

Bathers sat with the lid closed around the neck for 10 to 20 minutes; Russian and Turkish baths, needle baths and Scotch douches followed.

Corn Hole, a popular open spring where visitors soaked their feet, dried up in which year?

Other open springs were capped by the Park Service or bathhouse owners to keep them clean.

Which French explorers claimed the springs area for France in 1673?

The land went to Spain in 1763, back to France in 1800 and to the United States with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.

Where does the money from bathhouse concession fees for the spring water go?

The hot water is piped to the bathhouses under federal control while the city itself is governed entirely under state and municipal law.

Facilities on Bathhouse Row for Black bathers, such as the Pythian, were segregated until when?

The Crystal Bathhouse of 1904 was the first for the Black community; the Knights of Pythias built the Pythian on its site after the 1913 fire.

Horse racing in the city of Hot Springs takes place at which track?

Early 20th-century Hot Springs was also known for spring training, illegal gambling and Prohibition speakeasies.

Under the Köppen system, what climate type does Hot Springs National Park have?

The visitor center sits in USDA plant hardiness zone 7b, with an average annual extreme low near 9.5 °F.

Which tribe settled the springs area around the 18th century, before the Choctaw and Cherokee?

Tribes reportedly agreed to lay down their weapons and share the healing waters in peace while in the valley.

In which year did central cooling towers first cap the springs' water at a safe temperature?

Before that, each bathhouse needed its own cooling system for water that emerges at about 143 °F.