Hot Springs National Park is a national park of the United States in central Garland County, Arkansas, adjacent to the city of Hot Springs. Hot Springs Reservation was initially created by an act of the United States Congress on April 20, 1832, to be preserved for future recreation. Established before the concept of a national park existed, it was the first time that land had been set aside by the federal government to preserve its use as an area for recreation. Part of the natural area is old-growth forest and recognized by the Old-Growth Forest Network. The hot spring water has been popularly believed for centuries to possess medicinal properties, and was a subject of legend among several Native American tribes. Following federal protection in 1832, the city developed into a successful spa town.
Incorporated January 10, 1851, the city was known in the early 20th century as the home to Major League Baseball spring training, illegal gambling, speakeasies during the Prohibition era, and gangsters such as Al Capone, horse racing at Oaklawn Park, the Army and Navy Hospital, and 42nd President Bill Clinton. The area was established as a national park on March 4, 1921. Until the redesignation of Jefferson National Expansion Memorial as Gateway Arch National Park in 2018, Hot Springs was the smallest national park by area in the United States. There was agreement among the tribes that they would put aside their weapons and partake of the healing waters in peace while in the valley. The Quapaw lived in the Arkansas River delta area and visited the springs. The Hot Springs Reservation was set aside for public use as a park on June 16, 1880. The government acquired more land, expanding it to more than , including Hot Springs Mountain, North Mountain, West Mountain, Sugarloaf Mountain, and Whittington Lake Park. It later was expanded to 5,839 acres (2,385 ha).
The springs are grouped about the base of the Hot Springs Mountain, with a flow of well over a half million gallons a day. The hot water is supplied to the various bathhouses, with resulting income from concession fees going to the U.S. Treasury. The park has miles of roads and trails over the mountains. The park is open throughout the year.
The first bathhouses were little more than brush huts and log cabins placed over excavations cut in the rocks to receive hot water that flowed from the springs. Entrepreneurs soon developed more elaborate bathing facilities, featuring wooden troughs delivering water from hillside springs to bathhouses along the east bank of Hot Springs Creek. Some of the tufa covering the hillside was excavated to accommodate the bathhouses. The narrow street along the west side of the creek was connected to the bathhouses by narrow bridges.
After direct federal supervision was exercised beginning in 1877, major improvements were made. The creek was covered with stone arches, and above it a street wide was built. All the squatters were evicted, rubbish cleaned up, and a centralized plumbing system was begun.
The park operates a public campground at Gulpha Gorge, about from downtown Hot Springs.
Location
thumb|Central Avenue, on left, circa 1900, taken from the tower of the Eastman Hotel. Many commercial buildings are on the west side, across from Bathhouse Row.
The city of Hot Springs (incorporated 1851) is governed under State and municipal law. In the 1870s, African Americans in town were concentrated in Happy Valley, north of Hot Springs Mountain. There were churches of various denominations, including Baptist for white and black congregations.
Bathing customs
thumb|Big Iron bathhouse (Harper's 1878)
It was believed the waters benefited diseases of the skin and blood, nervous affections, rheumatism and kindred diseases, and the "various diseases of women". In the case of tuberculosis and lung diseases, and acute and inflammatory diseases, the use of the waters was considered injurious and in many cases very dangerous. and the Arkansas Career Development Center until May 2019.<!-- Street address of 200 Reserve matches a building on its NRHP nomination form. -->
After declining enrollment at the Arkansas Career Development Center, the building was vacated in 2019. It is unclear as to who currently is the owner of the property.
As the building was built by the U.S. Federal Government originally to be used by the city of Hot Springs as a hospital, there is a case that the Army and Navy Hospital building would have to be used for that purpose for new occupants. Those seeking to preserve the building estimate it could cost $1 million per year to maintain and speculate that both the state and federal government are letting the property remain in limbo due to the cost of operating it.
Disasters
In November 1864 during the American Civil War, a large part of "the valley" (the central portion of the city along Hot Springs Creek) was burned - presumably by Union troops.
As in many other cities, fire has been a risk, especially before city services were developed. On March 5, 1878, a large fire burned for eight hours in the city, claiming nearly 150 buildings, including hotels, bath houses, and restaurants. On February 26, 1905, a fire started in the Grand Central Hotel on Chapel Street and burned 25 blocks of the southern section of Hot Springs. On September 5, 1913, a laundry worker was ironing and accidentally started a fire at 424 Church Street, which spread rapidly due to strong winds and burned 50 blocks in the business district of the city.
The Majestic Hotel
On February 27, 2014, fire broke out at the Majestic Hotel on Park Avenue just outside the boundaries of the national park. It took 75 firefighters over 22 hours to extinguish the blaze in the yellow brick portion (oldest section of the hotel).
The surviving portion of the Majestic was condemned and remaining property was auctioned off in October 2014. began production on a documentary regarding the Majestic titled Forever Majestic. The documentary takes place just after the 2014 fire and follows two activists as they try to save the hotel from condemnation.
Despite the efforts of activists, after remaining vacant for over two years, the Hot Springs Board of Directors voted to demolish the building. Tickets were issued to those who, after examination, were found to be suffering from diseases which were reasonably expected to be benefited from the baths.
During the 1880s a few of the open springs gradually dried up. Corn Hole, a popular spring where people soaked their feet, dried up in 1882. Other open springs were either covered over by the National Park Service or the bathhouse owners to prevent their pollution.
Flora and fauna
According to the A. W. Kuchler U.S. Potential natural vegetation Types, Hot Springs has an Oak/Hickory/Pine (111) potential vegetation type and a Southern Mixed forest (26) potential vegetation form.
The area is primarily forest. The northern slopes of the ridges and basins provide a suitable habitat for deciduous forest dominated by oak and hickory. Pines predominate on the south sides of the ridges. There are of unlogged pine and oak forests on North and Hot Springs Mountains, and on Sugarloaf Mountain. These old-growth forests contain shortleaf pine, blackjack oak, and white oak; many of the trees over 130 years old, and a few over 200 years old.
Plains bison, elk, cougar and red wolf left the region after European settlement. Present day fauna include white-tailed deer, wild turkey, squirrel, rabbit, Virginia opossum, gray fox, coyote, skunk, raccoon, gopher, long-tailed weasel, mink, rat, chipmunk, frog, and nine-banded armadillo. Some migratory birds following the Mississippi Flyway spend part of the year in the vicinity.
thumb|Conceptual diagram of thermal water flow
The water comes from rain which falls in mountains to the north and northeast. Flowing downward through cracked rock at about one foot per year, the meteoric water migrates to estimated minimum depths of and achieves high temperatures in the deep section of the flow path before rising along fault and fracture conduits. Under artesian pressure, the thermal waters rise and emerge through the Hot Springs Sandstone between the traces of two thrust faults, along several northeast-trending lineaments. Some rainwater from near the springs mixes with the deep hot water before discharge. The trip down takes about 4,000 years while the hot water takes about a year to reach the surface.
The heat comes from the natural heating of rocks as depth increases. The composition of the water indicates it is heated rainwater which has not approached a magmatic source, so no volcanic action is involved in the formation of these hot springs. The result is the mildly alkaline, pleasant tasting solution with dissolved calcium carbonate.
thumb|upright|Water composition sign
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