Medicinal hot springs, Al Capone and other gangsters, illegal casinos and brothels, and major league baseball spring training. What do these have in common? Hot Springs National Park.
The natural hot springs emanating on Hot Springs Mountain had long been used by local tribes to cure various conditions. When Europeans “discovered” them they built ramshackle buildings over them. They didn’t last. Congress created the Hot Springs Reservation in 1832 (changed to Hot Springs National Park in 1921). The ranger in the visitor center said this makes Hot Springs the USA’s first national park. Yellowstone disagrees.
Substantial bathhouses were built beginning about 1912. Bathhouse Row is now adjacent to the city of Hot Springs downtown. We toured Fordyce Bathhouse, now the park service’s visitor center and museum.
-
- Changing rooms.
-
- Gymnasium.
-
- Elevator control.
-
- State-of-the-art electrical switches.
-
- Elevator controls (because I’m an engineer.).
-
- Elevator controls.
-
- Elevator controls
What does it tell you about me that most of my photos are engineering-related? For the non-engineering pictures see the park service website and Wikipedia’s Hot Springs National Park and Bathhouse Row articles. That’s where the pictures below are from.
-
- Bathhouse Row.
-
- The Fordyce Bathhouse.
More to follow on baseball and gangsters.
For those keeping score at home: National Park number 40 for us, 23 to go.