Most people who visit the 5,500-acre Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas are drawn to the phenomenon of naturally heated rainwater rising quickly to the surface via thermal hot springs. Along with the typical cool springs and streams common in the area, heated waters bubble to the surface and flow in a 9-square-mile area of central Arkansas. The hot waters exit the ground at 143 degrees Fahrenheit. The comforting (and some say, healing) waters have been a pull for tourism, especially for the last 150 years.
In fact, the Gilded Age ushered in the start of the area’s heyday, resulting eventually in a row of ornate, luxurious, design-oriented bathhouses. From 1892 to 1923, eight distinct structures were built to provide hot spring baths, accommodations, and dining options to everyone from injured Civil War veterans seeking soaks for battered bodies to professional athletes to presidents.
