
On Dec. 7, 1941, the attack on Pearl Harbor galvanized the nation, including Hot Springs and Garland County. On Dec. 8, guards were placed at the Army and Navy…
by Elizabeth Robbins/Garland County Historical Society December 1, 2022Buffalo hunter, U.S. Army scout, lawman, gambler, saloon operator, boxing promoter, and sports writer — Bat Masterson played many roles. Throughout his adventu…
by Garland County Historical Society November 1, 2022Hot Springs history isn’t just the stories of people and buildings and floods and fires. Animals have been a part of our history, too.
by Elizabeth Robbins/Garland County Historical Society October 1, 2022September brings thoughts of kids back in school. And when thinking of Hot Springs schools, one — Jones School — might leap to mind. It has a very special hist…
by Elizabeth Robbins/Garland County Historical Society September 1, 2022In 1833, 10 years before a library was established in Little Rock, Hiram Whittington set up a circulating library in Hot Springs in his log cabin home.
by Elizabeth Robbins/Garland County Historical Society August 1, 2022Beautiful girls under the stars — what could be lovelier? That was the scene at Oaklawn Park for the first eight years the Miss Arkansas Pageant was held in H…
by Elizabeth Robbins/Garland County Historical Society July 1, 2022On a scorching June 10th in 1936, the largest crowd up to that time in Hot Springs history massed at the Missouri Pacific train depot and along our streets. Th…
by Elizabeth Robbins/Garland County Historical Society June 1, 2022Aviation came to Hot Springs in 1911 when residents first received air mail. In 1924, Hot Springs Airport Co. built a landing strip south of the city to take p…
by Elizabeth Robbins/Garland County Historical Society May 1, 2022April’s National Arbor Day reminds us to be grateful for trees. One way to discover and appreciate the beautiful trees in this area, as well the flowers and wi…
by Elizabeth Robbins/Garland County Historical Society April 1, 2022From New York City’s Jimmy Walker to Chicago’s Richard J. Daley, many cities have had interesting Irish American mayors. Hot Springs had its own combination of…
by Elizabeth Robbins/Garland County Historical Society March 1, 2022Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2003, the Pleasant Street Historic District is the largest Black historic district in Arkansas. It include…
by Elizabeth Robbins/Garland County Historical Society February 1, 2022Each January, many people think about how to get healthier in the new year. For many decades, they decided to visit Hot Springs to improve their physical and m…
by Elizabeth Robbins/Garland County Historical Society January 1, 2022Although snowfall in Hot Springs National Park is rare, it does happen some years. Being normally so warm, the park is usually listed in the top 10 places in t…
by Tom Hill, curator, Hot Springs National Park December 1, 2021Late one night in 1863, an exhausted Union cavalry officer searched crowded Nashville, Tennessee, for a hotel room. A clerk at the Commercial Hotel took pity o…
by Elizabeth Robbins/Garland County Historical Society November 1, 2021What’s more fun than going to the State Fair in Little Rock? Well, did you know that, from 1906 to 1914, Arkansans enjoyed the Arkansas State Fair at Oaklawn?
by Elizabeth Robbins/Garland County Historical Society October 1, 2021