Aviation 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, 2021Most people are lucky to have success in one career, but Lon Warneke shone in several. Warneke’s talents and character took him from a small farm near Mount I…
by Elizabeth Robbins/Garland County Historical Society September 1, 2021In 1836, John C. and Sara Hale purchased land along both sides of what is now Bathhouse Row. While John built a bath house and hotel, Sara claimed part of thei…
by Elizabeth Robbins/Garland County Historical Society August 1, 2021Did you know that for many years a swimming lake was a popular summer attraction in Gulpha Gorge Campground?
by Sharon Shugart, retired National Park Ranger and GCHS volunteer July 1, 2021Where did Hot Springs’ residents and tourists go for arts and entertainment long ago? The best of the early theaters was a hall (with a tin roof) above the fir…
by Elizabeth Robbins/Garland County Historical Society June 1, 2021The creation of lakes Hamilton, Catherine and Ouachita started with the dream of a former Ouachita River steamboat pilot, Flave Carpenter.
May 1, 2021Hot Springs has enjoyed going to the movies since 1907, when residents saw silent movies at the Whittington Amusement Park Theater. Several theaters soon appea…
by Elizabeth Robbins April 1, 2021Twenty-one-year-old Massachusetts native Hiram Whittington came to the Arkansas Territory in 1826 to work as a printer for the Arkansas Gazette. In 1832 Hiram …
by Elizabeth Robbins March 1, 2021