Listed in Arkansas Register of Historic Places on 09/01/99
ELABORATION
The reputation of Hot Springs as a resort town was well-established even before the Civil War due to the widespread belief that the hot springs contained medicinal qualities. The first crude bathhouses were constructed in 1830 and proved so popular that tow years later the United States Government set aside four sections of land around the springs as a reservation to prevent commercial exploitation . Because of this natural resource, Hot Springs experienced relatively steady growth, and during the nineteenth century slowly transformed from a small, primitive village into a modern pleasure resort. This growth was greatly facilitated in 1875 with the completion of a narrow-gauge railroad from Malvern.
In contrast to the hot water springs south of it, the Arsenic Spring is a cold water mineral spring, coming out of the ground at sixty-five degrees Fahrenheit. An observer from Georgia in 1873, reported that the Arsenic Spring issued from a metal pipe.
"This spring is much resorted to by the ladies, and it is often the case morning and evening, they may be seen congregated here quaffing the thermal (sic) waters. It is said and generally believed by many of the fair ones, that this water has a tendency to heighten the complexion and beautify the skin."
Indeed the popularity of the spa experience or hydropathy was based in the believe that bathing or drinking the various mineral waters could cure almost any combination of human ailments. Fortunately, the so called "Arsenic" Spring never contained arsenic in its waters.
As is to be expected, the Arsenic Spring Building changed to meet the needs to its patrons-from a retaining wall and pipe in the 1870s, to a gazebo in the 1880s, and then to a larger more permanent lattice-covered structure in the 1890s. By the turn of the nineteenth century the spa industry was at its height and the building expanded again to contain a second entrance. Finally in the 1950s, as this particular tourist attraction waned the owner Hoydt Dobbs Jr. built an apartment addition in order to bolster the business’s income. The building is now owned by Jerome Whipple.
The Arsenic Springs Building is ineligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, because of numerous alterations to its c. 1890 exterior. These changes include the loss of its original lattice-work front, an expansion of the building to include a second front entrance, and a 1953 addition of a two-story apartment building. The Arsenic Spring Building is being nominated to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places with local significance under Criterion C for its association with the early spa and tourist industry in Hot Springs.
SIGNIFICANCE
The Arsenic Spring Building is being nominated to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places with local significance under Criterion C for its association with the early spa and tourist industry in Hot Springs. The building is ineligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, because of numerous alterations to its c. 1890 exterior. These changes include the loss of its original lattice-work front, an expansion of the building to include a second front entrance, and a 1953 addition of a two-story apartment building.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Brown, Dee. The American Spa, Hot Springs, Arkansas, (Little Rock: 1982).
Historic materials provided by Jerome Whipple owner.