Last week S-L and I were in Hot Springs, Arkansas for the anniversary of our wedding. The main riff for us was a mega-spa situation at Quawpaw. But the trip also made me grateful of federal power.
The Hot Springs National Park is a towering example of federal stewardship of shared resources, its fecund collaboration with municipal units of government, and the judicious use of consolidated resources in the times of emergency.
These examples of stewardship, collaboration, and consolidation come to fruit in a historic few blocks of a narrow mountain pass called Central Street. Surrounded by mountains on both sides, they glorify and highlight the slopes.
Hot Springs Map of Central Street— the City of Hot Springs controls the left and the federal government controls the right. Crossing the busy boulevard is a transition of jurisdiction, one that has been used for 150+ years for the maximum benefit.
The city of Hot Springs lines up a bustling and nearly unbroken string of businesses— hotels, tourist shows, gangster museums, and trinket shows.
Stewardship
Across the street is Bathhouse Row, a collection of bathhouses, associated buildings, and gardens located within the national park in 1832 “when the Federal Government took over four parcels of land to preserve 47 natural hot springs, their mineral waters which lack the sulphur odor of most hot springs, and their area of origin on the lower slopes of Hot Springs Mountain”.
These bathhouses lined up in a row are treated like museum artifacts, with plaques out front:
The buildings are being rehabilitated to tenant-ready condition with federal funding. If you are interested in leasing one of these, please contact the superintendent’s office: e-mail or phone at 501-623-2824.
Old-school tank where hot spring water is cooled by cold spring water.Old-school tank where hot spring water is cooled by cold spring water.
In the early Hot Springs heyday, visitors would go back and forth two or three times a day— taking the waters, doing prescribed walks, and coming back to check on progress (“Am I healthier, doc?”) S-L and I stayed at the Waters Hotel— this was one of these places:
The building originally housed doctors’ offices. During this time, visitors were coming to Hot Springs from around the country to experience what were thought to be healing properties of the thermal waters across the street. Many people would “take the waters” three times a day and then visit doctors across the street in the Thompson Building to determine their progress.
Former doctor offices across the street from the hot springs.
The Wheatley was another:
There is great symbiosis here, the solid joy of knowing that the springs are hot, and protected, and right across the street
Consolidation
Then there is the taking. During World War II, the federal government simply took over all of the hotels. It was essentially martial law, and it is presented with gravitas and respect in historical markers.
It certainly looks good from my vantage point, as a tourist in 2018, but internment camps from the same time period— another example of raw federal power displayed domestically— certainly doesn’t look great. One of those camps was just a couple hours away in Jerome, AR. Power is whack.
But my visit to this tight valley made me grateful for federal power wielded ethically in our name. All hail.
