Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Hot Springs

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
AHistory
History · Hot Springs

Hot Springs’ post office opened in 1831, and 11% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 85% of U.S. towns · #1 of 123 in Arkansas. What drives it

82 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Bathhouse Row, a National Historic Landmark, and ten historic districts with 446 buildings between them. Below: 12 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1860.

1831first post office
82on the National Register
11%homes built before 1940
12old photos & papers
62famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Hot Springs’ archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Hot Springs began

When was Hot Springs founded?

1831

The Hot Springs post office opened in 1831, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1832. Another post office, Warm Springs (1829), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 201 in 18602020 census: 37,930195 years

How historic is Hot Springs?

A

More historic than 85% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Hot Springs post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1832.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Hot Springs’ History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hot Springs is more historic than 85% of U.S. towns, #1 of 123 in Arkansas. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Hot Springs’ overall grade.
Founding era1831, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 194010.8% of homes (±1.5) · typical AR town 3.1% · U.S. 8.4%B−National Register82 listings, 514 historic buildings, 136 per 10,000 residents · typical AR town 20.5 · U.S. 2.4A
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 85%
NewerOlder
Arkansas towns of 2,500+ (123)#1 of 123

Arkansas towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Arkansas town has 20.5 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Hot Springs’ 136 sits above most of its state (90% of Arkansas towns have fewer) while its 514 historic buildings outnumber those of 97% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B to A. The pre-1940 share (±1.5 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1832 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.

Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Hot Springs’ past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A National Historic Landmark82 places on the National Register, including Bathhouse Row, a National Historic Landmark.A historic districtThe Quapaw-Prospect Historic District takes in 138 historic buildings.Famous sons and daughtersBilly Bob Thornton, Alan Ladd and 60 more were born here.Mapped building by building7 fire insurance maps, 1886 to 1915, drew every building in Hot Springs.
★ What stands out · On the National Register

82 listings protect 514 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.

places listed
82
National Historic Landmark
1
Bathhouse Row
historic buildings protected
514
each building in a district counts
first listed
1974
Bathhouse Row
Short-Dodson HouseStitt HousePassmore HouseWildwoodDoherty HouseMedical Arts BuildingWilliams-Wootton HouseCitizens BuildingGarland County CourthouseFirst Presbyterian ChurchFordyce HouseInterstate OrphanagePark HotelRiviera Hotel, built 1930St. Luke's Episcopal ChurchWade BuildingWilliam H. Martin HouseW. C. Brown HouseHot Springs High School, built 1914Jones SchoolW. H. Moore HouseOld Post OfficeMissouri-Pacific Railroad Depot-Hot SpringsCharles N. Rix HouseBelding-Gaines CemeteryKlein, George, Tourist Court Historic DistrictForest Service Headquarters Historic DistrictWalter Beauchamp HouseBill Clinton Boyhood HomeVisitors Chapel AMEHot Springs Confederate MonumentHot Springs Railroad Warehouse Historic DistrictHollywood Cemetery, Confederate SectionWoodmen of Union BuildingKraemer-Harman HousePlaza ApartmentsJoplin, Peter, Commercial BlockHumphreys-Ryan HouseQuapaw-Prospect Historic DistrictOrange Street Presbyterian ChurchKing-Neimeyer-Mathis HousePleasant Street Historic DistrictFordyce-Ricks House Historic District, built 1904Bellaire Court Historic DistrictButchie's Drive-In, built 1952Cottage Courts Historic DistrictCove Tourist CourtLangdon Filling StationLynwood Tourist Court Historic DistrictMountainaire Hotel Historic DistrictOpal's Steak HouseParkway Courts Historic DistrictPerry Plaza Court Historic DistrictTaylor Rosamond Motel Historic DistrictJack Tar Hotel and BathhouseHot Springs Central Avenue Historic DistrictHamp Williams BuildingPeter Dierks Joers HouseMalco TheatreCentral Methodist Episcopal Church SouthOuachita Avenue Historic DistrictHumphrey's Dairy FarmWhittington Park Historic DistrictFederal Building-U.S. Post Office and Court HouseFirst Lutheran ChurchFirst Methodist Church Christian Education BuildingHill Wheatley Downtowner Motor InnCarpenter DamArmy and Navy General Hospital Historic DistrictHot Springs National Guard ArmoryCleveland Arms Apartment Building, built 1945Dr. Albert H. Tribble House, built 1938City CemeteryDr. Will W. and Helen B. Jackson HousePlunkett-Jarrell Grocer Co. BuildingHot Springs Masonic TempleForrest ApartmentsRobert E. Lee SchoolBathhouse Row★
BuildingsDistrictsSitesStructuresObjects★ landmark
★ Landmark
Bathhouse RowDistrict
Short-Dodson HouseBuilding
Stitt HouseBuilding
Passmore HouseBuilding
WildwoodBuilding
Doherty HouseBuilding
Medical Arts BuildingBuilding
Williams-Wootton HouseBuilding
All 82 listings
Citizens BuildingBuilding · listed 1979Garland County CourthouseBuilding · listed 1979First Presbyterian ChurchBuilding · listed 1982Fordyce HouseBuilding · listed 1982Interstate OrphanageBuilding · listed 1982Park HotelBuilding · listed 1982Riviera HotelBuilding · listed 1982St. Luke's Episcopal ChurchBuilding · listed 1982Wade BuildingBuilding · listed 1982William H. Martin HouseBuilding · listed 1986W. C. Brown HouseBuilding · listed 1986Hot Springs High SchoolBuilding · listed 1988Jones SchoolBuilding · listed 1988W. H. Moore HouseBuilding · listed 1990Old Post OfficeBuilding · listed 1990Missouri-Pacific Railroad Depot-Hot SpringsBuilding · listed 1992Charles N. Rix HouseBuilding · listed 1992Belding-Gaines CemeterySite · listed 1993Klein, George, Tourist Court Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1993Forest Service Headquarters Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1993Walter Beauchamp HouseBuilding · listed 1994Bill Clinton Boyhood HomeBuilding · listed 1995Visitors Chapel AMEBuilding · listed 1995Hot Springs Confederate MonumentObject · listed 1996Hot Springs Railroad Warehouse Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1996Hollywood Cemetery, Confederate SectionSite · listed 1996Woodmen of Union BuildingBuilding · listed 1997Kraemer-Harman HouseBuilding · listed 1999Plaza ApartmentsBuilding · listed 1999Joplin, Peter, Commercial BlockBuilding · listed 2000Humphreys-Ryan HouseBuilding · listed 2000Quapaw-Prospect Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2002Orange Street Presbyterian ChurchBuilding · listed 2002King-Neimeyer-Mathis HouseBuilding · listed 2002Pleasant Street Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2003Fordyce-Ricks House Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2003Bellaire Court Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2004Butchie's Drive-InBuilding · listed 2004Cottage Courts Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2004Cove Tourist CourtBuilding · listed 2004Langdon Filling StationBuilding · listed 2004Lynwood Tourist Court Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2004Mountainaire Hotel Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2004Opal's Steak HouseBuilding · listed 2004Parkway Courts Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2004Perry Plaza Court Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2004Taylor Rosamond Motel Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2004Jack Tar Hotel and BathhouseBuilding · listed 2006Hot Springs Central Avenue Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2007Hamp Williams BuildingBuilding · listed 2007Peter Dierks Joers HouseBuilding · listed 2009Malco TheatreBuilding · listed 2010Central Methodist Episcopal Church SouthBuilding · listed 2011Ouachita Avenue Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2011Humphrey's Dairy FarmDistrict · listed 2012Whittington Park Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2012Federal Building-U.S. Post Office and Court HouseBuilding · listed 2015First Lutheran ChurchBuilding · listed 2015First Methodist Church Christian Education BuildingBuilding · listed 2016Hill Wheatley Downtowner Motor InnBuilding · listed 2016Aristocrat Motor InnBuilding · listed 2017Lake Catherine State Park Prisoner of War StructuresStructure · listed 2017Carpenter DamStructure · listed 1992Army and Navy General Hospital Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2007Hot Springs National Guard ArmoryBuilding · listed 2017Cleveland Arms Apartment BuildingBuilding · listed 2018Dr. Albert H. Tribble HouseBuilding · listed 2019City CemeterySite · listed 2021Dr. Will W. and Helen B. Jackson HouseBuilding · listed 2021Plunkett-Jarrell Grocer Co. BuildingBuilding · listed 2022Hot Springs Masonic TempleBuilding · listed 2022Forrest ApartmentsBuilding · listed 2024Velda Rose Tower Motor HotelBuilding · listed 2024Robert E. Lee SchoolBuilding · listed 2026

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

62 famous people were born in Hot Springs

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Billy Bob ThorntonAmerican actor, filmmaker, and musician · b. 1955
Alan LaddAmerican actor · b. 1913
James RectorAmerican athlete · b. 1884
Bruce WestermanAmerican politician · b. 1967
Mamie Phipps ClarkAmerican psychologist · b. 1917
S
Steve BartonAmerican actor/singer · b. 1954
The story

How Hot Springs came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Hot Springs.

Read it all →

Members of many Native American tribes had been gathering in the valley for untold numbers of years to enjoy the healing properties of the thermal springs.

In 1673, Father Marquette and Jolliet explored the area and claimed it for France. The 1763 Treaty of Paris ceded the land to Spain; however, in 1800, control was returned to France until the Louisiana Purchase of 1803.

In December 1804, George Hunter and William Dunbar made an expedition to the springs, finding a lone log cabin and a few rudimentary shelters used by people visiting the springs for their healing properties. In 1807, a man named Prudhomme became the first settler of modern Hot Springs, and he was soon joined by John Perciful and Isaac Cates.

ChaptersSettlementCivil WarRebuildingBaseball in Hot Springs1913 fireFormation of the Assemblies of GodGangsters and illegal gamblingArmy-Navy Hospital

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Hot Springs, 1829 to 1967

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1829Post officeThe Warm Springs post office opens
  3. 1831Post officeThe Warm Springs post office closes
  4. 1831Post officeThe Hot Springs post office opens
  5. 1844In the archiveHot Springs 1844 Featherstonhaugh
  6. 1873In the archiveArkansas. Hot Springs, the popular health resort of the southwest - sketched by James E. …
  7. 1880In the archive1950 Census Enumeration District Maps - Arkansas - Garland County - Hot Springs - ED AR 2…
  8. 1884Born hereJames Rector is born here
  9. 1890In the archiveHot Springs, Arkansas
  10. 20th century
  11. 1904BuiltFordyce-Ricks House Historic District is built
  12. 1913Born hereAlan Ladd is born here
  13. 1914BuiltHot Springs High School is built
  14. 1922Post officeThe Hot Springs post office closes
  15. 1922Post officeThe Hot Springs National Park post office opens
  16. 1930BuiltRiviera Hotel is built
  17. 1952BuiltButchie's Drive-In is built
  18. 1955Born hereBilly Bob Thornton is born here
  19. 1966On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  20. 1967Born hereBruce Westerman is born here
By decade

Hot Springs, decade by decade

4 decades in the archive, from the 1840s to the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1840s–1880s10 items
Hot Springs 1844 Featherstonhaugh1844Hot Springs 1844 FeatherstonhaughArkansas. Hot Springs, the popular health resort of the southwest - sketched by James E. Taylor1873Arkansas. Hot Springs, the popular health resort of t…Arkansas. Hot Springs, the popular health resort of the southwest1873Arkansas. Hot Springs, the popular health resort of t…Main Street, looking north from Warren Observatory1875Main Street, looking north from Warren Observatory1950 Census Enumeration District Maps - Arkansas - Garland County - Hot Springs - ED AR 26-12 to 5818801950 Census Enumeration District Maps - Arkansas - Ga…Ostrich farm1880Ostrich farmThe Sumpter House in1884The Sumpter House inMan seated in a wooden wheelchair1885Man seated in a wooden wheelchairHot Springs, Arkansas. Bath houses1888Hot Springs, Arkansas. Bath housesHotSpringsAR AntiqueMap 1888c. 1888HotSpringsAR AntiqueMap 1888
1890s2 items
Hot Springs, Arkansas1890Hot Springs, ArkansasHot Springs, Arkansas1890Hot Springs, Arkansas
1900s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
On the map

Hot Springs on the map, 1966 to 1976

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hot Springs. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Hot Springs on the 1966 USGS mapHot Springs on the 1976 USGS map1966Hot Springs North sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Hot Springs.

Every building

Hot Springs, building by building, 1886–1915

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Hot Springs fire insurance map, 1886, sheet 11886Sheet 1 of 8
Edition
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Hot Springs 1844 Featherstonhaugh
Retake this viewHot Springs 1844 Featherstonhaugh, 1844

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Hot Springs’ page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Hot Springs, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,00025,00030,00035,00040,00019001950200037,930

Grew from 201 people in 1860 to 37,930 in 2020, more than tenfold.

17 censuses, 1860–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Hot Springs’ Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Hot Springs had its own post office from 1831 to 1922. Another post office, Warm Springs, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Warm Springs
1829–1831
Hot Springs
1831–1922
Hot Springs National Park
1922–today
18201920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Euclid Heights
Gone or out of use
Church of Godchurch
8cemeteries and burying grounds inside Hot Springs
CalvaryFilesFriendshipGreenwoodHollywoodJewish RestShady GroveTranquil

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Help out

Finish Hot Springs’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewHot Springs 1844 Featherstonhaugh: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

PineyIts storyD−Lake Hamilton1 historic placeC−RockwellIts storyD

Questions about Hot Springs’ history

What year was Hot Springs founded?

The Hot Springs post office opened in 1831, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1832.

How does Hot Springs rank for history?

Hot Springs is more historic than 85% of U.S. towns, #1 of 123 in Arkansas. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

What is on the National Register in Hot Springs?

82 listings: 57 buildings, 19 historic districts with 446 contributing buildings, 3 sites, 2 structures, and 1 object. 514 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Hot Springs?

11% of Hot Springs’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.5 points), against a typical 3.1% for an Arkansas town; the median home was built in 1973.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (9), the Library of Congress (3), the National Register of Historic Places (82), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.