HOT SPRINGS Arkansas
Where gangsters merit their own museum STORY AND PHOTOS BY David and Kay Scott
Photo by David and Kay Scott The Ohio Club, now an upscale bar, was one of many speakeasies in Hot Springs, Arkansas, during prohibition.
Multiple natural thermal springs in the Hot Springs area of Arkansas have for thousands of years served as a magnet for ancient Native American tribes to today’ s visitors to Hot Springs National Park. The 143-degree mineral springs, in what was once known as“ Valley of the Vapors,” was thought to possess healing properties for a variety of physical maladies. A small town developed around the hot springs following the U. S. 1803 purchase of the Louisiana Territory. Not surprisingly, entrepreneurs soon began using the thermal spring water to provide health services, resulting in the town becoming known as the“ American Spa.”
Initial spa establishments consisted of wooden shacks placed over hot springs with the shacks soon rotting or being lost to fire. Replacement spas grew in size and added facilities. By 1923, bathhouses had been constructed of either brick or stucco. The majority were large two- and three-story buildings with tile floors, marble walls, with a few having stained glass windows and skylights.
The natural thermal spring water was thought to be a cure for many illnesses at a time when few medications were available causing people to flock to Hot Springs for the baths and therapy, frequently under doctor’ s orders. A typical prescription of 21 baths resulted in stays of at least three weeks.
With spa treatments requiring only a few hours each day, visitors had plenty of time for other activities resulting in Hot Springs becoming a hub for entertainment that included hiking, horseback riding, horse races and golf. The town also began offering a selection of illegal activities in gambling clubs, bars— speakeasies— and houses of prostitution.
In the early years most of the town’ s illegal establishments were operated by a single family that knew how to work around the law, or in some cases, with the law. In 1926, Hot Springs elected a mayor who campaigned on a promise to allow gambling. Over the next few decades the mayor worked in tandem with a judge and crooked police force that proved a draw for gangsters. The best-known was Al
Capone, who at the time ruled
6 Community Life