Hot Springs, Arkansas, USA

Famous People (Some Gangsters) Visit Hot Springs

Through the years Hot Springs has been visited by some of the most famous people in
American history: Bat Masterson, Cy Young, Carrie Nation, John F. Kennedy, Billy Sunday,
President Herbert Hoover, Helen Keller, Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey and also Frank and Jesse
James.

Many of the famous baseball teams and players came to Hot Springs for their spring
training. Before he became a famous preacher, the athlete Billy Sunday came here for
spring training with the Chicago White Stockings (now the Chicago Cubs) as early as 1886.
Connie Mack came down with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1896.

Although the thermal baths were a real plus for baseball players seeking therapy for their
aching muscles, Hot Springs also had a major industry of recreation that attracted a variety
of people - casino gambling.

While gambling in Hot Springs, Wyatt Earp became upset over his gambling losses, and
was disarmed and escorted to the city limits. Legend states that Harry Truman came to
Hot Springs and played poker for small stakes.

The most famous visitor down through the ages was probably Al Capone. During the
Prohibition Era, Capone came from Chicago to strike deals with bootleggers in Hot Springs
to stock his clubs in Chicago with alcohol. Hot Springs was a remote town located in the
middle of the Ouachita mountains, and the forest provided "cover" for the moonshine stills
year round. Capone would ship his bootleg liquor in railroad cars, and for protection, he
had the words "Mountain Valley Water" painted on the side of the railcars.

In Chicago, Detroit, New York - when the FBI and police were after criminals because of a
robbery or murder, the gangsters knew where to come to relax in safety. Hot Springs was
a sanctuary from both prosecution and enemies. Gangsters could enjoy the entertainment
of gambling, and be pampered with the hot mineral baths and massages.

At one time, Capone and his entourage occupied the 4th floor of the Arlington Hotel.
(Legend has it that Capone always stayed in room 442.) Capone's arch enemy Bugs Moran
and his gang were checked in at the Majestic Hotel, just one block away. There was no
conflict, and no violence - both gangsters were on vacation!

link [library.thinkquest.org]

link [www.hotspringsmetro.com]


laissez les bon temps roule

yes, it's so simple


laissez les bon temps roule

Hot Springs is not a bad town. It's the boyhood home of President Bill Clinton and I love
the race track and the hot spring spas.

This is a more positive history:

Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas is the only American city nestled within a national
park. That is because the United States government recognized its uniqueness and gave it
protected status in 1832 as the first Federal Reservation. It was became a National Park in
1921, and the City of Hot Springs was officially incorporated in 1876.

Hot Springs’ legacy springs from the thermal waters that are its namesake. There are 47
hot springs which, for thousands of years, have issued forth from the southwestern slope
of Hot Springs Mountain at a temperature of 143o F and a rate of nearly a million gallons a
day. The waters, having traveled through many layers of filtering rock on their way to the
earth’s surface, have been found to be nearly 100% pure.

Traveling back in time to the year 1541, when the Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto
arrived in Hot Springs and drank the thermal waters, he discovered what the native
American Indians had experienced as long as 10,000 years ago. This Valley of the Vapors,
nestled in the Ouachita Mountains, was a place of peace where various tribes would put
aside their differences and gather to enjoy the mysterious springs. Since then, visitors
have come for healing, rejuvenation, and recreation.

World-famous Bathhouse Row, consisting of eight architecturally unique, turn-of-the-
century bathhouses in the heart of the downtown historic and arts district, is supervised
by the National Park Service. One of the bathhouses, the Fordyce, currently operates as a
beautifully restored museum where visitors can learn more about the colorful history
which shapes Hot Springs to this day. link [www.hotsprings.org]


just a girl