Making room
Party to raise funds, honor Spa’s history
The Garland County Historical Society will host a “Make Room for History” Expansion Party on Wednesday that will feature an exhibit on the life of a well-known local architect and a display of gambling memorabilia.
The party, which will be held from 4-6 p.m. Wednesday in Room 207 of the Hot Springs Convention Center, is free and open to the public. Proceeds from a silent auction will go to the society’s building expansion fund.
I. Granger McDaniel, who designed the Vapors and City Hall, among other landmark buildings in town, will be featured in an exhibit that will
include memorabilia from his World War II adventures, samples of his art, photographs of the buildings he designed, and a large-screen slideshow of his work, the society said in a news release.
Mason Toms, architectural historian with the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, will be at the party to chat about McDaniel’s work and life, as will McDaniel’s daughter, Diana McDaniel Hampo, it said.
Toms said McDaniel was a “prolific architect who produced hundreds of designs that were built all over the city, from houses to churches and schools and commercial and retail buildings. Pretty much every resident of the city has interacted with at least one building by McDaniel at some point in his or her life.”
His work includes The Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce building, Quapaw Community Center, Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Congregation House of Israel, First Methodist Church Education Building, the Vapors, City Hall, the original Hot Springs Convention Center, and the Dierks Forests Inc. building, now the Weyerhaeuser building.
His war history is as fascinating as his architectural work, according to the society.
“Before the United States entered World War II, McDaniel dropped out of Hot Springs High School and joined the Royal Air Force (with a forged birth certificate),” the release said. “The 17-year-old (who had gotten his pilot’s license when he was 16), was soon flying missions over Germany. In 1941, his plane was shot down in the North Sea, and he began a fouryear odyssey in German POW camps. While in Stalag Luft III, he helped in the escape attempt later immortalized in the movie ‘The Great Escape.’ McDaniel was the inspiration for the Steve McQueen character in that movie,” the release said.
The exhibit of gambling memorabilia, which will include a working slot machine from the Southern Club, will be courtesy of Larry Beavers and Chris Hendrix, proprietors of Hot Springs Memorabilia, 3339C Central Ave. Attendees will also be able to have their picture taken while sitting in Al Capone’s favorite chair from the Southern Club.
Silent auction items will include a watercolor of the Arlington Hotel by Richard Stephens and works by other artists including Alison Parsons, John Fagin krantz, Catherine Thornton and Susie Harris.
Attendees can also bid on a tour of the state Capitol building, including lunch, conducted by state Rep. Les Warren and state Sen. Bill Sample; memorabilia from Oaklawn, the Vapors and the Majestic, Arlington, and Como hotels; a candy dish owned by mobster Owney Madden; use of a VIP suite for a Travelers baseball game at Dickey-Stephens Park; a twonight stay at Artist Lake Loft on Lake Hamilton; dinner for four at Belle Arti prepared by chef Joe Gargano; a J.F. Kennedy Hale Bath House photograph from the 1870s; and books signed by author Shirley Abbot.
“After 57 years of dedicated archiving, we’ve run out of space at our building at 328 Quapaw Ave. to house and preserve our collections. We’ve had to rent two storage units and turn down historical items we just don’t have space for. Our building expansion project will give us more archival storage space with movable shelving, a larger reading/research room, and a clean gas fire-suppression system to protect the irreplaceable photos, documents, and objects that we care for,” Executive Director Liz Robbins said.
A grant from the Oaklawn Foundation is funding about two-thirds of the project.