Historical society members tour ACTI main campus
Members of the Garland County Historical Society toured the Arkansas Career Training Institute campus on Wednesday to get a feel for the building’s rich history.
“As people dedicated to preserving the history of Hot Springs, we were incredibly interested in such a historic site and grateful to see the building for ourselves since the future is uncertain,” said Liz Robbins, the historical society’s executive director.
“We’ve done so much research on the building’s history, so it was great to be able to see what all is inside,” Robbins said.
Members of the historical society took photographs and asked mainly about the history of the building and the services they have provided as ACTI over the years during the tour.
Assistant Administrator Lily Kersh led the group through the physical therapy area on the first floor, clinics on the second floor, a library and recreation area on the sixth floor, and they were treated to a bird’s-eye view of Hot Springs from a ninthfloor balcony.
“We’ve had a lot of construction happening here but everything has to be basically as close to original as it needed to be,” Kersh said.
The state residential program that provides job training to young adults with disabilities ends Sept. 30. ACTI’s last residential-class graduates Sept. 13.
“We not only perform the academic assessments but also physical dexterity and career
type assessments to make sure it’s a good fit for whatever careers (the students) choose to go into. We also want to make sure they were successful,” Kersh said.
The ACTI campus was originally built in the 1880s as the nation’s first Army and Navy General Hospital with control of the facility transferred to the U.S. Army in 1957. Kersh noted that the main structure on campus was completed in 1933. Arkansas Rehabilitation Services has operated the facility since 1960.