The Record celebrates centennial year of Hot Springs National Park
After a pandemic-related delay, The Record 2021, the annual journal of the Garland County Historical Society, will be available for purchase by the public starting Thursday at the society’s archives, 328 Quapaw Ave., or through its website.
“Because our printer had supply problems caused by the pandemic, we weren’t able to get delivery of The Record as soon as we usually do,” Liz Robbins, executive director of the Society and the journal’s editor, said in a news release.
“We’re delighted to share it with the community at last. As always, our annual journal presents articles and many, many photographs that illuminate Garland County’s history.”
All members of the society will receive their copies of the 62nd edition of the journal by mail.
The journal’s front and back covers celebrate the 100th anniversary of Hot Springs National Park’s designation as a national park in 1921. On the front cover are the park’s 100th-anniversary logo and “then and now” photos of the park’s Formal Entrance, located in between the Maurice and Fordyce bath houses, the release said. The back cover shows a map of the current park’s 5,550 acres and 26 miles of day-use hiking trails.
An article in the publication by Hot Springs National Park Curator Tom Hill “explains the significance of this historic year in an article that celebrates the park’s centennial as a national park and its 189-year history as a place reserved by the federal government for the benefit of the nation,” the release said.
The Record also features an article by Dan Chmill, describing construction in 1931 of the thermal water collection and distribution system “hidden under tourists’ feet — a fascinating system of ‘hidden monuments,’” the release said.
Also, “in a story of devotion and loss,” an article by Mary Bell Hill profiles Katie Shupan Stevens and her husband, Robert Stevens, who designed the Stevens Balustrade at the end of the Formal Entrance to Hot Springs Reservation, which is pictured on the cover.
An article by Robbins examines Fountain Street’s Black history, starting in the days just after the Civil War when former slaves made the Happy Hollow neighborhood their home.
In other articles, John J. Archibald, a former staff writer for The Sentinel-Record, reports on Arkansas newspaper development in the 1800s and press coverage of Arkansas epidemics, highlighting an information war that broke out between the national media and local doctors during Hot Springs’ smallpox epidemic of 1895.
Victoria Reichard discovers the “hidden history” of discrimination against women during World War II at Camp Garraday, which was built to house patients coming to Hot Springs for venereal disease treatment at the Hot Springs Public Health Service Medical Clinic.
Society member Clyde Covington “dines out in Hot Springs” in a photo essay that “takes readers back to cherished restaurants of the past,” the release said.
The public can purchase the journal for $25 with $5 shipping and handling at http://www.garlandcountyhistoricalsociety.com, by mailing a check to GCHS, PO Box 21335, Hot Springs, AR 71903, or by visiting the society between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. at 328 Quapaw.
Call 501-321-2159 or email The cover of The Record 2021, the Garland County Historical Society’s yearly journal, features Hot Springs National Park’s 100th-anniversary logo and “then and now” photos of the park’s Formal Entrance, in between the Maurice and Fordyce bath houses. The “then” photo shows that 100 years ago the entrance led to Stevens Balustrade and a wood and stone bandstand. Photo is courtesy of the Garland County Historical Society.