When was eureka springs arkansas founded

The first white settler to "discover" the healing springs is reputed to be Dr. Alvah Jackson, who used the healing waters to cure his son of an eye ailment in The waters were used at "Dr. Jackson set up a brisk business selling "Dr. Jackson's Eye Water. Saunders was cured of a crippling disease by a visit to Basin Spring, and subsequently put his considerable influence behind promoting the Springs to friends and family throughout the state. The impossibility of presenting a striking and vivid picture of Eureka Springs has been fully realized by every person who has made the attempt, and the most powerful descriptive writer would rise from the task dissatisfied with the best efforts of his pen.

To group and present a few of its most prominent features would utterly fail to do justice to a city without parallel--unique, phenomenal, picturesque and beautiful.

Schaefer's wonderful books about our fair city. Eureka's miraculous cures remained a local marvel until when the doctor's friend and hunting companion Judge J. The Eureka Springs Improvement Company was formed in to bring the railroad to the city and to develop amenities to service the growing visitor population. Founded by carpetbagger, General Powell Clayton after his term as Arkansas Governor, Clayton would use his ties to the railroad and financial connections to the wealthy of St Louis to build his own town.

Many of these structures nearly still exist today--so rigorously preserved that the entire town of Eureka Springs is on the National Register of Historic Places with national significance.

The Artists' Bridge Studio. An early example of the kind of inspiration Eureka Springs offers to artists and writers. Eureka is still a community of creativity, and our commitment to the arts continues today.

Of the original 60 plus springs over a dozen can still be enjoyed today. Currently, Eureka Springs offers days of enjoyment with generous choices of restaurants, antique stores, live theaters and day spas. Visit the Thorncrown Chapel - 6 th on the architectural list in the United States. Nightclubs and pubs are abundant for those enjoying the nightlife along with lots of live music.

While enjoying Eureka Springs West, you can experience beautiful Beaver Lake with all the water activities such as boating, swimming, scuba diving and paddling boarding. Flowing out of the lake is the famous White River that offers canoeing, kayaking and amazing trout fishing! It is still famous today for its unique architecture. Each floor of this eight-story hotel is a ground level because it is built in the side of the mountain. Tourism began to slow as visitors stopped believing in the curative powers of the springs.

An expected boom to be prompted by oil wells in northern Arkansas fizzled when little available petroleum was found. Tourism continued to wane after the turn of the century. It operated as a hotel only during the summer.

In the s, the building ran as a junior college and even a cancer hospital. However, the cancer hospital, run by quack doctor Norman Baker , was closed after Baker was indicted and convicted for mail fraud in ; he had no medical training and his practices were not licensed.

During this time, radio evangelist Gerald L. Smith moved his operation to Eureka Springs because of its all-white population. Water from the springs began to be bottled and sent outside the city. When the company first failed, it was purchased by Richard Thompson, a teacher at Crescent College, and he operated it past the middle of the century. He sold the business in to a California company, and after the name was acquired by a string of corporations, none of whom actually bottled water from Eureka Springs, or indeed anywhere in the Arkansas Ozarks.

Louis Freund , an artist with the Works Progress Administration , established a home in the city with his wife, Elsie Freund , in They started a summer art school, and some of the students stayed in Eureka Springs and opened galleries.

The Eureka Springs Gallery Association is made up of nine core galleries, and more than working artists still live and work in Eureka Springs. Eureka Springs is also known for its religious ties. Religious leader and political extremist Gerald Smith moved to Eureka Springs in When he came to Eureka Springs after several unsuccessful presidential and senatorial campaigns, he began a series of building projects dubbed the Sacred Projects.

On June 25, , he dedicated a seven-story statue of Jesus known as Christ of the Ozarks. The white concrete figure was sculpted by Emmet A. Sullivan and stands atop Magnetic Mountain. Smith also founded the Great Passion Play in , which was the largest outdoor drama in the United States. Both of these attractions are part of a Christian theme park with a Holy Land replica, shopping, an art gallery, restaurants, and a segment of the Berlin Wall. A community of African Americans had developed in Eureka Springs during the tourism boom.

This community had its own schools, as well as a church, associated with the African Methodist Episcopalian denomination. When tourism declined, this community disappeared. Several factors led to the revival of Eureka Springs in the second half of the twentieth century. Empty stores were open for business again, hotels were operating, and newer businesses were being constructed on Highways 62 and 23, which run through the city.

The film Pass the Ammo , a satire of televangelists, was filmed in Eureka Springs. Eureka Springs also draws a large gay and lesbian community. The Metropolitan Community Church of the Living Springs performs commitment ceremonies for gay and lesbian couples.

In , the city council voted to create a registry of domestic partnerships, and in Eureka Springs became the only city in Arkansas to provide city employee health insurance coverage for domestic partners. The documentary The Gospel of Eureka addressed the odd co-existence of both a gay nightlight and attractions for Christian fundamentalists in Eureka Springs. Attractions Even though the mystique of the healing waters has faded, Eureka Springs is still a tourist city.

The Crescent Hotel is famous for its legends of paranormal activity. Thorncrown Chapel , St. Famous Residents Early resident Benjamin Rosewater worked with the former governor Powell Clayton in order to lead a movement for civic improvement. Carry Nation , the famous temperance advocate, lived in Eureka Springs near the end of her life, and she gave her last speech there. The house she lived in was made into a museum called Hatchet Hall. Popular ballroom and ragtime dancer Irene Castle lived in Eureka Springs until her death in