Eureka Springs in Arkansas

Friday, 25 May 2018 - 11:00 am (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination:
Category/Kategorie: General
Reading Time:  7 minutes

At the corner of Spring and Center Streets © flickr.com - doug_wertman/cc-by-2.0

At the corner of Spring and Center Streets © flickr.com – doug_wertman/cc-by-2.0

Eureka Springs is a city in Carroll County in Arkansas, and one of two county seats for the county. It is located in the Ozarks of northwest Arkansas. The city’s population is at 2,100. The entire city is on the National Register of Historic Places as the Eureka Springs Historic District. Eureka Springs has been selected as one of America’s Distinctive Destinations by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Eureka Springs was originally called “The Magic City” and later the “Stairstep Town” because of its mountainous terrain and the winding, up-and-down paths of its streets and walkways.

It is a popular tourist destination for its unique character as a Victorian resort village. The city has steep winding streets filled with Victorian-style cottages and manors. The historic commercial downtown of the city has an extensive streetscape of well-preserved Victorian buildings. The buildings are primarily constructed of local stone, built along streets that curve around the hills and rise and fall with the topography in a five-mile long loop. Some buildings have street-level entrances on more than one floor. The streets wind around the town, and no two intersect at a 90 degree angle; there are no traffic lights.

View of Eureka Springs from atop an observation tower © Photolitherland/cc-by-sa-3.0 Spring Street © Photolitherland/cc-by-sa-3.0 Spring Street at night © Photolitherland/cc-by-sa-3.0 Queen Anne Mansion © flickr.com - Brad Holt/cc-by-2.0 © panoramio.com - Cal Wolfe/cc-by-sa-3.0 At the corner of Spring and Center Streets © flickr.com - doug_wertman/cc-by-2.0
<
>
View of Eureka Springs from atop an observation tower © Photolitherland/cc-by-sa-3.0
Native American legends tell of a Great Healing Spring in the Eureka Springs area. People of various indigenous cultures long visited the springs for this sacred purpose. The European Americans also believed that the springs had healing powers. After the Europeans arrived, they described the waters of the springs as having magical powers. Dr. Alvah Jackson was credited in American history with locating the spring, and in 1856 claimed that the waters of Basin Spring had cured his eye ailments. Dr. Jackson established a hospital in a local cave during the Civil War and used the waters from Basin Spring to treat his patients. After the war, Jackson marketed the spring waters as “Dr. Jackson’s Eye Water”. In 1879 Judge J.B. Saunders, a friend of Jackson, claimed that his crippling disease was cured by the spring waters. Saunders started promoting Eureka Springs to friends and family members across the state and created a boomtown. Within a period of little more than one year, the city expanded from a rural spa village to a major city. Within a short time in the late 19th century, Eureka Springs developed as a flourishing city, spa and tourist destination. On February 14, 1880, Eureka Springs was incorporated as a city. Thousands of visitors came to the springs based on Saunders’ promotion and covered the area with tents and shanties. In 1881, Eureka Springs enjoyed the status of Arkansas’s fourth largest city, and by 1889 it had become the second largest city, behind Little Rock. After his term as a Reconstruction governor, Powell Clayton moved to the heavily Unionist Eureka Springs and began promoting the city and its commercial interests. Clayton promoted the town as a retirement community for the wealthy. Eureka Springs soon became known for gracious living and a wealthy lifestyle. In 1882, the Eureka Improvement Company was formed to attract a railroad to the city. With the completion of the railroad, Eureka Springs established itself as a vacation resort. In only two years, thousands of homes and commercial enterprises were constructed. The Crescent Hotel was built in 1886 and the Basin Park Hotel in 1905. These many Victorian buildings have been well preserved, forming a coherent street scape that has been recognized for its quality. In 1892, the New Orleans Hotel and Spa was built along Spring Street and is now operating as an all-suite hotel full of Victorian furniture and art.

The Ozarka Water Company was later formed in Eureka Springs in 1905. Carrie Nation moved there towards the end of her life, founding Hatchet Hall on Steele Street. The building was later operated as a museum, but is now closed. Opera in the Ozarks at Inspiration Point was founded in 1950. The organization continues to present an annual summer opera festival in Eureka Springs. In 1967, the famous 7-story Christ of the Ozarks Statue was built. A year later, The Great Passion Play was begun as an outdoor performance piece. It is regularly performed from May through October by a cast of 170 actors and dozens of live animals. It has been seen by an estimated 7.7 million people, which makes it the largest-attended outdoor drama in the United States, according to the Institute of Outdoor Theatre of the University of East Carolina at Greenville, North Carolina. Christian-themed attractions have been added in association with the drama production. These include a New Holy Land Tour, featuring a full-scale re-creation of the Tabernacle in the Wilderness; a section of the Berlin Wall; and a Bible Museum featuring more than 6,000 Bibles. (Items include an original 1611 King James Bible, a leaf from a Gutenberg Bible, and the only Bible signed by all of the original founders of the Gideons.) Architect E. Fay Jones designed Thorncrown Chapel in 1980, and it was selected for the “Twenty-five Year Award” by the American Institute of Architects in 2006. The award recognizes structures that have had significant influence on the profession. The chapel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000 because of the special nature and quality of its architecture.

Read more on Stadt Eureka Springs, EurekaSprings.org, Greater Eureka Springs Chamber of Commerce, Crescent Hotel & Spa, Wikipedia Eureka Springs and Wikipedia Eureka Springs (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Global Passport Power Rank - Travel Risk Map - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). Photos by Wikimedia Commons. If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.




Recommended posts:

Share this post: (Please note data protection regulations before using buttons)

Portrait: The Astor family

Portrait: The Astor family

[caption id="attachment_162391" align="aligncenter" width="485"] John Jacob Astor by Gilbert Stuart[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The Astor family is a family known for its prominence in business, society, and politics in the United States and the United Kingdom during the 19th and 20th centuries. The Astor family is of German origin, appearing in North America during the eighteenth century with John Jacob Astor. John Jacob Astor (born Johann Jakob Astor) was the youngest of four sons born to butcher Johann Jacob Astor and M...

[ read more ]

The DFB Hotel in Brazil

The DFB Hotel in Brazil

[caption id="attachment_153881" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © CampoBahia.de[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]With its newly created sport and nature resort, campo bahia is a unique and sustainable joint Brazilian and German project of the future. campo bahia in Bahia, Brazil is starting its unique sport and nature resort in 2014 as a joint German and Brazilian project of the future, which has been confirmed by the German Football Association as the training camp for the German national team during its stay for the FIFA World Cup ...

[ read more ]

Theme Week Apulia - Lecce

Theme Week Apulia - Lecce

[caption id="attachment_203945" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Santa Croce © panoramio.com - Lamberto Zannotti/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Lecce is a historic city of 95,000 inhabitants in southern Italy, the capital of the province of Lecce, the second province in the region by population, as well as one of the most important cities of Apulia. It is the main city of the Salentine Peninsula, a sub-peninsula at the heel of the Italian Peninsula and is over 2,000 years old. Because of the rich Baroque archite...

[ read more ]

Theme Week Lorraine - Bar-le-Duc

Theme Week Lorraine - Bar-le-Duc

[caption id="attachment_153988" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Notre-Dame Bridge over Ornain river © Хрюша/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Bar-le-Duc is a commune in the Meuse département, of which it is the capital. The department is in Lorraine in northeastern France. The highly rarefied Bar-le-duc jelly, also known as Lorraine Jelly, is a spreadable preparation of white currant or red currant fruit preserves, hailing from this town. First referenced in the historical record in 1344, it is also colloquially ref...

[ read more ]

Theme Week Channel Islands - Jersey

Theme Week Channel Islands - Jersey

[caption id="attachment_150418" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Mont Orgueil Castle © Man vyi[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The Bailiwick of Jersey is located off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and other rocks and reefs. Together with the Bailiwick of Guernsey, it forms the grouping known as the Channel Islands. Like the Isle of Man, Jersey is a s...

[ read more ]

The Le Soléal

The Le Soléal

[caption id="attachment_191738" align="aligncenter" width="590"] in Ushuaia © Balou46/cc-by-sa-4.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Le Soleal is a cruise ship owned and operated by Compagnie du Ponant. The ship was built at the Fincantieri shipyard in Ancona, Italy, and was launched on the 6 December 2012, being christened by Kiki Tauck Mahar of U.S. travel company Tauck. The vessel started its maiden voyage on 1 July 2013. Le Soleal's homeport is Mata Utu, capital of the French overseas territory Wallis and Futuna. Le Soléal...

[ read more ]

Port Orange in Florida

Port Orange in Florida

[caption id="attachment_151019" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Port Orange Causeway © Gamweb/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Port Orange is a city in Volusia County, Florida. The city's estimated population is at 56,000. The city is part of the Deltona–Daytona Beach–Ormond Beach metropolitan area; the metropolitan area's population is at 590,000. Port Orange is a principal city in the Fun Coast region. The Daytona Beach International Airport is nearby. Port Orange is located on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. ...

[ read more ]

Theme Week South Korea - Busan

Theme Week South Korea - Busan

[caption id="attachment_193247" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Seomyeon © flickr.com - Carey Ciuro/cc-by-2.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Busan, formerly known as Pusan and now officially Busan Metropolitan City, is South Korea's second most-populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.5 million inhabitants. It is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern Korea, with its port—Korea's busiest and the 9th-busiest in the world—only about 120 miles (190 km) from the Japanese islands of Kyushu and Ho...

[ read more ]

European Heritage Label

European Heritage Label

[caption id="attachment_233989" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © Andrijana F/cc-by-sa-4.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The European Heritage Label is a recognition awarded by the European Union to buildings, documents, museums, archives, monuments or events which are seen as milestones in the creation of today's Europe. The program is managed by the European Commission. The European Heritage Label started as an intergovernmental initiative between 17 individual EU member states during a meeting in Granada, Spain on 28 Ap...

[ read more ]

Plymouth in South West England

Plymouth in South West England

[caption id="attachment_151934" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Barbican and harbour © flickr.com - Bex Ross/cc-by-2.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the south coast of Devon in England, about 190 miles (310 km) south-west of London. It is situated between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound. Since 1967, the City of Plymouth has included the suburbs of Plympton and Plymstock, which are situated on the east side of the River ...

[ read more ]

Return to TopReturn to Top
Calle Carabobo © The Photographer
Theme Week Venezuela – Maracaibo

Maracaibo is a city and municipality in northwestern Venezuela, on the western shore of the strait that connects Lake Maracaibo...

Flor de Venezuela © Miguel Ahiezer Salcedo/cc-by-sa-3.0
Theme Week Venezuela – Barquisimeto

Barquisimeto is the capital of the state of Lara and head of Iribarren Municipality. It is an important urban, industrial,...

Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen
Portrait: Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, first winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics

Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen was a German mechanical engineer and physicist, who, on 8 November 1895, produced and detected electromagnetic radiation...

Schließen