Historic Structure Report: Superior Bathhouse

Witsell, Evans & Rasco, P.A.

Hot Springs National Park was once known as Hot Springs Reservation. It was set aside in 1832 to protect the Park's primary resource, the hot springs. This type of Reservation was an early version of the National Park idea.Hot Springs was actually the first area in the United States to be set aside for its natural features.After Yellowstone was formed in 1872, Hot Springs was managed with it. In 1916 the National Park Service was formed and in 1921, Hot Springs Reservation changed its name to Hot Springs National Park, making it the 18th National Park in the Service. This Historic Structure Report concerns the Superior Bathhouse at Hot Springs National Park. The structure, which suspended bathhouse operations on November 5, 1983, and has been vacant since, is one of five bathhouses included in the NPS lease program. A fifty-year lease was executed beginning September 1, 1987, between the Park Service and Mr. Melvyn Bell, an investor from Little Rock, Arkansas. As a major feature of Mr. Bell's proposed rehabilitation and adaption of the buildings, the Superior will be rehabilitated and adapted into the new use of a museum for Mr. and Mrs. Bell's collection of 19th and 20th Century automated musical instruments. As such, the building will contain a lobby and waiting area, an audiovisual introductory theater, multiple exhibition spaces, a gift shop, curatorial repair facilities, an office, and miscellaneous support spaces.

Historic Structure Report: Superior Bathhouse

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