Hot Springs Histories

BIG NEWS! 🔥 I'm officially going into "production mode" for the rest of the year to build a backlog for a massive 2026. Weekly articles are paused, but I'm not disappearing!

Get ready for the grand relaunch with new articles, videos, and podcasts in January! #Announcement #ComingSoon

Gunfight in Hot Springs: The Editor vs. The Mayor When scathing editorials weren't enough, Hot Springs Mayor T.F. Linde and newspaper editor Charles Matthews settled their political feud with pistols on Valley Street. This is the wild, true story.

3/3: The craziest part? No one was arrested. The mayor went back to work, the editor recovered, and they eventually became FRIENDS. Read the full, insane story of bullets, ballots, and a bizarre friendship in our latest article. www.hotspringshistories.com/p/gunfight-i... #ArkansasHistory #WildWest

2/3: This wasn't a duel. It was an ambush. After being disarmed, the MAYOR pulled a SECOND pistol and kept firing, hitting two bystanders. The editor, who had previously survived a gunfight with Ben Thompson, was shot in the chest. #HotSprings #TrueCrime

1/3: 🚨 NEW ARTICLE 🚨 In 1877 Hot Springs, newspaper editor Charles Matthews publicly criticized Mayor T.F. Linde. The mayor's response was... unconventional. He shot him. On the main street. In broad daylight.

What happens when a mayor gets tired of reading bad press?
In 1877 Hot Springs, Mayor T.F. Linde decided to cancel his subscription.
With a pistol.
And then a second pistol.
My new article on the wildest political dispute in Spa City history drops tomorrow. #HotSprings #Arkansas #TrueCrime #History

The best part of living in HS was getting this exact water for free from public spigots. Now that I'm in Maine, it gets shipped... and it's DEFINITELY NOT FREE. 😂
#ArkansasHistory #VintageAd

1/2: From the archives: A vintage ad for what is, in my biased opinion, the best water on the planet—Mountain Valley. Bottled in Hot Springs since 1871! #HotSprings

Then & Now: The U.S. Army and Navy General Hospital (ca. 1887). For nearly a century, it was a place of healing for American soldiers. Today, it's the Arkansas Career Training Institute. An incredible piece of Hot Springs history still watching over the city. #HotSprings #ArkansasHistory #ThenAndNow

Reminder that during the Gilded Age in Hot Springs, one of the main tourist attractions was an Ostrich Farm where you could ride them.

The past was a very, very strange place.

#HotSpringsHistory #Arkansas #WeirdHistory

The editor of the local paper and the Mayor of Hot Springs once had a literal shootout in the middle of town.

After they both recovered from their wounds, they became next-door neighbors.

No, really.

#HotSpringsHistory #StrangerThanFiction

The Acid Pen of Charles Matthews: Journalism, Corruption, and Assassination in Gilded Age Hot Springs In 1882, the editor of the Hot Springs Daily Hornet took on the city's most powerful men. They answered his ink with bullets, silencing him in the middle of Valley Street.

2/2: And meet Charles Matthews, the editor they murdered in broad daylight for printing the truth. Read the full, insane story now. www.hotspringshistories.com/p/the-acid-p...

#TrueCrime #HotSpringsHistory #Arkansas

FOR PAID SUBSCRIBERS:

1/2: Meet the "Arlington Gang" - the railroad tycoon, the church-goer, and the boss gambler who ran Hot Springs.

We Bathe the World: The Unseen Labor of the American Spa How a hidden army of skilled laborers built and sustained an iconic American industry through its golden age.

3/3: From burying a creek to building a city from scratch, this is the history you were never taught. Read the full story now. www.hotspringshistories.com/p/we-bathe-t...

2/3: Did you know bath attendants had to pass federally-mandated exams in anatomy & physiology that were equivalent to a nursing test? They weren't just helpers; they were skilled para-medical professionals. #ArkansasHistory #GildedAge

1/3: The story of Hot Springs is always about the rich & famous. But who actually did the work? Our new article, "We Bathe the World," tells the story of the unseen laborers who built the American Spa. #HotSpringsHistory

Ever wonder who had to scrub the tubs after the Gilded Age millionaires were done soaking?

Tomorrow, we're telling the story of the forgotten workers who built and ran the American Spa. It's a side of Hot Springs history you've never heard.

#HotSpringsHistory #LaborDay #Arkansas

Happy Labor Day from Hot Springs!

Today, we’re honoring the unseen army of attendants, builders, and porters who built the “American Spa.” Our new article this Wednesday tells their incredible story.

#LaborDay #HotSpringsHistory #Arkansas

You know the beautiful promenade in front of Bathhouse Row? In the 1880s, it was an open sewer called Hot Springs Creek. 🤢

They literally paved over it. Just another wild chapter in Spa City history.

#HotSpringsHistory #Arkansas #GildedAge

3/3: It was a vicious, close-quarters fight that resulted in over a dozen casualties. Not a battle for territory, but one for survival and revenge. A perfect snapshot of the "no-man's-land" Hot Springs had become. #LocalHistory

2/3: A US Cavalry scouting party was ambushed by Confederate guerrillas near what is now Central Avenue. The fighting then spilled over to Farr's Mill, where Gulpha Creek meets the Ouachita River. #CivilWar

1/3: History Spotlight: The Skirmish at Farr's Mill (July 1864). This wasn't a huge battle, but it perfectly captures the brutal reality of the Civil War in Hot Springs. 🧵 #HotSpringsHistory

A Town Abandoned: The True Story of Hot Springs During the Civil War Forget the myths of grand battles. Discover the forgotten history of how a fledgling spa town became a temporary state capital, only to be consumed by a brutal guerrilla war.

2/2: This is the history they don't teach you. Read more: www.hotspringshistories.com/p/a-town-aba... #History #CivilWar #Arkansas

1/2: From the new article: The Civil War in Hot Springs "was a brutal, intimate war of ambush and reprisal, fought by pro-Confederate bushwhackers and pro-Union 'Mountain Feds' who used the chaos to settle scores..."

1/2: This shared desire for healing is what rebuilt the town. #PostWar #HotSprings

1/1: One of the most powerful legacies of the Civil War in Hot Springs is who came after. The town, left in ruins, saw a slow trickle of visitors: veterans from both the Union and Confederacy, seeking relief from their wounds in the thermal waters. #CivilWarLegacy #HotSprings

A Town Abandoned: The True Story of Hot Springs During the Civil War Forget the myths of grand battles. Discover the forgotten history of how a fledgling spa town became a temporary state capital, only to be consumed by a brutal guerrilla war.

Read "A Town Abandoned" now: www.hotspringshistories.com/p/a-town-aba... #History #CivilWar #Arkansas #HotSprings

A Town Abandoned: The True Story of Hot Springs During the Civil War Forget the myths of grand battles. Discover the forgotten history of how a fledgling spa town became a temporary state capital, only to be consumed by a brutal guerrilla war.

🚨 NEW ARTICLE 🚨

The quirky story of the "capital in a cottage" hides a much darker truth. After the governor fled, Hot Springs was abandoned, becoming a lawless battlefield for a brutal guerrilla war that nearly destroyed the town.

2/2: But Governor Rector's hasty retreat isn't the real story. It's what happened after he left that nearly destroyed the town. #CivilWar #Arkansas #HotSpringsHistory

1/2: TOMORROW: We're exploring one of the weirdest chapters in Arkansas history—when Hot Springs became the state capital during the Civil War. Why? One word: panic. 🧵

2/2: The rugged terrain, lack of major roads, and dense forests made them the perfect place for a panicked governor to hide a government... and the perfect place for guerrilla fighters to thrive. #OuachitaMountains #CivilWarStrategy #Arkansas