The healing waters of Eureka Springs Arkansas were discovered by Dr. Alvah Jackson while on a hunting expedition in the 1850’s. In May of 1879 he convinced Judge Saunders of Berryville to come to the site of the first spring to see if the magical waters would cure a chronic wound on his leg. Promising to herald the news around the world if successful, Judge Saunders set up camp on the present site of Basin Spring. As the healing began to be apparent, the Judge’s son Buck returned to Berryville to tell his mother. Hearing the news, Mrs. Saunders insisted on going to the site of the spring. Buck soon built a wooden shanty for the camp and the first settlement of Eureka Springs Arkansas was established. A debate was soon joined to name the settlement. Was it to be Jackson Spring as the Judge suggested or was it to be Saunders Spring as Dr. Jackson insisted. No, Buck interjected, it must be called Eureka Springs. Not only had a town been born, it now had a name. By July of 1879, twenty families were living in the fledgling town. Less than one year later Eureka Springs Arkansas was incorporated as a city. By 1881 the population had grown to 10,000 and Eureka Springs had become Arkansas’ fourth largest city. The Grand Central Hotel was built in 1880 as the stagecoach terminal for passengers coming to Eureka Springs from the north. The nine hour line reached from the rail head at Pierce City in Missouri to the front door of the Grand Central Hotel. As many as 100 persons a day would come through the hotel seeking the healing waters of Eureka Springs. Many of these new arrivals were well-to-do Easterners. They brought with them discriminating tastes in all manner of living, especially in the architecture of the fine houses that were built soon after arrival.

Ironically, discoveries in Europe at the same time would undo the magic of Eureka Springs Arkansas for nearly a century. Robert Koch in Germany discovered that it was micro-organisms that caused many illnesses. Joseph Lister in Scotland discovered the benefits of antiseptic surgical procedures. All these advances were based on the work of Louis Pasteur in France.

Tragedy soon struck the Grand Central Hotel. It was destroyed by one of the four great fires that nearly wiped out the wooden structures in the city. By the time it was rebuilt, the railroad had reached the north end of town. The Grand Central still remained the entry point for people coming to Eureka Springs. Horse and buggy shuttles were running from the depot on North Main to the hotel. The Grand Central was first in many ways. It was the first brick hotel in town and it was the first to have running water on every floor. Water from Onyx Spring on East Mountain was piped down the hill. This development emphasized how upside down Eureka Springs has always been. Normally the high ground is valued more for building purposes. Not in Eureka Springs. The Valley Floor between East and West Mountain was where the early action was because water could be easily piped down hill to the many bath houses that developed there.

By the turn of the twentieth century, science and technology had dealt a deadly blow to the “magical waters” of Eureka Springs. As was the case with most Spa towns all across America, their attractiveness waned among the sophisticated visitors that once came to Eureka Springs. Next it was the Great Depression. Once magnificent Victorian era structures went neglected or worse torn down simply for the materials that could be recovered.

In the 1970’s teetering on the brink of disaster, the town’s civic leaders decided to consult with theme park experts to see if some grand attraction could be lured to the area. To their surprise they came to understand that Eureka Springs Arkansas is a theme park. Efforts began immediately to preserve what was left of the Victorian Village that had been built nearly a century earlier. The whole of the Historic Downtown Eureka Springs and most of the buildings in it were placed on the Registry of Historic Places, one of only two such places in the country.