Scrubs, Massage Still Available on Bathhouse Row Where Al Capone Came Clean

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. —  The brass still gleams and the tubs still steam at the Buckstaff Baths, the last place to get a hot scrub and an open-hand Swedish massage on Hot Springs’ Bathhouse Row.

Not so at the other seven Edwardian buildings constructed along this resort town’s Central Avenue from 1911 to 1923.

Once, the white stucco and brick buildings served the famous and infamous, from gangster Al Capone to the Detroit Tigers’ Lynwood Thomas (Schoolboy) Rowe, who ran a pitching school here and bathed at the Buckstaff in 1938.

Now the other bathhouses are closed, paint peeling from their shutters.

The water at the Buckstaff still bubbles. The building’s awnings shade the front veranda where wooden rockers still stand.

Alone Since November

Orland Koonce, manager of the Buckstaff for 27 years, has been alone on Bathhouse Row since the Lamar bathhouse closed Nov. 16.

“I don’t like it,” Koonce said, looking out over the other houses from the Buckstaff’s rooftop sun deck. “I’d like to see more competition.”

The bathhouses are part of the 4,791-acre Hot Springs National Park, set aside in 1832 as a national reservation to protect the thermal springs.

Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, the first national park, was set up in 1872. Hot Springs was made a part of the national park system in 1921.

“It is believed that the philosophy of preserving an outstanding natural resource was started with Hot Springs, even though it wasn’t called a national park until later,” said Roger Giddings, National Park Service superintendent at Hot Springs.

47 Hot Springs

Forty-seven hot springs in the park empty into a 300,000-gallon underground reservoir with 18-inch concrete walls. Pipes from the reservoir deliver 140-degree water to the Buckstaff, where it is mixed with cooler water to provide 90 gallons of 100-degree water for each big tub.

The healing powers of the water have been variously advertised over the years. Indians brought their sick to be healed at pools before white explorers found what came to be known as the “valley of many vapors.”

President Thomas Jefferson sent a party of explorers to investigate the hot springs in 1804. The group recommended that the U.S. government take possession of the area and preserve it.

A booklet advertising the Buckstaff says the waters are good “for the relief of chronic disease where elimination is defective, or where it is desired to increase elimination of poisonous products from the various organs.”

Increasing Circulation

Koonce puts it more succinctly: “They used to say the water was electrified. Our secret here is to increase the circulation above and beyond what is normal.” He said the heat of the bath increases circulation. “It’s complete exercise without the exertion.”

A sign in the red-carpeted lobby says the Buckstaff gave 25,858 baths and 16,665 massages in 1984. On an average day, 225 to 250 people bathe there, Koonce said.

Other hotels and health clubs in Hot Springs, not on Bathhouse Row, offer baths in the mineral waters. The old-bathhouse atmosphere of the Buckstaff, though, sets it apart.

Beyond the lobby, a visitor finds gleaming white tile and Colorado marble. All is quiet. Patrons leave their clothes in individual lockers and, draped only in sheets, are escorted by attendants to the baths.

Dozing Off After Bath

The cooling-off room, just off the massage area, is lined with acoustic tile to reduce noise. Many patrons, relaxed after a hot bath and the 20-minute massage, doze off there, Koonce said.

The Buckstaff is a private company operating as a concessionaire in the park.

Negotiations are going on to lease five of the empty bathhouses, possibly as galleries or shops, to make sure they don’t deteriorate.