HOT SPRINGS -- When the General Assembly voted narrowly in 1929 to make horse racing and parimutuel betting legal at Oaklawn Park, Hot Springs was prospering as a thermal resort. The Spa City offered medical and relaxation regimens mixed with legal and illegal gambling as well as other pleasures.
Oaklawn patrons during this year's Thoroughbred season are focused mainly on the pleasures and perils of placing bets and rooting for winnings. But before or after their day at the track, they can travel back in time with a stroll to the eight spas that thrived along Bathhouse Row during the Roaring '20s and the next couple of decades.
Although Oaklawn staged its first horse racing in 1905, the track shut down and reopened a number of times before the 1929 law lifted any cloud of illegality. The eight distinctively designed bathhouses, built along Central Avenue between 1892 and 1923, meanwhile were thriving. In the peak year of 1945, more than a million baths were recorded. But with just one exception, the properties were shuttered by 1985 as American vacation habits changed.
Now six of the eight buildings are open to the public again for one purpose or another. This makes for an enjoyable mix of stops that can include eating, drinking and shopping along with warm-springs bathing and historical exhibits.
Best place to start is the Fordyce, site of Hot Springs National Park's Visitor Center. Most luxurious of the bathhouses in its heyday, the Fordyce was reopened as a museum under National Park Service aegis in 1989. Its many facilities have been restored to evoke the so-called Golden Age of Bathing.
Displays in 23 rooms on the Fordyce's four floors portray such ornate touches as a life-size statue in the men's bath hall of 16th-century explorer Hernando de Soto and an American Indian maiden. Above that fountain, a stained-glass skylight depicts the sea god Neptune and an ensemble of female nudes.
The northernmost of the row's buildings now functions as Superior Bathhouse Brewery, advertising that it purveys "the world's only beer made with thermal spring water!" It sells 18 draft beers along with more than 40 choices by the bottle. Youngsters and teetotalers are offered root beer floats.
At the row's southern end, Lamar Bathhouse aims to satisfy the appetites of souvenir seekers. It operates as a gift shop, well stocked with the expected T-shirts and caps, but also offering bathrobes, water bottles and other items specific to the spa experience. Its lobby is decorated with murals of historic landscapes. Back in the day, the Lamar advertised "a tub for every-sized person."
Ozark Bathhouse, decorated with facade planters bearing pairs of mythical flying creatures, currently operates as a cultural center sometimes hosting art exhibits. Two of the eight bathhouses, Hale and Maurice, remain vacant and are advertised for leasing from the National Park Service.
As for the Buckstaff, it stands out as the only Bathhouse Row operation to have stayed in business continuously since it opened, back in 1912. Along with the Quapaw, which resumed spa services in 2008 after having closed in 1984, it invites visitors to enjoy the stimulating effects of hot baths and other thermal treatments.
Prices are roughly the same at both places. At the Buckstaff, the Whirlpool Mineral Bath costs $33. The Traditional Bathing Package, at $71, includes the whirlpool bath, loofa mitt and a 20-minute massage. The Deluxe Bathing Package, at $83, adds a paraffin treatment for hands. The Quapaw offers a cozy Couples Thermal Mineral Water Bath for $45.
If your wagering at Oaklawn has produced a couple of winners, there might be worse ways of spending that newly pocketed cash than a hot-water soak and a soothing back rub.
For information on Hot Springs National Park's Bathhouse Row and other facilities, visit nps.gov/hosp or call (501) 624-2701. The National Park Service Visitor Center in Fordyce Bathhouse is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily with free admission. Opening times vary at other bathhouses.
Weekend on 01/25/2018