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==History== [[File:Eureka Springs downtown.jpg|thumb|Downtown]] [[Image:Eurekaandsuch 372.jpg|thumb|right|View of Eureka Springs from atop an observation tower; the Crescent Hotel is visible on the horizon (2008)]] [[File:Eurekaandsuch 281f.jpg|thumb|St. James' Episcopal Church]] ===19th century=== Native American legends tell of a Great Healing Spring in the Eureka Springs area. People of various indigenous cultures long visited the springs for this sacred purpose.{{Citation needed|date=June 2020}} The hills and valleys of the area are ancestral lands of the historic [[Osage Nation]], and bands of [[Delaware Nation|Delaware]] and [[Shawnee]] peoples also lived in the area before the federal government conducted [[Indian removal]] further west.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Froelich|first=Jacqueline|date=1997|title=Eureka Springs in Black and White: The Lost History of an African-American Neighborhood|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40023676|journal=The Arkansas Historical Quarterly|volume=56|issue=2|pages=158–179|doi=10.2307/40023676|jstor=40023676 |issn=0004-1823}}</ref> The European Americans also believed that the natural springs had healing powers. After European Americans arrived, they described the waters of the springs as having magical powers. Dr. [[Alvah Jackson]] was credited in American history with locating the major spring, and in 1856 claimed that the waters of Basin Spring had cured his eye ailments. Dr. Jackson established a hospital in a local cave during the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] and used the waters from Basin Spring to treat his patients. After the war, Jackson marketed the spring waters as "Dr. Jackson's Eye Water".{{Citation needed|date=June 2020}} In 1879 Judge J.B. Saunders, a friend of Jackson, claimed that his crippling disease was cured by the spring waters. Saunders started promoting Eureka Springs to friends and family members across the state and created a boomtown. Within a period of little more than one year, the city expanded from a rural spa village to a major city. Within a short time in the late 19th century, Eureka Springs had become a flourishing city, spa and tourist destination. On February 14, 1880, Eureka Springs was incorporated as a city. Thousands of visitors came to the springs based on Saunders's promotion, and covered the area with tents and shanties. In 1881, Eureka Springs enjoyed the status of Arkansas's fourth-largest city, and by 1889 it had become the second largest city, behind [[Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock]]. Early [[African Americans|African-American]] residents were [[freedmen]] who had moved to the city from farms where they were previously enslaved. Some visited for employment or for health benefits and stayed. During decades of segregation, Black-owned hotels were available for Black visitors, who were prohibited from whites-only lodging. A school and [[African Methodist Episcopal Church|African Methodist Episcopal]] (AME) Pilgrim's Chapel were established in the 1890s by the Black community. Segregation increased in the area after the United States Supreme Court ruling in ''[[Plessy v. Ferguson]]'', allowing "separate but equal" facilities. African Americans were banned from all springs except Harding Spring.<ref name=":0" /> After his term as a [[Reconstruction Era of the United States|Reconstruction]]-era governor of Arkansas, Republican [[Powell Clayton]] moved to the strongly [[Southern Unionist|Unionist]] Eureka Springs in 1872 and began promoting the city and its commercial interests. Clayton marketed the town as a retirement community for the wealthy. Eureka Springs soon became known for gracious living and a wealthy lifestyle. In 1882, the Eureka Improvement Company was formed to attract a railroad to the city. With the completion of the railroad, Eureka Springs became a more accessible destination and became known as a vacation resort. In two years, thousands of homes and commercial enterprises were constructed. The [[Crescent Hotel (Eureka Springs, Arkansas)|Crescent Hotel]] was built in 1886 and the Basin Park Hotel in 1905. In 1892, the New Orleans Hotel and Spa was built along Spring Street. In the 21st century, it operates as an all-suite hotel, furnished with Victorian furniture and art.{{Citation needed|date=June 2020}} These many [[Victorian architecture|Victorian]] buildings have been well preserved, forming a coherent streetscape that has been recognized for its quality. Some continue to be operated for their original purposes others have been adapted for other uses. ===20th century=== The Ozarka Water Company was formed in Eureka Springs in 1905. [[Carrie Nation]] moved there toward the end of her life, founding Hatchet Hall on Steele Street. The building was later operated as a museum, but is now closed. The only bank robbery to occur in Eureka Springs was on September 27, 1922, when five outlaws from [[Oklahoma]] tried to rob the First National Bank. Three of the men were killed and the other two wounded. Today it is reenacted every year during the antique car parade which is NW Arkansas' longest running car show and was started by Bobby Ball and Frank Green. In 2018 it celebrated its 48th year. Economic decline, [[racial segregation]] and discrimination, [[Ku Klux Klan|Klan]] activities, and collapse of tourism during [[World War I]] resulted in a slow decline of the African-American community through the 1920s and 1930s. The AME church disbanded in 1925. Mattie, Alice, and Richard Banks, descendants of the African-American Fancher family, which had long been associated with the city, continued to reside there until their deaths in 1966, 1969, and 1975, respectively.<ref name=":0" /> [[Opera in the Ozarks at Inspiration Point]] was founded in 1950. The organization continues to present an annual summer opera festival in Eureka Springs. In 1964, [[Gerald L.K. Smith]] began building a religious theme park named Sacred Projects that was proposed to include a life size recreation of [[Jerusalem]]. The project never fully developed but two of the components are major city-defining projects today—the seven-story [[Christ of the Ozarks]] statue designed by [[Emmet Sullivan (sculptor)|Emmet Sullivan]] and the nearby ''The Great Passion Play'' performed during the summer. It is regularly performed from May through October by a cast of 170 actors and dozens of live animals.<ref name=play>[http://www.greatpassionplay.com/ "The Great Passion Play."] ''www.greatpassionplay.com.'' Retrieved March 28, 2016.</ref> The script of ''The Great Passion Play'' has been altered from the original, which set Jesus's beating at Herod's court and included a monologue [[Antisemitism|blaming his death on the Jews]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Thompson|first=Brock|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/868580676|title=The un-natural state : Arkansas and the queer South|date=2010|isbn=978-1-61075-443-9|location=Fayetteville|oclc=868580676}}</ref> It has been seen by an estimated 7.7 million people, which makes it the largest-attended outdoor drama in the United States, according to the Institute of Outdoor Theatre of the [[University of East Carolina]] at Greenville, North Carolina.<ref name=play/> Christian-themed attractions have been added in association with the drama production. These include a New Holy Land Tour, featuring a full-scale re-creation of the [[Tabernacle]] in the Wilderness; a section of the [[Berlin Wall]]; and a Bible Museum featuring more than 6,000 Bibles. (Items include an original 1611 King James Bible, a leaf from a [[Gutenberg Bible]], and the only Bible signed by all of the original founders of the [[Gideons]].) Isolation and affordable property made Eureka Springs an attractive [[Back-to-the-land movement|back-to-the-land]] destination for [[hippie]]s, [[counterculture]] radicals, and [[Lesbian separatism|lesbian separatists]] in the late 1960s and 1970s. While first facing resistance from many locals, as businesses were established and increased tourism, so did mutual respect. The accepting environment fostered a network of gay and lesbian business owners, and the town became known as a resort town for [[LGBT tourism]]. During the [[AIDS crisis]], community members formed the Ozark AIDS Resources and Service to distribute [[Mutual aid (organization theory)|mutual aid]] and care. Eureka Springs suffered stronger impacts than other parts of the state, and the community lost many leaders and establishments.<ref name=":1" /> Architect [[E. Fay Jones]] designed [[Thorncrown Chapel]] in 1980, and it was selected for the "[[Twenty-five Year Award]]" by the [[American Institute of Architects]] in 2006. The award recognizes structures that have had significant influence on the profession. The chapel was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 2000 because of the special nature and quality of its architecture. ===21st century=== On May 10, 2014, Eureka Springs became the [[LGBT rights in Arkansas|first city in Arkansas]] to issue [[marriage license]]s to [[same-sex marriage|same-sex]] couples. On May 12, 2015, Eureka Springs passed a Non-Discrimination Ordinance (Ord. 2223), with voters choosing 579 for to 261 against. <ref>{{cite episode |title=Anti-Christian Discrimination in Arkansas. |url=http://www.cc.com/video-clips/ifkeox/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-anti-christian-discrimination-in-arkansas |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150920003909/http://www.cc.com/video-clips/ifkeox/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-anti-christian-discrimination-in-arkansas |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 20, 2015 |author=Goodwin, Doris Kearns |series=The Daily Show |date=July 29, 2015 }}</ref> It became the first city in Arkansas to have such a law to cover [[LGBT]] residents and tourists. But a state law intended to invalidate the anti-discrimination ordinance went into effect July 22, 2015. <ref>{{cite web |title=Peace in the Valley |url=https://theintercept.com/fieldofvision/peace-valley/ |author=Michael Palmieri, Donal Mosher |website=The Intercept |date=January 20, 2016 }}</ref> This [[Intrastate Commerce Improvement Act]], sponsored by state senator [[Bart Hester]], "prohibits cities from passing civil rights ordinances that extend protections beyond those already afforded by state law." In response, the town's mayor stated that they would be "prepared to defend their ordinance in court." <ref>{{cite web |title=Eureka Springs Civil Rights Ordinance Still In Effect Despite State Law |url=http://5newsonline.com/2015/07/30/eureka-springs-civil-rights-ordinance-still-in-effect-despite-state-law/ |author=Ellen Thalls |publisher=www.5newsonline.com. |date=July 30, 2015 }}</ref>
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