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===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=158β179|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.
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