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Save Historic Army and Navy Hospital

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Hot Springs, AR
Save Historic Army and Navy Hospital

This is not a page to air your grievances or spread conspiracy theories.

This page is a community effort to seek solutions to preserve this historic structure for future alternative uses, and in the long run to protect the facility from demolition.

02/08/2026

🔗 https://bit.ly/3ZmLeHJ
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03/03/2025

Attendees traversed historic Bathhouse Rows carrying signs and chanting slogans of support for Hot Springs National Park rangers and staff.

05/13/2022

Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas!! Thanks for the love Jeopardy!

04/22/2022

Here is some good news after two years but it can’t stop here. Thank you to the committee, elected officials and our community who have been fighting hard to save this historic landmark. If you’re having trouble reading the link, let me know and I’ll find a better one.

http://digital.olivesoftware.com/olive/odn/hotsprings/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=THESENREC%2F2022%2F04%2F22&entity=Ar00100&sk=FA9D3607&mode=text&fbclid=IwAR1RyvsA3alt9OA0zfdNTXbi10LsGOJfTgTqkIeDbyDP1f1MLEtuIfHz2ek

■ A vehicle, signs and a barricade block the front entrance to the Army and Navy General Hospital on Reserve Street on Thursday.

04/14/2022

Please read.

All photos were anonymously submitted to The Hot Springs Post. In an update given by Dr. Jack Porter today at the National Park Rotary Club on the old Army and Navy Hospital, light was shed on this abandoned majestic building that looms over downtown Hot Springs. Porter tells rotary the current prim...

02/21/2022

Our fears are coming true. We all knew this would happen and it's only going to get worse. How worse could it get? A huge fire or the contamination of our natural spring water to name a couple. The list goes on. But if we can't save this building, no matter how much Hot Springs is thriving, the slow decay of this building will impact future generations if we don't do something now. We need to rally with our community leaders. We need to email our representatives. We need to keep raising awareness. We are all passionate about doing our part to save this historic landmark.

You can see from the pictures posted on here that the break-ins won't stop happening. The jerry rigging to the electrical panels could start a fire. The beautiful interior is being vandalized. The history that's being taken away from us with each passing day should make you angry. A history that future generations will only read about and not be able to walk the halls, tour and see the past wonders this historic landmark offered.

04/22/2021

Thank you ❤️!

Barry has been Hot Springs National Park's longest volunteer, since 1990 he has committed 6,800 hours as an amazing VIP! He was even born in the park, at the Old Army-Navy Hospital. Barry has done volunteer work in almost everything from litter pick up to assisting at the front desk of the Fordyce Museum. He has also been a VIP at Arkansas Post National Memorial. From his experience of volunteering at different national parks, “Find Your Park” means Barry is exploring all your parks and the wonderful things they have to offer.

To learn more about to become a Volunteer-In-Park visit us at https://www.nps.gov/hosp/getinvolved/volunteer.htm

04/20/2021

Free covid-19 shots will be administered this Saturday from 10am-2pm. This will be at the parking lot across from the Habitat for Humantiy Restore on 350 Malvern Ave. The parking lot is between Church and Malvern. Anyone 16 years and older are eligible. Documented or not. No one will be turned away from receiving a shot. No one. Attached is the flier because other services are being offered for free as well. Please help share this with our community.

03/03/2021

https://www.hotsr.com/news/2021/mar/02/clay-farrars-life-legacy-remembered/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Morning%20news%20update%203-2-21&utm_content=Morning%20news%20update%203-2-21+CID_e5ac7a40ca4c85ab19013849f2a3d55b&utm_source=Email%20Marketing%20Platform&utm_term=READ%20MORE

Community leader Clay Farrar died unexpectedly Saturday night, and his loss continued to be felt Monday among organizations across Hot Springs and Garland County.

03/03/2021

https://youtu.be/LjXDvRgaWic

Clay Farrar is remembered by his fellow Future of the Army and Navy Hospital Committee member Dr. Jack Porter. Video by Tyler Wann of The Sentinel-Record.

01/06/2021

https://www.kark.com/news/local-news/some-pushing-to-save-army-navy-hospital-in-hot-springs/

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – A Hot Springs landmark is sitting in limbo as no one claims ownership of the former Army Navy Hospital. Now, there are reports of vandalism and break-ins. For almost…

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105 Reserve Street
Hot Springs, AR
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Army and Navy Hospital At Risk

The Uncertain Future of the Army and Navy Hospital?

By Clay Farrar (original article dated July 2019 and updated April, 2020)

In May of 2019, the Hot Springs community received the very bad news that the eleven story Arkansas Career Institute building would close down and transferred to the federal government effective October 2019 (which thanks to the assistance of Governor Hutchinson and our local legislative delegation has now been postponed until July 1,2020) This is the impressive former military hospital building and complex that is located on Reserve Avenue. It was originally known as the Army and Navy Hospital until 1960, and then known as the Arkansas Rehabilitation Center until recently. This is a brief history of that magnificent building and also a sounding of the alarm that Hot Springs community will want to try develop a plan for what will happen to this iconic building.

In 1930, Congress approved the construction of the new Army and Navy Hospital at a total cost of over $2 million dollars (the equivalent of over $38 million dollars today). Completed in 1933, this facility replaced the original military hospital built on the downtown site in the 1880s.

This large new hospital design included a masonry tower rising almost 200 feet over the roadway at the main entrance. Skilled workmen utilized the best materials including marble, tile, and terrazzo. No expense was spared in the construction of this monumental hospital which was built to last for many generations.

This new military hospital had a 500 bed capacity (by way of comparison the local CHI St. Vincents and National Park Hospitals currently have only a combined total of approximately 400 beds). The hospital complex is located on 21 acres and includes a dozen adjacent buildings.

In the 1940s, over 95,000 soldiers received medical care at the Army and Navy Hospital (including my father Lieutenant Clayton Farrar, Sr. who has been injured in Germany at the end of WWII, and spent two years recuperating as a patient at the Army and Navy Hospital).

Unfortunately, by the early 1950s the Army and Navy Hospital was determined to be obsolete and its patients and medical staff were transferred to other VA hospitals.

On April 1, 1960 ownership of the large hospital complex was transferred from the Federal Government to the State of Arkansas to become the primary facility of the Arkansas Rehabilitation Services. The “Rehab Center”, as the hospital was commonly known, taught vocational and independent living skills to people with disabilities including spinal cord injuries. Recently, the Rehab Center was renamed the Arkansas Career Training Institute. Until September 2019m there are approximately 260 students afflicted with various disabilities who were enrolled in the vocational programs and resided at the Hot Springs facility.

So what is to come of the huge Army and Navy Hospital building? It is helpful to look to other communities around the country that have been faced with finding alternate uses for similar large VA hospitals that been closed. Some former hospitals have been successfully converted into Veterans facilities, or perhaps even a corona virus rehabilitation site.

However, a complicating factor with the “repurposing” of Army and Navy Hospital is the legal obligation of the federal government to take the property back from the state. According to the 1959 federal law transferring ownership to the State, this would occur “if the property is not used as a vocational rehabilitation center or for such other public health or educational purposes.” In other words, the future of the facility will soon be in the hands of federal agencies who will no doubt be shocked and surprised to find out they once again own and are responsible for the once proud Army and Navy Hospital.

Over the last 132 years of the existence of the original Army and Navy Hospital and its 1930s replacement, the Hot Springs community has had to time and again rally to support this important facility. In the 1880s, the community had to overcome the Northern bias that such a facility should not be built in a southern state that had been a member of Confederacy. In the 1950s, the Hot Springs community had to lobby both federal and state officials for the hospital building to be repurposed as the Arkansas Rehabilitation Center.

Hopefully, Hot Springs community leaders, together with our state and federal representatives can now develop a plan that would prevent this amazing building from falling into disrepair and even possible ruin.

Unfortunately, if the repurposing of the facility does not occur, there does exist a more bleak alternative future for the old Army and Navy Hospital. One knowledgeable community leader has suggested that the only practical solution is for the State to transfer the hospital back to the Federal Government and accept the fact that in the not too distant future, this magnificent building will probably be demolished. That indeed would be a tragedy.

If you wish to share your questions or comments with Clay, email him at clayfarrar@ gmail.com.

Save Historic Army and Navy Hospital

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Army and Navy Hospital At Risk