The Lay of the Land

The Lay of the Land. . On this part of Spring Street you can easily see how Eureka Springs follows the natural lines of the landscape. Houses are built right into the bluff on the west side and buildings climb down the steep hillside on the other side. “The houses rise tier above tier, and cling to the mountainside like a frightened monkey to a bareback horse, each structure being in immediate peril of going roof first into the gulch below. The streets, at places eighty feet apart, are fully half that distance above each other, they mount one above the other like giant steps; the buildings, four stories in front, are one storied in the rear, or vice versa.” – 1882, The Daily Graphic., Harding Spring has always been one of the most popular spring reservations. To the south of the spring The Lamont Hotel, Whitcomb Cottage and East View Cottagewere built in the mid 1880s right on a rocky ledge of the mountain., A view of Howell Street before fire destroyed some of the fine homes. The one-story stone building, which still stands, was the Roof Top Café, offering a garden terrace experience to the neighborhood. A wooden sidewalk like those in early days still runs along French Street., East of Harding Spring was German Alley, a neighborhood of African-American residents until the late 1920s. A community church stood near Perkins Mill on Center Street. The Little Crescent Hotel once stood across from the library to host African American visitors who wished to “take the waters” of the springs., This large community event – a Bond Rally in the World War I era – offers a view of this area between eras. In the background is one of a pair of twin homes whose floor plans mirrored each other. This is one was enlarged to become the Sunday School in the 1930s. It was later remodeled into a lodging which was destroyed by fire in 2005 and a new lodging built on the site. Its twin still stands by the church., In the Neighborhood , 151 Spring: The Sanford home built by an early Eureka Springs master stonemason William Sanford. The wrought ironwork is original. , The Piedmont House: 165 Spring, was built hastily in fall of 1880 with another boarding house built close by. In 1889 the two buildings were joined and encircled with verandas. , “Perkins Houses”: The homes at 170 Spring and 172 Spring were built around 1900 by W.O. Perkins, Eureka Springs' master builder. His mill and lumberyard still stand on Center Street. , Methodist Church: 160 Spring was built in 1901 on Pine Street and moved here later. The church was without a steeple for many years. After the congregation relocated, the new owner restored the steeple when it became lodging.