Eureka Springs Arkansas
Eureka Springs is the shared county seat with Berryville. This unusual arrangement that "shares" the county between the two towns is due to an earlier era in which the local Kings River would become impassable from heavy spring rains, effectively splitting the area in half. The shared status was to make sure government and court functions for either side fo the county could continue to function for all citizens.
The area's reputation for healing waters has a long history of attracting visitors reaching well before the founding of the United States of America. The major immigration of people into the town began in earnest in 1879 at a time when "healing waters" was an important medical industry and reflected the population of civil war (1861-1865) veterans who were still carrying problematic wounds from that conflict and were seeking relief (other towns in Arkansas, such as Hot Springs in the south of the state, were similarly made popular for this reason).
In Eureka Springs, in particular "Basin Spring" (aka "the Old Indian Healing Spring"), a small bowl-shaped spot on a limestone cliff was expanded by hand-carving by an Osage Indian chief named Black Dog. The land was part of the Osage tribal territory, but they allowed Cherokee (who with they were otherwise hostile) and the Sioux (from Lake Superior area) to travel into the area to use the spring waters, fearing that if it was not shared, The Great Spirit might dry up the waters.
DeSoto and Ponce deLeon are suspected to have visited the spring, as evidence exists that they traveled in the area searching for gold and for other valuables.
Eureka Springs was named by C. Burton Saunders of Berryville, Arkansas. The location came close to being named "Saunders Springs," but because "Buck" Saunders had been reading about Ponce deLeon's trips to find the Fountain of Youth and for using the phrase "eureka" (from the Greek language meaning "I found it") he suggested 'Eureka Springs' as the title for the growing town.
Important Links
Spring Street "Street View" from Google Earth – starts right in front of Basin Park
Population
Population of Eureka Springs, Arkansas from past census reports:
1900: 3,572
1910: 3,228
1920: 2,327
1930: 2,192
1940: 1,673
1950: 1,842
1960: 1,280
1970: 1,492
1980: 1,999
1990: 2,066
2000: 2,278
2010: 2,073
2020: 2,166
Please note that while different sources might slightly vary in their exact figures, the numbers listed here are the most consistently reported across the referenced documents.
