It is roughly bounded by Post, Van Patten, Pershing and Main Streets. The district encompasses "much of the city's historic downtown and nearby mineral baths and apartments that served visitors who came to the health resort community between 1916 and 1950 when it was known as Hot Springs. The district also encompasses the locations of the approximately 35 artesian wells, springs and sumps identified in a 1940 geological study of the thermal waters of the Hot Springs Artesian Basin. Included within the district are 125 contributing properties and 87 noncontributing properties."[2]
Hot springs area history
There is significant evidence of Native American use of the hot springs area. Limestone rock outcrops have deep mortar holes that have been ground into the rocks near the lining of the pond located at Ralph Edwards Park. The NRHP notes that these "serve as reminders that Native Americans were familiar with the hot springs artesian basin in pre-historic times." On the western side of the Rio Grande, mortar holes can be found that are several inches deep formed by the use of grinding pestles. These sites are thought to be associated with the Mimbres people of the Mogollon culture.[2]
Before 1907, the area was a bosque with tule swamps present; the only hot springs visible from the road were Geronimo's Springs (formerly named Government Springs). After the river was realigned in a channel, more of the hot springs became visible, resulting in their development. By 1919, the thermal waters flowed through Hot Springs Ditch "using the waters of the bathhouses, sewers, and hot springs" for irrigation of lands southwest of the ditch (Hiltscher 1919). In the 1930s, the ditch was channeled in a WPA project into a culvert by way of Marr Street drawing thermal waters from the Indian Wells, Hay-Yo-Kay and Marshall Bathhouses and eventually discharging into the Rio Grande.[2]
