This National Park is quite unlike any other. In essence, Hot Springs National Park was created to conserve a beautiful, natural hot spring. In fact, Hot Springs National Park was the first piece of federal land ever designated for preservation, long before National Parks were even being discussed. In 1832, Congress created the Hot Springs Reservation. Following that act of protection, a town sprung up around the springs, a city of recreation, gambling, baseball, horse races, speakeasies, and of course, bathhouses and hot springs, the focal feature of the town. In 1921, the protected area was officially made into a National Park, in order to offer the most comprehensive of federal protections to the springs. To learn more about the park, be sure to visit the website for the Friends of Hot Springs National Park.