The men's bath hall of the Fordyce: a bronze fountain of De Soto in a tiled basin under a stained-glass skylight, marble benches, and a row of wooden-doored tub stalls along the back wall

The 1915 Fordyce Bath, Room by Room

A bather at the Fordyce in 1915 passes from tub to steam to table in a set order.

Abe Lindgren 4 min read

The bather at the Fordyce Bathhouse on Bathhouse Row in Hot Springs, Arkansas, moves through seven rooms in a fixed order. Each room does one thing to the body, and the rooms cannot be skipped. The full course is fed by the hot springs beneath the row; every basin, pipe, and jet runs on that water, taken hot and cooled in the basement before it reaches the fixtures.

The thermal tub

The first room holds a deep porcelain tub, set one step up from a floor of white hexagon tile. The water is drawn hot and mixed down with cold from a pair of valves above the spout, and the attendant checks a brass thermometer hung at the tiled wall. The bather sinks until the shoulders go under. The heat raises a sweat within a few minutes. The room is quiet, with light coming from a band of windows just below the ceiling. When the bath is right, the only sound is the low spill of the overflow through a grate at the edge of the tub. The water runs clear and carries a mineral smell, soft and chalky.

The lounge of the Fordyce Bathhouse, dark wood panelling, rocking chairs and a small table on a tiled floor

The vapor cabinet

From the tub the bather steps into a wooden cabinet shaped like a wardrobe, with the head free through a round hole at the top. The attendant closes the door and pulls a cloth collar around the neck to seal out the air. Steam comes from a shallow pan of spring water under the seat, heated by pipes in the wall. The bather sits in the cloud until the pores open and the skin turns the colour of boiled shrimp. The cabinet is tall, and the inside walls are damp. The steam smells of the same mineral water, but hotter against the face. The only way out is through the door, which the attendant opens from the outside after the time has passed. The cabinet is oak, dark with moisture.

The sitz bath

The sitz room holds a chairlike basin of white enamel, nearly level with the floor, and a smaller foot basin set just before it. The bather sits down into the first and sets both feet in the second. The water barely covers the hips, and it is hotter than the tub, held at the temperature the attendant judged beforehand. The attendant leaves, and the door clicks shut. The water is still, and the heat rests against the lower back. The room is dimmer than the tub room, with a single frosted window at the ceiling. The bather sits until the heat has drained into the seat, then rises from the basin slowly.

The hot packs

The bather lies on a padded table, face up, and the attendant wrings out heavy towels in a trough of hot spring water at the side of the room. The towels come up steaming. The attendant folds each one and lays it over the shoulders, the chest, and the thighs, pressing it flat with open palms. The heat sinks in, and the weight of the wet cotton holds it there. The bather stays still. As the towels cool at the edges, they are peeled away and dropped, and the used ones go into a galvanized pail beside the table. A new pack goes on the same spot. The table is covered in a rubber sheet that runs at the edge to a drain.

The front of the Fordyce Bathhouse, a row of arched windows above the entrance canopy and steps

The needle shower

The needle shower is a vertical brass pipe with tiny holes drilled along its whole length, set in the centre of a square tile pan. The bather stands barefoot on the wet tile, arms at the sides. The attendant turns a wheel outside the room, and water comes out of every hole at once. The jets are thin and hard, and the water is cool after the heat of the packs. The bather turns under them, arms up, then down, so the needles strike the back and the chest. The sound is a long hiss that fills the room, and the spray shimmers in the light. The water collects in the pan and runs to a single drain.

The rubdown

The bather moves to a padded table and lies on the stomach. The attendant takes a bar of soap from a brown dish and lathers the palms. Then the hands lay into the skin at the low back, pressing up the line of the spine toward the shoulders, long even strokes in the direction of the heart. The work moves down to the legs, then up again, deepening as the muscles give. The bather's breathing slows. The skin turns pink under the soap. The attendant finishes with a dry towel laid across the back and then pulled off in one quick pass.

The cooling room

The bather is wrapped in a clean linen sheet and walked down a quiet hall to the cooling room. The room is kept dark, with heavy curtains drawn over the windows. Wicker chaise lounges line the walls, each one laid with a folded cotton blanket. The bather lies down, feet raised on a pillow and head propped. The attendant brings over a tumbler of spring water, sets it on a low table, and leaves. The room settles into a small hum from a ceiling fan. The sheet is tucked around the shoulders.