Science & Tech
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In 1877, Enoch Woolman built an 80-foot-tall wooden observation tower on Hot Springs Mountain that became a popular attraction and offered picturesque views of the surrounding area. Sometime between 1885 and 1895, the Woolman Tower was struck by lightning and burned to the ground. In 1906, Arkansas National Bank President Charles N. Rix replaced it with a 165-foot-tall steel observation tower known as the Rix Tower, which included an Otis elevator and a high powered telescope and cost $20,000 to erect. In 1971, the Rix Tower was declared unsafe and dismantled. The current Hot Springs Mountain Tower opened to the public on June 3, 1983, stands 216 feet tall, and cost over $1.5 million to build.
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Hot Springs, Arkansas · United States
