On May 20, 1886, the Crescent Hotel opened as America’s newest and most luxurious hotel, built at a cost of $294,000. Two years earlier, Powell Clayton and his associates had chosen a twenty-seven-acre site at the north end of West Mountain overlooking the valley, commissioned Isaac S. Taylor as architect, and begun construction. Special wagons carried huge pieces of limestone from the quarry site on White River near Beaver, and Mr. O'Shawnessey, speaking for the imported Irish masons, predicted that the hotel’s eighteen-inch-thick walls, fitted without mortar, would withstand time and retain their beauty for many years. The property was equipped with Edison lamps, electric bells, steam heat and open grates, and a hydraulic elevator, making it a showplace of modern conveniences. Later, the building served in several roles, including a seasonal girls school, the Crescent College and Conservatory, and a cancer hospital from 1937 to 1939. In 1997, Martin and Elise Roenick rescued the hotel from decline and began an aggressive restoration to recover its former elegance, and by 2002 it had reopened to full capacity for the first time in more than 75 years.

Photo: William Fischer, Jr.

Photo: William Fischer, Jr.

Eureka Springs, Arkansas · USA