75 Prospect Ave.

The old world service, elegant atmosphere and the culinary expertise of our staff will assure a "historic" event. With lavish plates, impeccable table service and presentation, a wide selection of entrees and extensive selection of wines, your dining experience is sure to be a memorable one.

History of the 1886 Crescent Hotel & Spa

Tradition has it that Dr. Alvah Jackson began his search for magic water in 1832. In 1854, he came to the spring now called Basin Spring and bathed his young son's ailing eye with water from the spring. The eye healed and Dr. Jackson began bottling and selling "Dr. Jackson's Eye Water." This was the beginning of the town called Eureka Springs. The Crescent Hotel was the great achievement of the Eureka Springs Improvement Company. In 1884 a St. Louis architect was commissioned to draw up plans for the hotel that was to stand at the highest point in Carroll County. A noted architect of his day, Isaac Taylor is best known as the chief designer of the 1906 World's Fair in St. Louis. In the Crescent, he created the quintessential Victorian building.

The magnesium limestone for the building was quarried at the White River near the town of Beaver and brought in wagons by mules to the building site. Stonemasons from Ireland laid the stone. The Crescent was truly a modern luxurious hotel equipped with electric bells, Edison lamps, steam heat and a hydraulic elevator. The Grand Opening of the hotel on May 20, 1886 was indeed a grand social event with guests coming from near and far to attend.

In 1902, the hotel was leased to the Frisco Railroad for five years and continued to operate on a year round basis. For the guests' entertainment, there was a stable of one hundred horses, a swimming pool, afternoon tea dances, evening dances, rides in the talley-ho or carriages, and picnics at Sanitarium Lake.

Winter hotel business had never been good and in 1908, the Crescent College and Conservatory for Young Women was opened in the hotel. The depression of the thirties caused both school and resort to close in 1934. In July 1937, Norman Baker purchased the Crescent Hotel. A handsome and charismatic high school dropout, he had a penchant for lavender, wearing white suits with lavender shirts and driving a lavender colored car. Instructing that the walls be painted lavender and trimmed in red, yellow and black, he had the hotel remodeled for use as a hospital. During the war years, from 1940-1946, the hotel was unoccupied and closed down. In 1946, the hotel was purchased by four Chicago businessmen who began a remodeling project to restore the hotel once again to its former elegance. The hotel thrived for many years, until in 1967, tragedy struck. Fire swept through the fourth floor of the south wing, and much of that part of the hotel was destroyed. In 1970, the hotel was turned over to Resort Enterprises, Inc. who sold it in 1972 to Crescent Heights Developments, Inc. Mrs. Feagins, one of the new owners, began a new restoration program to recapture the magic quality that once made it "The Showplace of Northwest Arkansas." With much of its former elegance restored, the grandiose Crescent Hotel was ready to welcome the public once again in April of 1973. 

In 1977, Martin and Elise Roenigk fell in love with downtown Eureka Springs, and the Basin Park Hotel, which they purchased in February of that year. After returning to Connecticut and reading The Grand Old Lady of the Ozarks, Marty was so intrigued by the romance and grandeur of The Crescent Hotel, that he returned to Eureka Springs, completing the purchase of the Grand Old Lady in May. Over the next three years, the Roenigk's began a $1,000,000 restoration of both hotels, stating, "We bought these hotels because we loved them and because we wanted visitors and guests to see them as they were when the 20th century was new and so were they."

Ghost Tours

The long history of the hotel is represented through the ghosts that still inhabit it's halls and walls. Walk with us through the legendary Crescent Hotel and hear of it's ghostly legends: the nurse pushing the gurney; Theodora, the clothes thrower, and the lady in white. Hear of legendary haunts and ongoing investigations being conducted by our trained staff.