Chicago Tribune Adding Dimensions to Complex PeopleIn 1954, Kathryn Loring, a reporter for the Chicago Tribune visited the Fordyce Bathhouse, “the best looking house of the eight handsome ones on Bath House Row.” Her bath attendant was “Myrtle, a great and pleasant Negro woman whose face was covered with great droplets of perspiration.” Myrtle assisted Loring through the entire bathing experience at Hot Springs. While her illustration of the bath shows anxiety on the reporter’s face, she admitted her time at the bathhouse “felt pretty darned good.” Myrtle was a supporting caricature in Loring’s experience at the national park.
But if we center the story on Myrtle Cheatham, we allow her voice and story at Hot Springs National Park to take center stage. Ms. Cheatham was an African American woman who worked at the Fordyce Bathhouse for 16 years beginning in the 1950s. She not only detailed her role in the bathhouse, but explained why she sweated through 48 hours a week in the bathhouse with four kids under the age of 16 in 1950: “We worked to give our children their education, because we didn’t want them to have to wash the bathtubs.”
Hot Springs National Park’s ongoing oral history project centered on African American bathhouse attendants and massage therapists will continue to bring historical depth to this integral part of the park’s fascinating history. |
Last updated: July 11, 2023