Woodward and Tiernan Printing Company “I speak for my people in this matter, and they would be glad to have this bath-house.”Those are the words of African American bath attendant Napoleon Rowell, speaking to members of the U.S. House of Representatives in 1884. Born in North Carolina in 1850-1851, Rowell came to Hot Springs in 1872 and witnessed the town grow rapidly after the Civil War. His testimony speaks not only to his skills as a bathhouse attendant, bathing in excess of 25 men a day during the busy season, but also to the importance of an attendant in the larger Black community flourishing in Hot Springs. Rowell petitioned Congress for an African American bathhouse because “colored people were prospering here and all we needed was a place for our people to bathe at” but also, as a bathhouse attendant, Rowell “knew that both [Black and white] patrons could not bathe together with much comfort.” He never heard back from the government about his petition, but that did not stop him from continuing his work. And it was work that did not go unnoticed. Napoleon Rowell became prominent in Hot Springs’ bathhouse culture. His likeness appeared in nationally-distributed material for the elegant Park Hotel in Hot Springs in 1892 (pictured here). A photograph of an attendant that matches Rowell’s appearance appeared in the same travel book years later. Napoleon Rowell and the dozens of early bathhouse attendants witnessed the changing landscape of the national park and played a significant role in bringing the park’s thermal waters to nineteenth-century visitors. |
Last updated: December 7, 2023