Arkansas Career Training Institute (Army and Navy General Hospital)
First known as the Army and Navy General Hospital, then the Hot Springs Rehabilitation Center, the present-day Arkansas Career Training Institute was the first combined general hospital for both U.S. Army and Navy patients in the nation.
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First known as the Army and Navy General Hospital, then the Hot Springs Rehabilitation Center, the present-day Arkansas Career Training Institute was the first combined general hospital for both U.S. Army and Navy patients in the nation, so located to take advantage of the perceived health benefits of bathing in mineral waters. Behind the south end of Bathhouse Row along the base of Hot Springs Mountain, the hospital opened in 1887, although the present brick and steel facility was built in the early 1930s. Between 1887 and World War II, the hospital treated more than 100,000 patients. In 1960, the facility was turned over to the state of Arkansas and became the Hot Springs Rehabilitation Center, meant to serve people with lifelong disabilities, teaching them life skills and to help ready them for independent living. In 2007, the Hot Springs Rehabilitation Center was added to the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Army and Navy General Hospital District. Today's Arkansas Career Training Institute remains a rehabilitation and training center for those with disabilities.
