To spot the Orange Street Presbyterian Church, look for a grand red-brick building ahead with four tall white columns out front, holding up a striking triangular roof decorated with a round window in the center.
Take a moment to stand right here and imagine it’s the early 1900s-people bustle up these very steps, hats on heads and hope in their eyes, coming together in what was then Hot Springs’ brand-new Orange Street Presbyterian Church. This wasn’t their first church, oh no-fires had claimed numbers one and two, making this third building rise like a phoenix from the ashes, with a bit of debt and a lot of determination! When it opened in 1913, folks must have felt like Greek gods seeing those mighty Ionic columns and the temple-like entryway. For nearly fifty years, this was the heart of their community until 1961, when the congregation packed up and moved on, selling the place to the local Christian Scientists. But this old beauty didn't linger quietly. In 2013, the building was reborn again, this time by The Muses Project, and it began to echo with opera, dance, and laughter-a true hotspot for creativity. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, this landmark stands strong, proof that you can’t keep a good building down. So take a deep breath-and listen closely. Maybe you’ll catch an old hymn drifting by, or just a whisper of all those stories inside these brick walls.
