The townsite looks like a huge park with several hundred buildings stuck in like strawberries in a shortcake. In the summer season, standing on the bluff overlooking the town, one sees a mass of foliage through which a glimpse of the houses in town can be obtained. Running through the town, separating the greater part of the residence district from the business portion is Sager Creek, which is crossed by several bridges and forms a small lake used for boating and bathing. Siloam Springs is a picturesque little city of 4,000 people. A bulletin issued by the railroad in 1924 nicely summarized the community: When that rumor proved to be unfounded, fully half of the residents moved away.īut the arrival of the Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railroad (now the Kansas City Southern) in Siloam Springs in late 1893 was a vote of confidence, triggering a building boom in the city’s central business district - and many of these structures still stand today in Historic Downtown Siloam Springs. Speculation that a rail line would soon pass through the community contributed to a flourishing economy, driving the town’s population to 3,000 within the year. Although the initial settlers in the area put down their roots in the late 1830s, the town wasn’t officially platted until 1880, about the time the first health resort went into operation. Much like the original Siloam, its namesake in Arkansas developed a reputation as a fount of healing waters. Some 2,700 years after its construction and about 6,725 miles to the west, American pioneers establishing a townsite along an attractive, spring-fed creek in northwestern Arkansas turned to the scriptures for inspiration, naming their community Siloam Springs. Students of the Bible may recall a reference to the Pool of Siloam, an ancient water source near Old Jerusalem. By Joe David Rice | Photography by Meredith Mashburn
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