The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts and CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs will hold a Farewell Ceremony for the former St. Joseph’s Hospital at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 12.
The former hospital complex is located on the school’s campus. The Farewell Ceremony is open to the public. It will be an opportunity for members of the Hot Springs, Garland County and ASMSA communities to celebrate and reflect on the hospital’s impact on their lives. The ceremony will feature speakers from CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs and ASMSA. It will be held in the ASMSA Student Center courtyard, which is located behind the school’s new Campus Administration Building at 106 Pine St. There will be no public tours of the hospital facility.
CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs used the hospital facility until 1991 when it moved to its current campus, according to a history section on the hospital’s website. Known then as St. Joesph’s Regional Health Center, the hospital had used the Whittington Avenue facility since its construction was completed in 1927, according to the website.
The City of Hot Springs later purchased the vacant property to offer it as a host site for the Arkansas School for Mathematics and Sciences, which was established by the Arkansas General Assembly in 1991. Hot Springs was selected as the host site for the school in May 1992 after a statewide search that included more than 50 applications from cities and towns across Arkansas. The hospital facility was leased to the state for the school’s use.
ASMSA welcomed its charter class of students in 1993. The school used portions of the hospital complex for student residential space, faculty and staff offices, and classrooms over the next 30 years. The $18 million, 80,000-square-foot ASMSA Student Center opened in August 2012, allowing students and the campus dining facility to move into the new residential space.
A $5.5 million renovation of the hospital’s former convent and chapel that converted the buildings into additional residential and meeting space was completed in September 2022. Both buildings are named for Helen Selig, who helped lead Hot Springs’ site selection efforts and later served as Hot Springs mayor.
The completion of the $5.25 million Campus Administration Building in July allowed the school to shift faculty offices and classrooms from the hospital’s Pine Street wing to other facilities, including the Academic Building and the Creativity and Innovation Complex.
ASMSA plans to return possession of the hospital complex back to the city by the end of this year. The city will then begin the abatement process before eventual demolition of the remaining hospital complex, including the Cedar Street and Pine Street wings. Upon completion of the demolition process, the property will be returned to ASMSA for redevelopment.
For more information about the Farewell Ceremony, contact Ashley Bennett, ASMSA director of institutional advancement, at bennetta@asmsa.org or 501.622.5474.