Hot Spring

Formed November 2, 1829 (17^th county)

Hot Spring County (33,046), Malvern (10,858)                

Contours have been designed into the tan brick courthouse built in 1936.  An earlier courthouse was also located in Malvern.  Clark County yielded Hot Spring County on November 2, 1829 as the 17^th county.  The building sits north and west of the intersection of United States Highways 67 and 270.  It is on a square at 2^nd, Locust, 3^rd and, Olive streets.  The courthouse designers were Thompson, Sanders, and Ginnochio for this Art Deco courthouse.  Hot Springs (1829), Rockport (1844), and Malvern (1873) have been the county seats.  Hot Spring County was named for nearby springs.  The county seat of Garland County is named after a different source.  Malvern, Virginia is the source for the county seat’s name. 

Hot Spring County government consists of a sheriff, assessor, treasurer, and coroner (executive).  It has 11 Quorum Court members (legislative.)  Two Circuit Court Judges serve Hot Spring and Grant counties and a District Court Judge, an Attorney, and a County Clerk serve Hot Spring County (judicial.)  The county is situated in the central part of the state to the southwest of Little Rock, Arkansas.  The center of the county is 12.4 miles West-Southwest of Malvern nearer Social Hill.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Garland, Saline, Grant, Dallas, Clark, and Montgomery counties.  The county is a box with a layered extension to the west.  The Ouachita River enters the county from the north and exits to the south.  Malvern is in the eastern quarter of the county.  Malvern is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 32.9% of the county population.  

The area of the county is 622.2 square miles.  It is 50 of 75 in size.  It ranks 22 out of 75 in population in the state.  It has a density of 53.1 persons per square mile making it 19 out of 75 in the state.  Hot Spring County has 38.1% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 30 crosses from northeast, Saline County, to southwest, Clark County.  United States Highway 67 parallels Interstate Highway 30 from Saline County to Clark County.  United States Highway 270 crosses east to west Grant County to Garland County. 

Rockport