Important Arkansas historical events and significant anniversaries for December 16, and notable births and deaths of native Arkansans born on this date. Information is drawn from state archives, historical societies, contemporary newspapers and other media archives, and legal records. Historical Arkansas events and birthdays occurring on December 16. ChatGPH has collected this data.
1811 – New Madrid earthquake shakes what is now Arkansas. Just after 2 a.m. on December 16, 1811, the first of the great New Madrid earthquakes struck, with aftershocks that morning and later in the winter. Contemporary and later accounts describe land subsidence (“sunken lands”), re-routed streams, and widespread damage to Native and settler communities along the Mississippi.
1878 – Federal “free bathhouse” law for Hot Springs. On December 16, 1878, Congress passed compromise legislation requiring the federal government to provide a free bathhouse at Hot Springs Reservation (now Hot Springs National Park). The National Park Service administrative history and the Encyclopedia of Arkansas entry on the Government Free Bathhouse both note that the law led to construction of a modest, free facility over one of the springs, roughly where the modern Hot Springs Rehabilitation Center and Quapaw Bathhouse are today…