Staff Works Hard to Restore Grandeur to the Village
As Hot Springs Village celebrates its 50th Anniversary, it is only fitting that the Village is undergoing a beauty makeover of sorts. While always beautiful, some of our historic landmarks became a little tarnished over the years. These issues are now being addressed.
Todd Noles, HSVPOA Common Property and Forestry Manager along with Joey Stadler from the HSVPOA Street Department spent several hours Friday, July 24, literally de-tarnishing and restoring the luster of the mostly forgotten, but historic conquistador brass plates on two of the Village bridges. According to Noles, these brass conquistador plates were installed by Cooper when the bridges were originally built.
Time plus a lot of elbow grease yielded beautiful results at the Danville Gate Bridge on Balearic and the bridge crossing over Danville Road at DeSoto. Noles and Stadler vowed to continue this project and revitalize the brass plates on all the bridges. Noles said, “We strive to provide a great experience for our members and guests, working to improve and maintain the beauty of our beautiful community.”
The team used a mixture of ketchup and baking soda along with white vinegar to scrub the tarnished plates. They then followed up with Brasso to polish. The diligent duo worked on one bridge for over three hours.
Click on one of the photographs in the slide show below in order to see a better and larger view of the photographs. The screen will darken. To move through the slide show click the arrow all the way over to the right side of your screen. This action will light up the photographs and make them visible. The caption for the photographs is at the bottom of your screen – not at the bottom of the photo.
History Behind Conquistador Logo Goes Back to 1541
The word, “conquistador,” means conqueror, especially one of the Spanish conquerors of Mexico and Peru in the 16th century.
Conquistadors were historically important because they charted much of the interior of the New World and made this knowledge available in Europe.
Hot Springs Village in Garland County was previously known as “The Dark Corner” due to the lawlessness of the area at one time.
Here is what “History of Hot Springs Village, Arkansas 1970 – 2000,” says about our past:
The “Dark Corner” of North Garland County where Hot Springs Village is located has a colorful though somewhat obscure history. In prehistoric times, lying just north of the fabled valley of No-wa-sa-lon (the place of healing waters), it was often traversed by bands of Indians who forged trails along the paths of least resistance as they journeyed to the magic springs. Later, according to some historians, the notorious conquistador Hernando DeSoto may have used one of these trails to arrive at Hot Springs in the fall of 1541. This romantic legend, of course, provides the basis for the Spanish theme around which modern builders created the ambient of Hot Springs Village. The main thoroughfare is called DeSoto Boulevard, all the other streets bear Spanish names, and the official logo of the community depicts the helmeted head of a Spanish conquistador.
History of Hot Springs Village, Arkansas
1970 – 2000
Many thanks to all of our staff and volunteers for their hard work in maintaining and keeping our Village beautiful.
By Cheryl Dowden, July 25, 2020
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David Campbell
07/25/2020 — 4:49 pm
I appreciate the interest and action of the BOD, POA and various committees in restoring this beautiful “oasis” to the grandeur of its inception in 1970. I moved here in April of this year because of the uniqueness and natural beauty of the Village has to offer. I am proud to live here and do my part in voluntary picking up litter along the trails and streets just because they are part of my community. I am looking forward to seeing the polished future of our community. Again, thanks for all who are making a difference in improving our Village.
Vicki Trimble
07/25/2020 — 7:28 pm
I saw the guys working on the bridge on DeSoto. It made me so proud to know someone cared enough to clean the logos. This is such a wonderful place to live! Thank you!
Georgene Gwyther
07/26/2020 — 10:39 am
These guys are doing an awesome job!! Who knew these plaques were even there? Thank you for polishing up our village.
Karen Bump
08/02/2020 — 9:09 am
I think this proves that we have good employees in the village and now they have strong leaders who care about the good of all the village, not just their own agenda. Leadership, motivation and expectations start at the top. Charles King is arriving soon and I know he will continue to motivate and inspire pride in the village. The past 2 months have done so much to lower my only stressor since moving here – worry about the future of the village and the decision/investment we made to move here. I know we are now headed in the right direction. It will take time to fix everything and save enough money to repair what has been left to deteriorate, like Balboa -but we will get there. Thank you board and John Paul for the course correction!
Greg
08/02/2020 — 12:18 pm
you can sure tell the difference between the one on desoto and the one on balboa rd.great work guys.
Patty MacDonald
08/02/2020 — 6:03 pm
When we moved here in 1983, the conquistador logo was on every official thing in the Village. Betty and Ed Powel moved into a new house on Lake Coronado a few years later. Ed had been a graphic artist for the largest advertising firm in Chicago, having designed “Charlie Tuna” and “The Green Giant.” He was generous enough to design our HSV conquistador. Removing every hint of this distinctive logo from everything she could find was one of Ms. Nalley’s parting gambits. I’m so glad these handsome plaques eluded her. Her taste was all in her mouth.
Jeanette
08/03/2020 — 6:28 pm
It’s too bad the grass around these areas isn’t being mowed. I noticed driving on Desoto today that there has been no mowing down in some time. The roadways look so bad. They haven’t looked this bad in years.. What’s the new Board doing about this. They have apparently cut down on the mowing while spending money on unneeded tasers for the Police.
HSVP C
08/03/2020 — 8:23 pm
Jeanette, I fail to see the logic of your comment.
Jeanette
08/03/2020 — 10:08 pm
The logic is that while an employee is working to clean up the medallions, the Board is letting the areas around them go uncared for. The sides of the road on Desoto is overgrown and looks terrible. I can’t remember anytime when a previous Board did such a bad job.
HSVP C
08/04/2020 — 8:39 am
Jeanette, again, I fail to see your logic. The HSVPOA Board does not have anything to do with operations, but only governance. They have one employee, the General Manager. They do not oversee mowing or cleaning schedules. Perhaps if you are unhappy with the mowing, you should contact the POA and complain to them. Of course, on rainy days, we cannot expect them to mow. We have had above-average rainfall so far this year, so naturally, that has affected things. You seem to be very biased against this Board. I think they are doing a wonderful job and have accomplished so much. Perhaps you feel that the Board Members should jump on the mowers and mow the roadsides themselves?
Jeanette
08/04/2020 — 9:33 am
It’s a bit ridiculous to suggest I would want the Board to do the mowing. That said, this Board has put themselves in control of every dollar spent by our POA so I do hold them responsible. So many rain days is a lame excuse. We’ve had several nice days of weather that would allow for mowing. The point I made was they put a lot of effort into changing the number of tasers the Police Dept. had in their budget, but still allowing them to buy half the number they had budgeted. However, if they were going to be short of funds to mow the roadways, don’t you think it would have been better to use the $1200 or so for that contract for the mowing contract instead when they had only used them once in the last three years. At any rate, the roadways along Desoto looked terrible yesterday. The worst I’ve seen in a lot of years. You are going to have to quit blindly praising this Board at some time. As I said they have made it clear to everyone they are going to have control of all spending. With that comes responsibility.
HSVP C
08/04/2020 — 10:41 am
It was a bit ridiculous of you to suggest that the Board is responsible for mowing. You can hold anyone you want responsible, that doesn’t mean you are correct. The fact that there are a lot of rain days is not an excuse, it is a fact.
It makes total sense to allow the Police Department to purchase the number of Tasers they are purchasing. They are NOT short funds to mow roadways.
I am not blindly praising the Board.
They are taking control of spending and are being very responsible. If you paid attention to the meetings, you would know this.
I do not have time to argue this with you anymore. Have a nice day. Thank you.
Jeanette
08/04/2020 — 11:02 am
Then they should get right on it. Get the roadways mowed. They are a mess.