Built primarily between 1886 and 1930, the hotels, shops, restaurants and offices on Central Avenue have greatly benefited from the city's tourism related to the thermal waters thought to contain healing properties.

Built in a variety of architectural styles, the majority of the buildings constituting the district are two- or three-story structures.

[2] The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985, at which time forty contributing structures were identified; 101 Park Avenue was added in 2007, and a boundary decrease was approved in 2019.

August Schlafley bought DeSoto and Mountain Valley Spring Water in 1924 and combined the operations.

This article about a property in Garland County, Arkansas on the National Register of Historic Places is a stub.