[2] Garland County comprises the Hot Springs, Arkansas Metropolitan Statistical Area.

A law was passed in 1832 supported by President Andrew Jackson to preserve this area, even before Arkansas was admitted as a state.

This area was occupied by the historic Natchitoches people, who frequented the hot springs for their healing powers.

After acquiring the Louisiana Territory in 1803, which had been controlled by French and Spanish officials, President Thomas Jefferson requested William Dunbar, a planter and amateur scientist of Natchez, Mississippi, to explore this area.

Dunbar led small group of a dozen soldiers and friend George Hunter, a chemist, to the Ouachita Mountains to report on the Indian tribes, minerals, and springs.

An owner of a plantation at Red River, Prudhomme was suffering from illness and sought relief from the springs.

Percival foresaw a great potential for the area and built log cabins in order to rent to visitors to the springs.

A dispute among original settlers and their descendants over control of the property was settled by the US Supreme Court in 1877 in favor of the federal government.

However, the United States census does list Arkansas population based on townships (sometimes referred to as "county subdivisions" or "minor civil divisions").

Each town or city is within one or more townships in an Arkansas county based on census maps and publications.