It was founded in 2003 as a result of a merger between Garland County Community College and Quapaw Technical Institute.

[3] The name of the college is derived from its location adjacent to Hot Springs National Park.

[2] In 2006, as part of its initial capital campaign, the college received a donation of 1.5 million dollars from Frederick M. Dierks of Hot Springs, who had been associated with a business and owned timberland and produced pulp and paper, and that was sold to Weyerhaeuser in 1969.

By December 2007, the college had raised an additional $900,000 for the campaign and initiated a joint program in early-childhood and middle-school teaching with Henderson State University.

[7] In 1994, when it was known as Garland County Community College, the college was censured by the American Association of University Professors for failure to abide by the 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure and 1958 Statement on Procedural Standards in Faculty Dismissal Proceedings.