Hot Springs National Park Quarter

The 2010 Hot Springs National Park Quarter was released for circulation on April 19, 2010, the first coin issued in the America the Beautiful Quarters Program. Fifty-six quarters will be issued sequentially, five each year, by the U.S. Mint in the order in which the honored site was first established as a national site. Hot Springs National Park garnered the distinction of being featured on the first quarter dispensed because it was the first federal government land reservation set aside for public use, a status achieved on April 20, 1832, when President Andrew Jackson signed the legislation to protect forty-seven hot springs on the slope of Hot Springs Mountain.

The 110^th Congress passed Public Law 110-456, the America’s Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008, sending it to President George W. Bush, who signed it on December 23. The America the Beautiful Quarters Program will issue coins that depict national parks or other national sites (Delaware and Puerto Rico have no national park) on the reverse (tails), while the obverse (heads) will bear the familiar image of George Washington. Under model parameters, four alternative designs for each quarter are presented for vetting to the U.S. Department of the Interior, the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, and the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee. The director of the U.S. Mint makes concluding recommendations to the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, who has final approval.

On March 24, 2010, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner announced the winning design for the Hot Springs National Park Quarter. It depicts Hot Springs National Park headquarters’ building façade—completed in 1936 in the Spanish Colonial Revival style—in the background with a fountain in the foreground; it also includes the National Park Service emblem to the right of the door. Created by Don Everhart and sculpted by Joseph Menna, the quarter features the inscriptions “HOT SPRINGS, ARKANSAS, 2010” and “E PLURIBUS UNUM.” A total of 69.6 million Hot Springs National Park Quarters will be minted.

For additional information:
“America the Beautiful Quarters™ Program.” U.S. Mint. http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/atb/?flash=yes (accessed February 15, 2022).

“America’s Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008.” Government Printing Office. http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_cong_public_laws&docid=f:publ456.110.pdf (accessed February 15, 2022).

America’s National Park Quarters. http://beautifulparksquarters.com/ (accessed February 15, 2022).

Ganz, David L. “Park Themes Get Nod for New Coin Series.” Numismatic News, December 18, 2008.

John Spurgeon
Bella Vista, Arkansas