The museum, open since 2008 according to AY Magazine, tells how Hot Springs became a place where gambling was run openly. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas says Leo McLaughlin, elected mayor in 1926, ran an open town for about twenty years on a political machine marked by voter fraud. Visitors included Al Capone and Lucky Luciano, and the Southern Club on Central Avenue was a favored hangout.
Owney Madden anchors the story. After his 1933 release from prison he began visiting, married Agnes Demby on November 26, 1935, and settled on West Grand Avenue. By about 1940 he held a controlling interest in the Southern Club. He died on April 24, 1965, and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Hot Springs. The museum's galleries cover Madden, Capone and an antique casino, and a historian gives talks in its theater.
The open town ended slowly. Gambling became a major issue in the 1962 governor's race, and a bomb went off at the Vapors casino in January 1963. After Winthrop Rockefeller took office in 1967, he ordered the State Police to stop illegal gambling, and they did. The museum is at 510 Central Avenue. Hours listed by the Hot Springs visitors bureau are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday to Thursday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday; call ahead.
The closest stops worth working into your route