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Historic churches in Eureka Springs

Thanks to Eureka Springs’ healing origins and the diversity of its original settlers, religion has always played a large role in the city’s life.

Ministers among the early health seekers flooding into Eureka Springs in 1879 preached outdoors wherever a crowd could gather.

Soon, a variety of denominations erected churches. Of the ones constructed between 1880 and 1915, the seven listed here survive.

Eureka Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 17 Elk Street

The Methodist Episcopal Church built this church, the city’s first, in October 1880.

When the congregation merged with another one in 1926, this building was sold, and became the headquarters of the city’s Ku Klux Klan chapter, which did not last for many years.

Today, it houses the Eureka Unitarian Universalist Fellowship.

Carnegie Library annex, 109 Spring street

In 1881, a Presbyterian minister began holding services in Eureka Springs in a tent that could accommodate 300.

The congregation started a building fund, and in 1885, the Eureka Improvement Company donated this lot. The First Presbyterian Church of Eureka Springs opened its doors the next year.

In 2024, the congregation disbanded and gave the building to the local library.

Intrigue Theater, 80 Mountain Street

This building was originally built in 1901 by the Immanuel Baptist Church congregation, which had split off from First Baptist Church in 1899.

In the mid-2000s, it was repurposed as a wedding chapel and musical machine museum. It was renamed Gavioli Chapel, after the museum’s centerpiece, a functional circa 1912 Gavioli organ.

Today, it is known as Intrigue Theater and hosts performances by illusionists Sean-Paul and Juliana Fay.

St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church, 30 Crescent Drive

The first Catholic church in Eureka Springs, a wood-frame building, was built in 1882.

In 1904, wealthy businessman Richard Kerens funded the contruction of the entry rotunda of this building as a memorial chapel in honor of his mother. It was expanded into the full church seen here in 1909.

The Ripley’s Believe It or Not newspaper column made the building famous as “the only church entered through its steeple.” The church is at the bottom of a steep hill, and entered through its detached bell tower’s top, at street level.

The Italian marble statues on the church grounds were added in 1953 and 1958.

Though the congregation grew to the point that another building serves as its primary location, St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church still holds services here.

St. James Episcopal Church, 28 Prospect Avenue

Originally a schoolhouse, this building was remodeled and consecrated as St. James Episcopal Church in 1913. The congregation has kept it ever since, though it was unused at a low point in the city’s population before being reopened in 1948.

The building required major restoration after being badly damaged by fire in 1962 and again in 2023.

The congregation hosts the annual Silver Tea charity benefit at the nearby Crescent Hotel.

First Baptist Penn Memorial Church, 100 Spring Street

The congregation of Eureka Springs’ First Baptist Church formed in 1880. In 1908, most of First Baptist’s congregation consolidated with Immanuel Baptist.

A few members reformed in 1912 as First Baptist Penn Memorial Church, in honor of famed evangelist and First Baptist Church member William Evander Penn, who died in 1895.

They completed this building, influenced by the Byzantine architecture style, in 1913.

Due to the uneven terrain, the building has four levels, with a street-level entrance on each level, and separate street addresses on Owen, Spring, and Mountain streets.

Heart of Many Ways, 68 Mountain Street

A Eureka Springs resident trained under Christian Science founder Mary Baker Eddy in 1888. Eddy herself came in 1889 to give a speech in the city, staying at the Crescent Hotel. A formal congregation was chartered in 1896.

The congregation purchased this lot in 1902, started construction in 1914, and opened this building the next year. Its stained glass was shipped from Germany.

It now houses Heart of Many Ways, a center for diverse spiritual communities, including Sufi, Wiccan, and Kundalini.