LITTLE ROCK — The U.S. Mint unveiled the design of a quarter on Tuesday that recognizes Hot Springs National Park as the first land that the federal government set aside for preservation.
The coin is the first installment of the America the Beautiful Quarters Program, an initiative honoring national sites such as parks, forests and wildlife refuges in all 50 states, five U.S. territories and the District of Columbia.
The U.S. Mint will release 56 quarters - five new designs per year and one in 2021 - in the order in which the featured sites were first preserved by the government.
The Hot Springs Reservation - what later became Hot Springs National Park - was set aside for preservation on April 20, 1832. That’s 40 years before Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming got federal recognition in 1872.
U.S. Mint Director Ed Moy said Tuesday that the new coin should net great exposure for the region.
“Hot Springs National Park is No. 1 in the series,” he said. “Because of that, millions of Americans - maybe hundreds of millions of Americans - will be introduced to Hot Springs and Arkansas for the first time.”
The Hot Springs coin will picture the facade of the Hot Springs National Park head-quarters with a hot spring fountain in the foreground. The headquarters was built in the Spanish colonial revival style and completed in 1936.
The National Park Service emblem is featured to the right of the headquarters’ door.
The inscriptions surrounding the image read “Hot Springs, Arkansas, 2010” and “E Pluribus Unum.”
The heads side will feature the common 1932 portrait of George Washington by John Flanagan but restored to bring out more detail.
The coin was designed by U.S. Mint employee Don Everhart from Philadelphia. It was based on a photograph submitted by Hot Springs National Park officials.
Josie Fernandez, superintendent of the park, said Tuesday that she hopes the new coin educates the American public about Hot Springs.
Many people mistakenly believe Yellowstone was the first federal land set aside for preservation, she said. Instead, Yellowstone was the first land to be named a “national park.”
“The ethic of preservation and protection at the national level began in 1832 when Andrew Jackson signed the law that protected the hot springs of the Ouachita,” Fernandez said. “That’s pretty important in our nation’s history.”
The other quarters to be released this year will honor Yellowstone, Yosemite National Park in California,Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona and Mount Hood National Forest in Oregon.
The other three Arkansas sites considered for the coin were the Buffalo National River, Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site and Pea Ridge National Military Park.
Hot Springs got the nod at the recommendation of Gov. Mike Beebe, officials said.
The Mint chose the image of the fountain fronting the park headquarters because it seemed the most iconic and easily associated with Hot Springs, Moy said.
“You take one look at that, and that does not exist in any other national park in the United States,” Moy said.
The America the Beautiful Quarters Program follows up on the popular 50 States Quarters Program that ran from 1999 to 2008.
The new America the Beautiful coins will be the only style of quarter the U.S. Mint produces until 2021.
The Mint will produce each quarter for about 10 weeks running. After that, the designs will never be made again.
The number of coins produced will vary according to whether the economy is hot or cold, Moy said.
The U.S. Mint produced between 25 million and 1 billion of each quarter from the 50 states program, Moy said.
The new coins will be released into circulation April 19.
The coins go from the Mint to the U.S. Federal Reserve, to banks and then to businesses and the public.
Collectors should be able to go into banks and exchange money for the new coins, Moy said.
On April 20, Moy will visit Hot Springs National Park for a ceremony to mark the occasion.
Officials will have thousands of dollars worth of $10 rolls for exchange at the event, Fernandez said.
Steve Arrison, chief executive officer of the Hot Springs Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the quarter’s release is a marketing opportunity to draw new visitors to the national park and the city.
“They are doing how many of these quarters, but we are the first. There’s always more attention paid to the first of anything,” he said.
“It will make some people say, ‘Wait, why isn’t Yellowstone first?’ Then I think the history of Hot Springs National Park will come out, and that’s a real bonus.”
Gene Johnson, host of the annual Tri-Lakes Coin Club Coin Show in Hot Springs, said the new quarter will become a hot commodity after the banks run out of them.
The $10 roll of quarters that the Mint produced in 2009 in honor of the U.S. Territories and the District of Columbia already sell for $20 on the Internet.
“And the first ones always have the most value,” Johnson said. “They aren’t going to be easy to find, no sir.”
The Mint offers more information and a live webcast of today’s Washington news conference to unveil the quarter at www.americathebeautifulquarters.gov.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 03/24/2010