Rose Schweikhart is the new face of Hot Springs, Arkansas, a city that once was one of America’s most popular tourist spots but later suffered years of decline.

During a recent trip to this city west of Little Rock, we stopped in at the Superior Bathhouse Brewery and Distillery to say hello to Rose, whom we had met during an earlier trip. We were interested to see how her business was faring.

Rose was home-brewing for nearly five years when she became interested in starting a commercial brewery and distillery. At the time, Hot Springs National Park, which owns eight of the old bathhouses that remain on the city’s historic bathhouse row, was searching for tenants who could help restore the once-beautiful buildings and operate viable businesses within them.

Rose contacted the park superintendent in 2011 about the possibility of brewing beer in one of the buildings. The rest is history, although not without its ups and downs – much like Hot Springs, itself.

This city was a major travel destination from the late 1800s to the mid-1900s, especially for those who sought healing from its famed thermal waters. Hot Springs was a popular venue where major league baseball teams trained, and where gangsters including Al Capone and Lucky Luciano vacationed.

Visitors came here to soak in supposedly healing waters inside the handsome bathhouses. They stayed in fancy hotels, spent time and money in gambling houses and dined in upscale restaurants. But by the 1950s, Hot Springs was in decline, and the city fathers and National Park Service (Hot Springs National Park was established in 1921) were searching for ways to reinvigorate its economy.

At the time of our earlier visit, Rose was seen as a key to the puzzle – a graduate student in music and former New Jersey resident who had committed to restoring one of the old bathhouses in the form of a brewery, selling pale ales and stouts. As we recently sat at a table in Rose’s brew house, enjoying one of her German-style beers and reflecting on her start-up story, she confided that the first couple of years were sometimes discouraging.

When she opened in July 2013, business was initially quite good but slowed considerably as fall crept into winter. Rose had borrowed a considerable amount of money to cover a half-million dollars worth of exterior renovations and several hundred thousand dollars for interior work and equipment. During early stages of set-up, she occasionally had difficulties paying the bills.

However, the lady is tenacious, and she persevered. Rose told us with a grin, “Unlike a big corporation, I could live on ramen noodles for several years while getting the business up and running.”

Despite having “brewery” and “distillery” included in the name of the business, the distillery part was considered a fire hazard by the Park Service and didn’t get off the ground. Rose says she has enjoyed concentrating on the brewing business anyway. “Beer making is as much an artistic process as making music,” she says.

A tuba player and former graduate student in music, the lady should know.

Less than five years into a 55-year lease, Rose now says the business has, so far, exceeded her expectations. Her slogan, “Hot Springs on tap,” is a nod to the thermal waters used in the brewing process.

The enterprise appears to be everything the Park Service could have hoped for. Maintenance and repair of one of this city’s gems, a major bathhouse, is being paid for by a business that offers brews and food, drawing visitors and locals alike. And its proprietor is currently completing a party venue on the building’s second floor, with hopes of adding an adjacent beer garden.

Rose told us she expects to double her current annual output of 500 barrels within the next couple of years. She seems to be enjoying the business and is obviously proud of what she has accomplished.

If you have an idea for a business and are interested in operating in a national park where decisions don’t always occur at warp speed, Hot Springs National Park has two still-vacant, former bathhouses awaiting your inspection. Perhaps you can duplicate the success of Rose, a former music major with a dream.

Strike up the band.

David and Kay Scott are authors of “Complete Guide to the National Park Lodges” (Globe Pequot). Visit them at www.valdosta.edu/~dlscott/Scott