Sarah Elizabeth Van Patten Ellsworth (1844–1927)

A native of Washington DC, Sarah Elizabeth Van Patten Ellsworth was a historian, historic preservationist, and civic-minded citizen who lived in Hot Springs (Garland County) much of her life. Her civic endeavors helped bring culture to the growing tourist town.

Sarah Elizabeth Van Patten was born on November 12, 1844, to Dr. Charles Toll Hansen Van Patten and Amelia Caroline Harper Van Patten. Her father was a dentist and naturalist who spent years in Central America cataloging plants and animals for various institutions, including the Smithsonian Institution. Her mother was a native of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Van Patten had eight siblings. As a teenager, Van Patten reportedly became the first American girl to ride across all of Central America on horseback. She was also reportedly in the choir that sang at the dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery, the event where President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address.

Educated in Baltimore and Washington DC, Van Patten was introduced by a mutual friend to Dr. Prosper Harvey Ellsworth in the early 1870s. A Canadian native, Ellsworth had attended medical school in the United States before joining the 106^th Illinois Infantry as a surgeon during the Civil War. His service brought him to Arkansas, where he remained after the war. Moving to Hot Springs in 1866, he established a medical practice on Central Avenue. The two married in 1873, and Sarah Ellsworth joined her husband in Hot Springs.

Hot Springs was a rough and growing town. Prosper Ellsworth’s first combined office and home burned in 1868, and the second burned in 1878. The couple resided in a converted carriage house for several years while a home designed by Sarah Ellsworth’s brother, architect Phillip Van Patten, was completed outside of the city limits on Park Avenue in 1884. They named it Wildwood, and the couple raised their three sons and one daughter there. The home was added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 8, 1976, and it operated as a bed and breakfast.

Sarah Ellsworth helped found the Woman’s Christian National Library Association, an organization dedicated to the creation of libraries available to the public. The group began a library in Hot Springs in 1881, and the institution eventually merged with the Garland County Library. Ellsworth designed a fountain for the Arkansas Building at the 1903 World’s Fair in Chicago and won a prize for her efforts. The funds were eventually used to construct a pavilion at the intersection of Park and Whittington avenues in Hot Springs to provide cold drinking water to the public.

In 1897, she represented the Lotus Club, a local women’s club, at the organization of the Arkansas Federation of Women’s Clubs. She later served as the president of the federation from 1908 to 1910. During her tenure, the federation led efforts to preserve the Old State House from destruction after the current Arkansas State Capitol building was completed.

While serving as the president, Ellsworth attended the national conference of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs in 1911. Delegations were requested to carry the flag of their state, and as Arkansas did not have a state flag, Ellsworth led a group from the state federation to lobby the Arkansas General Assembly. The efforts of the group led to her appointment to the state commission tasked in 1913 with selecting a flag.

Ellsworth’s husband died in 1907 and is buried in Hollywood Cemetery in Hot Springs. The previous year, Ellsworth had suffered an unspecified accident, which eventually led to her withdrawal from public life. She died on August 16, 1927, and is buried with her husband. The family papers are housed at the University of Arkansas (UA) in Fayetteville (Washington County).

For additional information:
Dillard, Tom. “A Sophisticate on the Frontier.” Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, March 2, 2014, p. 84.

Ellsworth Family Papers. Special Collections. University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville, Arkansas. Finding aid online at https://uark.as.atlas-sys.com/repositories/2/resources/1574 (accessed March 25, 2025).

Hudgins, Mary D. “Sarah Ellsworth Maker of Arkansas History.” Arkansas Historical Quarterly 11 (Summer 1952): 102–12.

Wildwood Bed and Breakfast. https://www.hotspringsbnbwildwood.com/ (accessed March 25, 2025).

“Wildwood.” National Register of Historic Places registration form. On file at Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, Little Rock, Arkansas. Online at https://www.arkansasheritage.com/docs/default-source/national-registry/ga0025-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=5ad1a86c_0 (accessed March 25, 2025).

David Sesser
Southeastern Louisiana University