Tiny Town

Located at 374 Whittington Avenue in Hot Springs (Garland County), Tiny Town is a family-run attraction featuring a handmade miniature village and an interactive model railroad. For about seventy years, it was lovingly constructed out of scrap by Frank Moshinski. Tiny Town, as of 2026, is owned and operated by his son Charles.

With twenty-two separate areas of interest, Frank Moshinskie’s creation evolved into not only a detailed, ornate model city but also a tribute to important moments in his life. As airplanes and hot-air balloons circle over Tiny Town, a train moves throughout the little world. Features are activated by buttons that can be controlled by visitors, making the figures come to life. There are miniscule houses, businesses, cars, buildings, monuments (including a hand-carved Mount Rushmore), parks, mountains, campgrounds, a Ferris wheel, and a shooting gallery. The Tiny Town School stands ready to educate the village’s children. Various sections are populated by dancers, lawmen, gunslingers, and park rangers, as well as a few bears.

It all began when, at age thirteen, Frank Moshinskie helped his father create a holiday village to put under the Christmas tree in their hometown of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The family enjoyed it so much that the village eventually stayed in place year-round. Friends began to stop by their home to see the village as more items were added. Moshinskie was then drafted into the U.S. Army. When World War II began in 1941, he was sent to remote Ascension Island in the Atlantic, where he helped service airplanes. Spending two years on the small island with little else to do, Moshinskie taught himself to carve. Wishing he had a birthday gift to send his future wife Louise, Moshinskie found wood from an old crate and started carving with his pocketknife. The finished product was a wooden letter opener featuring the head of General Douglas MacArthur, who had been born in Little Rock (Pulaski County).

After the war, the family settled in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where Frank Moshinskie continued his hobby of carving miniatures, setting up a display in the family garage. After a tornado damaged their home, they moved to Hot Springs, a place Moshinskie had enjoyed visiting. Tiny Town moved with them, opening as a local tourist attraction in a former barbeque restaurant in 1963. The locale on Whittington Avenue was close to other tourist attractions such as the Alligator Farm and the IQ Zoo. Year by year, Moshinskie added to the little town he created by hand using scrap and repurposed materials such as metal cans.

Many of the scenes are places Moshinskie liked to visit with his family, such as Niagara Falls and the Colorado Rockies. The display continued to grow as a reflection of the artist who was building it. Moshinskie re-created the family home, along with miniature versions of himself and his wife. According to son Charles Moshinskie, everything is made from scratch using any materials that his father could find, including matches, paperclips, toothpicks, wire, and sawdust that was used for grass.

Frank Moshinskie died in 1999 at age eighty-three, and Tiny Town ceased expanding. There has been maintenance and repair work but no new additions to the display. Still, there is plenty to see in the large cinder-block room that contains the miniature world of Tiny Town. One of the most popular scenes involves Moshinskie’s favorite TV show, Gunsmoke. With characters that move, lawman Matt Dillon has a gunfight with an outlaw before leading the villain off to jail. Nearby, saloon keeper Miss Kitty stands on her balcony while being serenaded by Elvis Presley. Other Tiny Town celebrities include Dolly Parton, Fonzie from Happy Days, Mr. T, and Sonny and Cher. The town of Mayberry, North Carolina, as seen on the Andy Griffith television show, is represented by fictitious landmarks like Floyd’s Barber Shop.

Tiny Town is generally open during the daytime, Monday through Saturday, from March to October, with days and hours that vary according to the season and the weather.

For additional information:
Carson, Carol Ann. “The World’s Largest Indoor Miniature Display Is Right Here in Arkansas at Tiny Town.” Only In Arkansas, December 9, 2024. https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/experiences/arkansas/ar-tiny-town-miniature (accessed September 23, 2026).

“Francis John ‘Frank’ Moshinskie 1915–1999, Simsboro City Cemetery.” Find a Grave. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/16625695/francis-john-moshinskie (accessed September 23, 2026).

Rowe, Matt. “The Itty-Bitty City Build from Scrap and Sawdust.” The Record (2025): 11.1–11.3.

Rowe, Matthew. “Take Me to Tiny Town.” Arkansas Times, April 1, 2021. https://arktimes.com/rock-candy/2021/04/01/take-me-to-tiny-town (accessed September 23, 2026).

Schnedler, Jack. “Small but Mighty.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, September 1, 2026, pp. 1E, 6E. Online at https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2026/aug/31/arkansas-sightseeing-hot-springs-tiny-town-usa-is/ (accessed September 23, 2026).

“SoLost: Tiny Town!” Oxford American, June 8, 2012. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eV7R9vrNXmI (accessed September 18, 2026). [see Related Web video in sidebar]

“Tiny Town.” Atlas Obscura. https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/tiny-town (accessed September 23, 2026).

“Tiny Town.” Hot Springs National Park. https://www.hotsprings.org/places/activities/tiny-town/ (accessed September 23, 2026).

“Tiny Town Trains.” Wild Travels. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3GJJOQHHyo (accessed September 23, 2026). [see Related Web video in sidebar]

Nancy Hendricks
Garland County Historical Society