The Cairo and Fulton Railroad line established Malvern as a railroad station in 1873. When service to Hot Springs began a few years later, a site along the way to the spa city came to be known by a distinctive name: local lore includes the fascinating story of “Coffee Pot Curve.”

The Cairo and Fulton played a major role in Arkansas’s economic development by connecting the state to the rest of the nation. Malvern served as an important stop on the rail line. The new railroad facilitated shipment of the area’s raw materials to other parts of the country, including agricultural and forest products. Another key development, though, also increased Malvern’s significance as a transportation center. Coinciding with the coming of the railroad, the nearby resort city of Hot Springs was enjoying a boom of its own. More and more people wanted to visit the town, creating a demand for easier access to the spa’s facilities located in the midst of the Ouachita Mountains. A new railroad running from Malvern to Hot Springs responded to that demand.

According to local legend, businessman Joseph Reynolds first became interested in establishing rail service from Malvern to Hot Springs after a rough-and-tumble ride by stagecoach along the route in 1874. Construction of the Reynolds’ railroad began in May of 1875, and the first passenger train traveled from Malvern to Hot Springs less than a year later.

The new rail line became known locally as the “Diamond Jo.” It was narrow-gauge, which meant that travelers who arrived in Malvern via the standard-gauge rail had to transfer to another train. While such a transfer was a bit inconvenient, the trip by rail was a big improvement over a rough, dusty stagecoach ride. The railroad eventually made the change to standard-gauge, which made travel to Hot Springs easier than ever before.

The story of Coffee Pot Curve, located between Malvern and Hot Springs, includes events similar to an occurrence in the movie “Speed,” when Sandra Bullock speeds up to enable her bus to leap across an unfinished portion of freeway. Diamond Jo engineer John J. Ryan was at the controls on a trip from Malvern to Hot Springs beginning at about 4:00 a.m.  Unknown to Ryan, a bridge near Gulpha Creek had burned during the night, leaving the rails of the 45-foot bridge held together only by partially-burned ties. As the train approached from around a curve, Ryan could see from the still-burning embers what had happened, but knew there was not time to stop the train. Instead, he made the quick decision to push the engine to its greatest speed, fortunately allowing the engine and cars to speed across the damaged bridge unharmed. However, there was one small mishap: the crew’s coffee pot sitting on the baggage car’s stove overturned. Therefore, the men nicknamed the location “Coffee Pot Curve.”

One of the passengers on that particular train was Billy Sunday, as well as other members of the Chicago White Stockings, who were on their way for baseball spring training at Hot Springs. Sunday later became a well-known evangelist. He was intrigued by what had happened, talked with the train’s engineer, and told the story of “Coffee Pot Curve” in an article which appeared in the New York World newspaper.