Road Trip! Bob and I drove a little over an hour south of Bloomington today to visit a couple of resorts that we had seen listed in our local guides and which had been mentioned by our homeowners— the West Baden Springs Hotel and the French Lick Springs Hotel and Casino. The drive itself added to the adventure as the last 10 to 15 miles were on very curvy and narrow (though well paved) roads with signs to watch for farm machinery.
Our first stop was at the very attractive West Baden Springs Hotel. Dr. john Lane, who acquired the health resort in 1855, renamed the hotel and town after the famous mineral springs in Wiesbaden, Germany.
Lee Sinclair transformed the hotel into a sophisticated resort in 1888 when he assumed ownership, including an opera house, golf course, church, and ball field. However, he really transformed the physical structure of the building into how it looks today after a fire destroyed the original structure in 1901. For a little over $410,000 and within 1 year, the new structure was modeled after the best European spas and contained the world’s largest free span dome, earning it the nickname “The 8th Wonder of the World.” It retained that nickname until the Astrodomewas built in Houston, Texas.
Following the stock market crash in 1929, the owner sold it to the Jesuits for $1. The Jesuits operated it as a seminary for 30 years. It was reopened as a hotel in 1996 after an extensive renovation.
(Carlsbad refers to a spa town in the Czech Republic.
This was added with the arches in 1914)
One of four statues in the room
Because of the history of a hotel, there is a small onsite museum.
that was found under the atrium floor during the renovation
throughout the1920s
From the West Baden Springs Hotel, it was a short one mile drive to the French Lick Springs Hotel, located in French Lick, Indiana (population 1,700). See Part II of blog.
Peckish Travels 