(This article first appeared in the December print edition of the Hendersonian.)
It’s somewhat surreal that a place like West Baden Springs Hotel would be found in the largely rural central Indiana countryside.
But nonetheless there it is in all its glory, and at Christmas time it’s an extra bright spot in the holiday landscape making a day trip (or sleepover) a festive outing.
Especially with all those Christmas lights in the hotel’s formal gardens, along the driveway up to the hotel entrance and in the circular building’s domed atrium (where they constantly change colors).
The backdrop for enjoying the beauty of that domed wonder might be someone playing Christmas standards on the grand piano if you time your visit just right.
Calling it a wonder is not far-fetched. Its grandeur was first unveiled in 1902 after owner Lee Sinclair had this “dream hotel” constructed to mimic the grandest spas in Europe after a 1901 fire destroyed the original West Baden Springs Hotel.
Built within just one year, it was billed as the “Eighth Wonder of the World.”
The hotel’s massive atrium is 200 feet across and 100 feet tall and it remained the world’s largest free-span dome until the construction of Houston’s Astrodome in the 1960s.
The Indiana Landmarks organization tells the story of West Baden Springs Hotel and the nearby French Lick Springs Hotel, where the wealthy and the famous (and even the infamous) came to “take the waters” and gamble in the early decades of the 1900s leading up to the Great Depression.
These healing mineral springs and salt licks were originally discovered, it’s said, by frontiersman George Rogers Clark in 1778 as he was doing battle with foes in the western area of the colonies during the American Revolution.
Fast forward several decades and West Baden has its own brand of healing waters, Sprudel Water, which reputedly cured or improved nearly all diseases and afflictions. Guests could drink and bathe in the water in the hotel and in several elegant springs pavilions arranged around the sunken garden. (Similarly, French Lick Springs Hotel offered Pluto Water to its guests.)
Ed Ballard (the namesake of the current restaurant in the atrium), owner of several circuses, acquired the property in 1922.
But the stock market crash of 1929 dealt a severe financial blow and the hotel closed in 1932. Ballard donated the property to The Society of Jesus. The Jesuits maintained a seminary until 1964, followed by 15 years as Northwood Institute, a private college.
After nearly 10 years of vacancy and dilapidation—and a partial collapse of the hulking building—the property was rescued and partially restored, beginning in 1996, by a partnership of Cook Group and Indiana Landmarks.
Beginning that year and throughout the restoration, Indiana Landmarks offered guided tours of the West Baden Springs Hotel with the assistance of local volunteers. You can still take daily tours of the property including one that takes you behind the scenes.
In 2007, the hotel opened to overnight guests and great acclaim. Indiana Landmarks holds a preservation easement on the property that guarantees the National Historic Landmark’s perpetual protection.
New features at West Baden include a pool and spa building that is a faithful replica of the property’s long-lost natatorium. An 18-hole golf course on the hill above West Baden Springs, designed by Pete Dye, opened in 2009 with Mt. Airie, the historic Taggart mansion, as the course clubhouse. There are several restaurants and specialty shops to enjoy at both hotels, and a shuttle runs between them, although the one-mile (one-way) walk is easy.
The two hotels, three golf courses, and a casino connected to the French Lick Springs Hotel operate under the name French Lick Resort, and have won prizes from tourism, architecture, preservation and golfing organizations.
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More information: www.frenchlick.com; www.indianalandmarks.org
