The above photo of
the French Lick Springs Hotel was taken in the early
80's, more than forty years ago, and will be
recognized by many of the older residents, of this
city and vicinity. When this photo was made Wells and
Andrews were the owners of this property. The
building was a wooden structure, of two stories, and
occupied the space of the Main front of the present
hotel. You will notice the elevated board walk from
the old wagon road to the hotel. This walk was
necessary to keep guest from wading in the mud in the
wet weather. You are looking west and just south of
the Hotel are the bowling alleys, which were located
where the old power house, now the plumbing shop and
private printing plant are located. The little
two-story part of the north end of the bowling alleys
was used for the office of the alleys, and the upper
room was a poker room where guest and citizens could
woo the Goddess of Luck.
A little farther
south you can see at the extreme left the Livery Barn
of Bev. and Wm. Rhodes, where plenty of buggies and
surreys could be hired to take trips to various
places of interest, such as Bear Cave, Outlaw Cave,
The Six Mile Circle and other drives. The Rhodes
Brothers kept from fifty to seventy-five fine
Kentucky saddle horses in those days, before the
advent of the automobile, and horse back riding was
the main recreation, as golf was then not known in
the United States, being exclusively a Scotch Game.
When this picture was
made the ground around Pluto and Proserpine Springs
had not been filled in as it is now and the level of
the Springs was lower. They were surrounded by a
softy, mucky soil and you had to walk a plank across
the soft oozing ground to reach Pluto, which at that
time sent his bubbling ill-smelling water up from the
bottom of a square reservoir about four by six feet
made of stone slabs set on edge. The arbor sheltering
this Spring was of very rustic design, being composed
of willow saplings, surmounted by bark roof, the only
ornamental feature being the upturned butt of a
sapling with the roots spreading into the air.
In those days the
predominating idea of the proprietors was to stay
close to nature. They believed, and rightly too, that
the city visitors would better enjoy a ten day rest
in those primitive surroundings, but, at that time,
had no way of eliminating the inconveniences, that
made themselves felt. Today, these unnecessary
attributes to the "primitive life" have
been eliminated by hotels and surroundings that have
cost millions of dollars; a situation that allows for
the affording of the best that can be found in the
most modern of the city hotels, and yet has left room
for the primitive charm that was, at first, the main
attraction of French Lick's offer of "a restful
vacation."
