preview

West Hannon Bush Hotel Research Paper

Better Essays

“The new West Baden stands today, risen like the phoenix from the ashes of despair to the very acme of its olden joy. The new hotel building of West Baden Springs Company might very properly be called the Eighth Wonder of the World.” (O’Malley 47) Beautiful and magnificent, this wonder survived several generations of deterioration and vandalism. During the eighty years its doors opened to acquire guests, the West Baden Springs Hotel occupied a significant place in the pattern of the mid-American social living and reflected social zest and customs of the American people (1). The West Baden Springs Hotel--often considered the “Eighth Wonder of the World”--flourished for years as the rich, the notorious, and the famous flooded the gates of West …show more content…

Many new guests arrived in West Baden as a result of the new railroad, but one in particular by the name of Lee Sinclair would play a key role in the growth and development of West Baden (3). With a sharp business sense, Sinclair invested in the West Baden Inn by purchasing a one-third interest from the Stout Company in February. He later became two-third owner of the hotel after purchasing another one-third interest from Dr. James Braden and his wife. The name of the hotel changed from West Baden Inn to West Baden Springs Hotel. (4) Sinclair yearned to make the West Baden Springs Hotel one of the most lavish hotels in the nation (O’Malley 23). Throughout the years, officials constructed several additional structures to encourage guests to stay at the premises. An opera house (1893), a casino and a ballroom (1895), a large double-decker bicycle track (1896), a baseball diamond, a Catholic church (1898), and a two-story indoor pool (1898) highlight the amenities offered to the guests (O’Brian 5-6). “During the nineties West Baden began to take the lead in Indiana, and by the turn of the century it stood at the summit.” (O’Malley …show more content…

In October 1929, hotel guests huddled in a brokerage firm office within the hotel and observed the stock market crash. Seemingly overnight most of the guests departed from the hotel. The Great Depression left the hotel no choice but to close its doors in June 1932. Sinclair sold the hotel for one dollar to the Jesuits. They converted the hotel to a seminary that functioned until June 1964 when the enrollment diminished leaving no choice but to close the place. In 1966, the Jesuits sold the hotel to a Michigan couple who altered it into a culinary school. (West 3) Bankruptcy closed the culinary school in 1983 (O’Brian

Get Access