West Baden Hotel About to Open Again
By: Jaimie Weiss
Updated: May 2, 2007
West Baden Springs Hotel opened before the turn of the 20th century but sat in ruins for decades before renovations started a few years ago.
Looking up at the dome in the West Baden Hotel atrium is a look back into the the 1900s.
Built around that time the Southwest Indiana tourist attraction was the place to be for the rich and famous.
"One of the originial resasons people came here was for the waters. They thought it would cure everything," says Dyan Welsh with french lick casino and resort
Theyre working to get it back in that form today.
The hotel closed during the great depression and has been used for everything from an army hospital during world war one to a Jesuit Seminary College.
Those tenants have left their touch.
"When it was used as a Jesuit Seminary they converted it into a chapel so they added the stain glass windows you see today."
The theyre pieces people remember from their childhood.
"I hear everything from parents honeymooned here to may parents took me here as a kid."
Theyre the type of historic pieces being recovered now.
It obviously takes a lot of work to get the hotel back to its original design of the 1900s, but to really understand how hard this renovation is you have to look at what the hotel looked like only 10 years ago.
After the last owner moved out in 1983 the hotel was left in ruins with walls caving in.
"People in the community didnt think it would stay standing."
In 1996 a historic organization stepped in restoring the building - renovation began in 2005.
When the hotel reopens next month for the first time in 75 years it will look just like it did more than a century ago - with a few additions like indoor and outdoor pools, a spa, an ice cream parlor and more than 200 new rooms.
"Theres not other property like this in the U.S."
They hope to keep it going for another 105 years
Opening day is set for june first.
The spa wont be open until sometime in the middle of summer.
The hotel is taking reservations right now.
Rooms start around 250 dollars a night.
