In 1901, a fire that originated in the kitchen of the hotel spread throughout the building, caused the night watchmen to alert the guests by shouting and shooting a pistol to urge them to get to the east wing. The Methodist Church, on the other hand, burned and the members decided it was best to build their new church in the town, which is still standing today. Rayfield’s Catholic Church and it is still standing today,” Lane narrates. “It says in history they came with horses and wagons and dismantled the church at West Baden, which was called Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church after the place in France (Our Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic Church) and moved it to DuBois and rebuilt it on the site of their former burned down church. However, the nearby city of DuBois, Indiana just west of West Baden had a Catholic church that was burned down and left their city without a church. The Catholic church fell into disrepair as the site needed a lot of clear-cutting on the west hillside, which was steep and caused the foundation of the church to slide, thus forcing the church to be condemned. Sinclair did not want to tempt his guest to leave West Baden and see the French Lick Hotel. Lee Sinclair loved to cater to his guests, and in doing so he built a bicycle pony track, a Methodist church on the property right behind the hotel, a Catholic church to keep guests in West Baden, as the nearest Catholic church was in French Lick, and Mr. So, he bought ⅔ interest in the Mile Lick Inn in 1888.” This railway was later named the Monon Railroad. Sinclair heard there was a railroad coming to West Baden in 1887, he thought it was the perfect way for guests to get here. Lee Sinclair wanted to buy the first hotel in the West Baden Village in 1887, but there was no railroad Lane explained. The North, West, South wings were said to be the original three wings built, and the East wing was added on June 14, 1901, by the Sinclair Family of Salem, Indiana. The West Baden Hotel had various owners and it had four separate wings named for the points on a compass. Lane built his first hotel in 1855 and caused intense competition between the two hotels in the neighboring towns. This name was chosen because the hotel was a mile away from the famous French Lick spring.ĭr. Lane decided to move to what was called Mile Lick and build his own hotel called Mile Lick Inn. Bowles did not want to renew the lease and Dr. Bowles went to the Mexican war in 1846-48 and leased the French Lick House to Dr. The same could not be said for the first West Baden Hotel.ĭr. Bowles did this so if one hotel caught fire the others wouldn’t burn down. The French Lick Springs hotel included three separate buildings, one called the Windsor Hotel, the Hotel Clifton, and the Hotel Pavillion. The miracle waters from the sulfur springs in the area attracted lodgers from hundreds of miles away. Bowles, a soldier, theologian, and a practitioner, built the first hotel on site in 1845 and named it the French Lick Springs Hotel. The town in Tennessee once known as French Lick is now famously known as Nashville.ĭr. His men were camped in the West Baden area in the 1870s en route to Vincennes, Indiana where there was a fort that had French occupants.Īccording to the French Lick Resort Historian Jeffrey Lane, George Rogers Clark named a small town in Tennessee French Lick, since the towns were so similar, Clark decided to name the town in Indiana, French Lick. The French part of the city’s name came from George Rogers Clark.
The term “lick” in the city’s name originated from the deposits that came from the mineral water from the springs. Just 50 miles Northwest of Louisville, Kentucky, French Lick Indiana was founded in 1811 and was a settlement named for an 18th-century French trading post in the area, which was near a spring and salt lick, according to the Britannica Encyclopedia. We hope you enjoy this American Treasure as much as we enjoyed learning about it. Not only is this hidden gem located in Indiana, but it is also the location of this year’s MCAA Midyear Meeting. In this month’s installation of our American Treasures series, we are taking you on an editorial trip through the French Lick Resort, which is made up of two large hotels. French Lick and West Baden are only five minutes from each other, they are so close you could miss the city limits. Once known as the French Lick Springs Hotel, the direct rival of the neighboring city, West Baden, Indiana.
But in the quaint city of French Lick, Indiana there is a beautiful resort with tons of history and many sights to see. When someone says “French Lick,” it doesn’t necessarily make you think of a beautiful and historic resort in rural Indiana, unless you are a Larry Bird fan of course.