38°33′11″N 86°37′12″W / 38.553°N 86.620°W / 38.553; -86.620
59-562: The French Lick Springs Hotel , a part of the French Lick Resort complex, is a major resort hotel in Orange County, Indiana . The historic hotel in the national historic district at French Lick was initially known as a mineral spring health spa and for its trademarked Pluto Water . During the period 1901 to 1946, when Thomas Taggart , a former mayor of Indianapolis , and his son, Thomas D. Taggart, were its owners and operators,
118-440: A Fresh Water Spring garden (circa 1900–15), and an Italian-style formal garden (circa 1915; later redesigned and altered). Recreational facilities included horseback riding, tennis, swimming, bowling, billiards, and a gym, as well as fine dining and dancing to music from the hotel's orchestra. At the height of the resort's popularity, which occurred during Taggart's ownership of the hotel, approximately 150 to 200 guests checked into
177-477: A bowling alley, fitness center, stables for horses, and more than thirty miles of hiking trails. French Lick's spring water, trademarked as Pluto Water , was served to guests at the hotel's Pluto Bar, just off the main entrance. The water was bottled at a plant across the street from the hotel for consumption on the property and for commercial distribution nationally and internationally. Pluto Water's slogan, "If Nature Won't, Pluto Will," promoted its effectiveness as
236-558: A chairman of the Democratic National Committee , and briefly in the U.S. Senate (1916). Other members of the investment group included William McDoel, president of the Monon Railroad; Crawford Fairbanks, a Terre Haute brewery owner; and Livingston T. Dickson, a limestone quarry owner. The new owners spent more than $ 200,000 on improvements, including a redesign and enlargement of the main wing (1901–02), sometimes called
295-435: A combination of wooded hills and flat turf. The one-story Valley clubhouse (circa 1915) was built during Taggart's tenure as the resort's owner. The painted brick, American Craftsman -style bungalow , which replaced an earlier building, is located northeast of the hotel's north wing. Caddies waited in the clubhouse's lower level for their turn to serve the course's patrons. Around 1917 Donald Ross and his associates designed
354-547: A gambling license before purchasing the French Lick Springs Hotel from Boykin Lodging. The partnership was awarded the license during the summer of 2005. The French Lick Resort Casino complex includes the French Lick Springs Hotel, adjacent casino, and the nearby West Baden Springs Hotel . The French Lick hotel was restored as part of a $ 382 million project that included construction of the new casino. Refurbishments to
413-607: A gaming license originally intended for Patoka Lake was transferred to French Lick. Honoring state law allowing only water-based gaming, it was originally designed as a riverboat and surrounded by a small pond (commonly nicknamed the Boat in the Moat). In 2008, the moat was filled in and the casino boat was converted into the state's first land-based casino. The casino features more than 1,300 slot machines , and table games including blackjack , craps , roulette , and poker derivatives. The site
472-477: A kitchen complex (1897, 1910–11, c. 1925), power station (1902, expanded 1905), its first bottling plant (circa 1900) for Pluto Water, and a hotel laundry (circa 1911–13). He also convinced the Monon Railroad to lay a spur track to the hotel's grounds and run daily passenger service to Chicago . The hotel also had three distinct gardens on it grounds: a Japanese garden (circa 1920; later redesigned and replanted),
531-730: A laxative. Chris Bundy has written that French Lick and West Baden "were the Disney World of their time." It was known in Europe, as well. Over the years many of the country's rich and famous came as guests or gave performances at the resort. French Lick's visitors included moguls, movie stars, and entertainers such as John Barrymore , Howard Hughes , Lana Turner , Bob Hope , Bing Crosby , Hoagy Carmichael , Duke Ellington , Irving Berlin , and Louis Armstrong ; noted politicians such as Franklin D. Roosevelt , Harry S. Truman , Richard Nixon , and Ronald Reagan ; wealthy socialites, such as members of
590-602: A mixed team in 1908 but were all-Black the next year; their main rival was the team from the nearby West Baden Springs Hotel , the West Baden Sprudels . Games were played at the resort to amuse the spectators, but were fiercely competitive nonetheless. Negro league clubs including the Indianapolis ABCs would frequently come and play at French Lick. Historian Paul Debono notes the connection between African-American baseball players, employment, and local demographics: when
649-576: A spa. The annex wing provided offices and guest rooms. The west wing, the hotel's first fireproof wing, included an elaborate Italian Renaissance Revival-style pavilion, originally named the Pluto Bar. The seven-story deluxe wing housed guest rooms and suites, including accommodations for the Taggart family when they resided at the hotel. The hotel's six-story north wing provided the hotel with conference and exhibition spaces. Taggart made additional improvements at
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#1732844282078708-468: A transition space leading to an enclosed environment. Sometimes the sides are covered by wooden jali walls. It offers a temporary resting space to house members during the afternoon and evening. In regions with heavy snowfall, especially Aomori and Niigata prefectures, structures called Gangi-Zukuri ( ja:雁木造 ) have been developed since the Edo period . For example, the total length of Gangi in old Takada city
767-585: Is a common feature of domestic buildings. Porches were a natural idea in India, a mostly warm, tropical country. In Gujarat the porch area is called the otala and in the Hindi belt it is known as alinda . These structures are not only used to cool off, but also as a centre of social life where neighbours can talk and kids play, or as a religious centre where rituals and worship of certain Gods can take place. In Southern India,
826-599: Is correct and very common, some authorities prefer the version without an "h" (the Concise Oxford English Dictionary gives the "h" version as a variant and The Guardian Style Guide says "veranda not verandah"). Australia's Macquarie Dictionary prefers verandah . Veranda , as used in the United Kingdom and France, was brought by the British from India ( Hindi : बरामदा ). While the exact origin of
885-595: Is over 16 Kilometers. In Poland, the word "weranda" is commonly used for the unheated roofed annex to a house, without walls or with glass walls. In Sri Lanka, verandahs original derivation was from traditional vernacular architecture and are known as "Pila" in Sinhalese. Both front and rear veranda examples are also known and common feature in local vernacular architecture. Traditionally, domestic vernacular architecture layouts were also influenced by Sri Lankan Buddhist Manjusri Vasthu Vidya Sastra text, which in turn
944-629: The Indiana General Assembly to allow casino gambling in the area. Legislation was finally approved in 2003 and the required local referendum easily passed. The Indiana Gaming Commission granted the long-promised operating license for a riverboat casino to The Trump Organization , headed by businessman Donald Trump , but a variety of reasons caused the selection process to begin again. A partnership of business interests from within Indiana, including billionaire Bill Cook , submitted an application for
1003-558: The Vanderbilt family ; and others. Although casino gambling at French Lick and West Baden Springs was illegal under Indiana law until the early 2000s, it flourished there from the early 1900s until the mid-1940s. There were several casinos in operation within Orange County, including Ed Ballard's casino at West Baden Springs, Al Brown's casino at French Lick, and one named The Gorge, among several others. A two-story, wood-framed structure in
1062-596: The 1850s. The Victorian Filigree architecture style is used by residential (particularly terraced houses in Australia and New Zealand) and commercial buildings (particularly hotels ) across Australia and features decorative screens of wrought iron, cast iron "lace" or wood fretwork. The Queenslander is a style of residential construction in Queensland , Australia, which is adapted to subtropical climates and characterized in part by its large verandas, which sometimes encircle
1121-591: The Donald Ross Society. Pete Dye , a renowned golf course designer from Indiana, designed the resort's third course. The 18-hole Pete Dye Golf Course at French Lick opened in June 2009, and hosted the PGA Professional National Championship in June 2010. Mount Airie, Thomas Taggart 's 1928 Colonial-style home, was purchased and transformed into a clubhouse and pro shop that overlooks much of
1180-628: The French Lick area also had a reputation for illegal gambling. After a series of subsequent owners and renovations, the hotel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. The restored hotel, with its exteriors of distinctive, buff-colored brick, reopened in 2006. The hotel site was located near a salt lick that wild animals once visited as they traveled along the Buffalo Trace in southern Indiana . Native Americans also used
1239-452: The French Lick resort's property: Bowles (renamed Lithia), Proserpine, and the better-known Pluto. The area's mineral water and baths were alleged to cure more than fifty ailments, including gout , alcoholism , and rheumatism , among others. In 1901 the property was sold to an investment group that included Thomas Taggart , a politician and former mayor of Indianapolis . Taggart served three terms as mayor of Indianapolis (1895 to 1901), as
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#17328442820781298-652: The Great Depression, when most of the blacks at the resort lost their jobs". In the 1940s still, French Lick was a venue for spring training for professional baseball teams. In the early twentieth century, when golf was beginning to gain popularity, the resort expanded its modest golf facilities. Around 1907 it is believed that Thomas Taggart hired Tom Bendelow to enlarge the Valley Course, the resort's first golf course, to an eighteen-hole course on 120 acres (49 hectares). The course design, attributed to Bendelow, featured
1357-544: The West Baden Springs Hotel, but the court case bogged down when Hanley's Democratic successor, Thomas R. Marshall , became Indiana's governor in 1908 and the suit was dropped. After the raid, gambling operations moved offsite to Brown's hotel, across the street from the French Lick Hotel. Illegal gambling continued away from the resort until 1949, when Indiana's governor, Henry Schricker , succeeded in getting
1416-425: The adjacent town of West Baden Springs , 1 mile (1.6 km) from the French Lick Springs Hotel, is also part of the casino resort complex. The present-day West Baden hotel was built in 1902 (122 years ago) to replace an earlier hotel. The new hotel became known for the 200-foot (61 m) dome covering its atrium . It held the title of the largest free-spanning dome in the world from 1902 to 1913, and remained
1475-622: The area as hunting grounds. It became known as French Lick in reference to the French traders and settlers who lived in the vicinity of the salt lick. Some sources have cited a legend that suggests George Rogers Clark , who camped in the area during an expedition in 1786–87, may have named it after a site along the Cumberland River in Tennessee . In 1826, encouraged by the presence of salt deposits near French Lick, Indiana's state government authorized
1534-420: The authorities to raid illegal gambling operations at French Lick, and Brown's casino was finally closed. Legalized casino gambling came to French Lick in 2006, when the new French Lick Resort Casino opened as a part of the resort complex. The French Lick Plutos were an independent Negro league baseball club from 1912 to 1914. Likely consisting for a large part of waiters at the resort, they had started off as
1593-574: The championship course was located about 2 miles (3.2 km) from the French Lick hotel. The course hosted the PGA Championship tournament in 1924 , which Walter Hagen won. It also hosted the LPGA Championship tournament in 1959 and 1960 , and the Midwest Amateur from the 1930s through the 1950s. In 2006–07, the course was restored to its original specifications in cooperation with
1652-522: The course. This site hosted the Senior PGA Championship in 2015 . Veranda A veranda (also spelled verandah in Australian and New Zealand English ) is a roofed , open-air hallway or porch , attached to the outside of a building. A veranda is often partly enclosed by a railing and frequently extends across the front and sides of the structure. Although the form verandah
1711-524: The eighteen-hole Hill Course, the resort's second golf course. Completed in 1920 on approximately 300 acres (120 hectares), the championship course was located about 2 miles (3.2 km) from the hotel. At the time of its construction, the hilly terrain was modified to create challenges for golfers by varying elevations and adding hazards. The course hosted the PGA Championship tournament in 1924, which Walter Hagen won. The course's 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 -story, wood-framed clubhouse with verandas along two sides
1770-456: The entire house. The bandeirista style house from Brazil typically has a veranda positioned to face the sunrise. In Hong Kong, verandas often appear on the upper floor of the first to third generations of Tong Lau (shophouses) due to a lack of space since the 19th century. Early known examples of verandah in domestic architecture come from Vastu shastra texts which lay out plans and describe methods to build houses, where alinda (veranda)
1829-466: The financial challenges of the Great Depression and an increase in competition from other American resorts, the French Lick hotel was promoted as a recreational resort with an emphasis on golf and convention business, rather than health. Thomas D. Taggart sold the hotel to a group of New York City investors in 1946 Pluto Water operations were separated from the resort's operations in 1948. The resort
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1888-479: The front or east wing, designed by architect William Homer Floyd. The main wing's new design overlaid the hotel's Late Victorian architecture with Mediterranean Revival architecture , most notably the Italian Renaissance style that was popular in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The exteriors of the main wing and later additions were unified with similar proportions, a consistent roofline, and
1947-473: The hotel and continued to improve the property. Lane purchased 770 acres (310 hectares) of land from Bowles that included mineral springs at Mile Lick, 1 mile (1.6 km) north of French Lick. Lane assembled a sawmill, erected a bridge to traverse Lick Creek, and built the West Baden Springs Hotel . Competition from Lane's new hotel, which opened in the mid-1850s, began a decades-long rivalry between
2006-497: The hotel each day. The resort provided Taggart with more than $ 2 million in annual profits. Following Taggart's death in 1929, Thomas Douglas Taggart, the politician's son, became owner of the hotel property, which included approximately 4,000 acres (1,600 hectares) and buildings valued at nearly $ 2 million. In the years following the Wall Street stock market crash of 1929, the resort went into decline, but it did not close. To survive
2065-525: The hotel in 1991, and Boykin Lodging of Cleveland , Ohio , bought it in 1997. The Cook Group , headquartered in Bloomington, Indiana , purchased the hotel on April 13, 2005. Revitalization of the hotel in the early twenty-first century began after considerable campaigning by Orange County residents, the Cook Group, Boykin Lodging (the hotel’s owner), and Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana , who lobbied
2124-495: The hotel's distinctive buff-colored brick. Around 1905 Taggart bought out his partners to become the hotel's sole owner. Under his direction, the hotel was transformed into a first-class resort that included the main wing (1901–1902), a recreation center (formerly the bath house, 1910–11), and four connected wings: annex (1905, remodeled 1911), west (1910–11), deluxe (1914–15), and north (1924–25). These facilities housed lobbies and guest room, dining rooms and bars, offices, shops, and
2183-443: The investment group. The new owners added two wings to the main hotel and expanded the hotel's operation from a seasonal business to a year-round resort. In 1887 the Monon Railroad built an extension of its line to transport guests to the hotels and mineral springs at French Lick and West Baden. The main hotel building (Windsor) was destroyed by fire in 1897. It was rebuilt on an even grander scale. Three major springs were located on
2242-403: The land to be mined for quantities of salt, but the saline content was insufficient to support large-scale salt mining and the property was offered for sale. In 1832 Thomas Bowles and his brother, William A. , a Paoli, Indiana , physician and early land speculator, purchased 1,500 acres (610 hectares) of land that included the site near the mineral springs. Doctor Bowles eventually built an inn on
2301-577: The largest dome in the United States until the completion of the Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina , in 1955. The hotel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, and became a National Historic Landmark in 1987. It is also designated as a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark . In 2008 readers of Condé Nast Traveler ranked the West Baden Springs Hotel twenty-first on its list of
2360-495: The middle of the French Lick hotel's Japanese gardens may have been used as a casino in the early twentieth century, although the building was identified in promotional materials as a place for bowling and dice games. Taggart denied any connections to illegal gambling operations. In 1904 Indiana's Republican governor , Frank Hanly , instigated a raid at the hotel and seized its gambling equipment. The state brought suit against Taggart, French Lick's owner, and Lee Sinclair, owner of
2419-482: The mineral springs that included the construction of pavilions, including the Pluto spring house (circa 1911), to shelter the springs. A new mineral spring bath was built at the site of the present-day spa facility. In addition, Taggart is credited with modernizing the hotel, which included bringing in electricity, adding a fresh water system, and establishing trolley service to French Lick. The hotel's service buildings included
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2478-475: The multi-structure French Lick hotel included updating its 443 guest rooms and restoration of the lobby, among other improvements. The renovated hotel and new casino complex opened together on November 3, 2006. The French Lick resort, which is located on approximately 2,600 acres (1,100 hectares), today includes the hotel, a casino, restaurants, boutique shops, a spa, and a conference center. Its recreational facilities offer guests swimming pools, three golf courses,
2537-607: The ownership of Thomas Taggart , a former mayor of Indianapolis and chairman of the Democratic National Committee , the popular resort attracted many fashionable, wealthy, and notable guests. In the 1920s and into the 1930s the resort became known for its recreational sports, most notably golf, but the French Lick area also had a reputation for illegal gambling. The hotel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. The restored hotel, with its exteriors of distinctive, buff-colored brick, reopened in 2006. The historic, 243-room luxury West Baden Springs Hotel , in
2596-526: The popular hotel attracted many fashionable, wealthy, and notable guests. The resort was a major employer of African-American labor, which mostly came from Kentucky. In the early 1900s, the hotel had a Negro league baseball team, the French Lick Plutos , and until the 1940s French Lick was a venue for spring training for professional baseball teams. In the 1920s and into the 1930s, the resort became known for its recreational sports, most notably golf, but
2655-475: The property in the 1880s and 1890s, developing it into a popular health resort. Wells acquired Andrews's interest in the property in 1887 for $ 61,000, and immediately sold the hotel to a group of Louisville, Kentucky , investors for $ 122,000 in cash and $ 100,000 in the French Lick Springs Company's stock. Wells retained a one-quarter interest in the property until 1891, when he sold his interest to
2714-474: The property; it became known as the French Lick Springs Hotel. Although the specific date of the hotel's opening is not known, it is believed that Bowles built the first hotel on his French Lick property sometime around 1845. (Some sources believe the narrow, three-story hotel, measuring an estimated 80 feet (24 m) to 100 feet (30 m) in length, may have been built prior to 1840, but most report that it opened in 1845.) The early hotel, which operated during
2773-486: The resorts in the area were booming, the owners needed laborers and frequently those were African-Americans from nearby Kentucky; the local African-American population increased greatly between 1880 and 1900, from one to 124, and in 1920 there were 325, of which over 100 "listed their occupation as waiter", followed by bell-boy and porter; 2/3 of the town's African-American population hailed from Kentucky. According to Debono, "the tradition of black baseball teams continued until
2832-470: The summer months, was a modest success. In 1846, prior to his departure for military service as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army during the Mexican–American War , Bowles leased the property to John A. Lane, a physician/patent medicine salesman, for at least five years. Under the terms of the lease Lane agreed to enlarge and improve the facility. In the early 1850s Bowles resumed management of
2891-409: The term thinnai is used, and these structures are very common. This area serves a religious purpose in addition to a social one, and is the centre of everyday life for many. Konkan 's architecture is influenced by nature. It is sustainable and cost-effective. In Konkan traditional architecture, the veranda is called otti , a semi-open space with low seating covered with a permanent roof. It serves as
2950-526: The top resorts on the United States mainland. The casino complex includes three golf courses: the Valley Course, the Hill Course, and the Pete Dye Golf Course at French Lick. Beginning in the early twentieth century, when golf was gaining popularity, the French Lick hotel began to expand its modest golf facilities. Valley Course, the resort's first golf course, is adjacent to the hotel and casino. It
3009-432: The two Orange County sites. In the 1860s Bowles leased the French Lick hotel to Doctor Samuel Ryan, who operated it for Bowles and the heirs of Bowles's estate following the owner's death in 1873. Joseph G. Rogers, a physician from Madison, Indiana , named the French Lick hotel's largest mineral spring Pluto's Well in 1869. ( Pluto is the classical mythological god of the underworld.) The original French Lick hotel, which
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#17328442820783068-516: The word is unknown, scholars suggest that the word may have originated in India or may have been adopted from the Portuguese and spread further to the British and French colonists. Ancient and medieval Indian texts on domestic architecture like Vastu shastra uses the word "Alinda" for this architectural feature. The veranda has featured quite prominently in Australian vernacular architecture and first became widespread in colonial buildings during
3127-577: Was built by Chicago Japanese garden builder T.R. Otsuka around 1920. French Lick Resort French Lick Resort is a resort complex in the Midwestern United States , located in the towns of West Baden Springs and French Lick, Indiana . The 3,000-acre (12 km ) complex includes two historic resort spa hotels, stables, a casino, and three golf courses that are all part of a $ 500 million restoration and development project. The casino opened for business on November 3, 2006, after
3186-453: Was built in 1940 as a replacement for an earlier brick clubhouse. Its main floor was used for dining, socializing, equipment sales, and office space; the lower level contained locker rooms and rest rooms. The hotel was noted for its gardens; postcard views of them were reprinted for decades. A large formal "Italian" garden was laid out in the 1910s. A Japanese garden with pond, waterfall, Japanese-style concrete lanterns and bronze crane statues
3245-452: Was enlarged to an 18-hole course on 120 acres (49 hectares) around 1907. The larger course design, attributed to Tom Bendelow , featured a combination of wooded hills and flat turf. It has been altered and reduced to a 9-hole course as a result of the casino construction. Donald Ross and his associates designed the 18-hole Hill Course, the resort's second golf course, around 1917. Completed in 1920 on approximately 300 acres (120 hectares),
3304-533: Was influenced by Indian Vastu Shastra texts. The Creole townhouse in New Orleans, Louisiana , is also noted for its prominent use of verandas. In fact, most houses constructed in the Southern United States before the advent of air conditioning were built with a covered front porch or veranda. Spanish Colonial architecture (as well as the "Mission style" revivalist version that became popular in
3363-543: Was originally known as the French Lick Springs Hotel , a grand resort that was a mineral spring health spa. The hotel catered to guests seeking the advertised healing properties of the town's sulfur springs , three of which were on the hotel's property. William A. Bowles built and opened the first hotel on his property around 1845. Subsequent owners enlarged the original hotel, but it burned in 1897. Rebuilt and expanded on an even grander scale, especially under
3422-457: Was rebuilt or enlarged as a 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 -story frame building with a wrap-around veranda in the Gothic Revival style , underwent few additional changes until the early 1880s, when it was sold to Hiram E. Wells and James M. Andrews. The hotel and mineral springs were sold at a sheriff's sale organized to settle a legal dispute over Bowles's estate. Wells and Andrews enlarged and improved
3481-551: Was sold to Sheraton Hotels in 1954 and renamed the French Lick-Sheraton Hotel . Although the Sheraton chain spent "millions of dollars" to improve the facilities, the physical plant continued to decline. Sheraton sold the hotel to Cox Hotel Corporation of New York in 1979. Cox returned the resort to its original name and sold the property to Kenwood Financial in 1986. The Luther James family of Louisville, Kentucky, acquired
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