Exhibits
Click on the name of the exhibit on the left to read more information about the exhibit and see images on the right.
The West Baden Springs Hotel
The West Baden Springs Hotel exhibit chronicles the up and down past of a National Historic Landmark. We very nearly lost this treasure.
When Dr. John Lane’s original wooden structure burned in 1901, owner Lee Sinclair wanted something unique to replace it. They said it couldn’t be done. But a revolutionary brick, one-of-a-kind building with a self-supported dome, was erected within one year of the fire. At some 200 feet in diameter and more than 100 feet high, it was touted as the 8th Wonder of the World.
Over the years the West Baden Springs Hotel had many lives. It was a World War One Army Hospital, a Jesuit Seminary, and a college. In the end, the upkeep of such a unique building proved to be too expensive for its various tenants. Then hotel sat vacant as of 1983 and began to fall in on itself. We had a historic preservation emergency on our hands!
Its restoration and resurrection as a grand hotel and part of French Lick Resort is one of our best stories.
A convention banquet set up in the atrium of the West Baden Springs Hotel.
An early full color lithograph postcard of the West Baden Springs Hotel, still referred to as "the eighth wonder of the world" because of the 200 foot in diameter self-supported dome.