May 25, 1893
CRITTENDEN SPRINGS.
The Well Known and Popular Watering Place Passes into New Hands.
The Beginning of What Promises To Be The Most Successful Season in its History.
A visit to Crittenden Springs this week showed that the new manager and new proprietor mean to make the popular watering place more attractive, if possible, than ever. As is already known, this valuable property now belongs to Mr. S. M. Jenkins, of Henderson. He is a man of large means and metropolitan ideas. For years he has traveled over the South and West, and has seen much of the best holsteries [hostelries] of the country, especially those of some of the well-known watering places. His ambition is to make Crittenden Springs the equal, if not the superior, of any in the country. With this end in view no means will be spared.
Mr. J. S. Smith, until recently a well-known traveling man, has been engaged as manager for the season of 1893, and he is now on the grounds "putting the house in order." The magnificent hotel with one hundred rooms, is being burnished up inside and out, and the beautiful grounds are being touched up with the skill of a landscape artist. Every convenience known to the modern hotel will add to the comfort and pleasure of those who are so fortunate to choose Crittenden for their outing this year. There are electric bells in every room, tasty bath rooms for hot or cold, fresh or sulphur water, baths; a fine billiard hall with three superb tables, a handsome ten-pin alley, lawn-tennis ground. A splendid band has been engaged for the entire season; an admirable dancing hall is being arranged, cinque rooms are being prepared. The parlors are magnificently furnished, the bed-rooms are marvels of beauty and comfort. A wine room is one of the new features. A system of waterworks is being put in, and hugh [huge] wind mills will force the water to every floor in the building.
The culinary department of the huge establishment will be in the hands of skilled artisans, and in every appointment no pains and no means will be spared to make it reach as near perfection as possible.
The acres upon acres of woodlands with their great shade trees, merry rills, mossy banks, charming walks, lovely mountain views make the place one of the loveliest in the whole country. While the $60,000 or $70,000 spent, this has added to the beauty of the place, nature has added the greatest bounty and it is mysteriously hidden in the wealth of health giving waters. The sulphur water has no superior, the hundreds who have tested it are witnesses to this fact. Then there are a half dozen of as fine chalybeate springs as there is in the country. There is indeed a mine of health and wealth in there [these] waters, which nature has so kindly brewed for man. With all the natural advantages, it is not strange the Mr. Jenkins pins his faith to its greatness as a watering place, and is willing to spend his money making it more attractive than ever.
The road from the O. V. depot to the Springs is being put in better condition than ever before, the distance has been shortened, and the rough places in the road eliminated. The drive this season will have none of the inconveniences usually found. Mr. Jenkins has made arrangements for a prompt and efficient transfer service to and from the depot. A uniformed porter will meet every train to take charge of and check baggage and look after the comfort of guests. The good reputation of the place has been growing and spreading for the past few years, and the attendance each year has increased. Already the new management has every assurance that many people from Henderson, Owensboro, Evansville, Louisville[,] Paducah, Cairo and Memphis will spend the hot months at Crittenden Springs; already many rooms have been engaged.
After spending a couple of hours going through the house, and over the place, and observing the handiwork of the new management, one realizes that an era of unsurpassed popularity has at last dawned upon the famous springs, which in ante bellum days, numbered its guests and friends by the hundreds. It is fortunate that the property has fallen into such good hands, and before many seasons, Crittenden will stand at the head of the watering places.
It will only be a matter of time when the P. M. & O. R. [Princeton, Marion and Ohio River] railroad is built, and then Mr. Jenkins has a fortune indeed, but with the energy and faith that always presages success he has gone to work to make the Springs superior to the necessity of a railroad. The natural advantages are with him, and the popularity already achieved, shows that he has practically won.
Upon the whole the future of Crittenden Springs never was brighter, and the advent of new and younger men into the enterprise, means that it will rapidly go to the front as a watering place. People who go to Crittenden this year will find everything to their liking.
In addition to its unequaled waters, the land is rich in minerals, which fact has long ago been demonstrated. The advent of the railroad will awaken this wealth into life.
Source: Crittenden Press. (Marion, Ky.) 1879-1907, May 25, 1893, Image 3 - Chronicling America - The Library of Congress.
[My comments are in brackets.]
