Crittenden Springs Hotel 1888 - 1914

As summer approaches, we begin to make plans for vacation. One of the most popular vacation spots in Western Kentucky at the end of the 19th century and into the 20th century was the Crittenden Springs in Crittenden County.  People from a wide area visited the springs and hotel for a day, a week or even all summer.

The following advertisement appeared in a Nashville newspaper in 1888 to entice people to visit:

                "We are pleased to inform the people of Nashville and the South that we have recently purchased the renowned Crittenden Sulphur Springs and erected a $30,000 hotel, which is now open to receive guests. The opening ball will be on Tuesday, July 3, 1888.  These popular springs are near Marion, Ky., on the Ohio Valley Railroad. The use of this great health restoring water for only twenty-four hours will convince the most skeptical of its great medicinal qualities ..."[1]

Ads were also placed in area newspapers inviting people to attend the Opening Ball in the new hotel. No record have been found giving details of the first few years of operation, but the Crittenden County newspapers are full of news about area folks summering at the hotel.

In 1894, an advertisement appeared in an Owensboro newspaper which promoted the hotel and its amenities. [2]

The hotel began to lose favor and, in 1914, "the wrecking of the old Crittenden Springs Hotel, so well and favorably known by Southerners during the ante-bellum days as well as afterward was commenced  ... This old three-story house, with its spacious verandas, has been the scene of notable gatherings in the past, and the several iron and sulphur springs in the vicinity are credited with many cures."[3]

Today the Crittenden Springs Hotel is only a memory.

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[1] The Tennesseean, Sun., 24 Jun 1888, p. 4, Newspapers.com

[2] The Owensboro Messenger, Fri., 23 Nov 1894, p. 3, Newspapers.com

[3] "Wrecking Old Landmark," Paducah News-Democrat, Wed., 1 April 1914, p. 2, Newspapers.com

Published 23 May 2019, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog,  http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/