Staff of the historic West Baden Springs Hotel have discovered decades-old photos depicting the restoration of the hotel. There are over 15,000 photos taken between 1996 and 1998.
The hotel was built in the mid 1800’s but a fire in 1901 burned it to the ground. It reopened a year later. But almost a century later, from about 1991 to 1996, the hotel sat abandoned, its condition deteriorating, with the western wall collapsing. In 1996, Bill and Gayle Cook purchased the building and restored it before reopening it in 2007. The photos depict the process of restoring the now 124-year-old property.
Chuck Franz, French Lick Resort CEO, said staff discovered the photos by accident on a hard drive that had been stored in a desk for decades.
“It's emotional for me because Cook's been here 30 years now; you can lose track of time,” Franz said. “There are people in those photos that are no longer with us, but they are the biggest part of saving the structure.”
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The photos demonstrate the hotel’s poor condition, with some walls destroyed. Many of the photos show people doing the restoration. Franz’s favorite photo shows the late Bill Cook hosting an ice cream social during the restoration.
Franz said the photos hold historical significance to the area and show how far it’s come.
“You can lose sight of where this was,” he said. “We keep reinvesting in the property because Bill and Gail and Carl [Cook] believe you have to keep creating something new, and the reason you have to do that is so that you can save these structures and keep them going into the future.”
Some of the photos are displayed in the hotel’s former barbershop and are also available online. Franz will continue to release photos every month in chronological order.
