The area called French Lick, Indiana, site of the French Lick Springs Resort and one of the earliest outposts in the middle – Western wilderness, was first settled more than 200 years ago by French traders.

After the discovery of rich mineral springs, which attracted animals that flocked to lick the waters and wet rocks, this valley became known among the settlers as “The Lick”.

The French had ideas about exploiting these lush salt deposits, but because of one obstacle and another, not the least of which was relentless harassment by Indians, they never did make much progress. Finally, following the Louisiana Purchase Treaty in 1803, in which Napoleon relinquished claims on that part of the frontier, the French abandoned their trading posts at The Lick.

British settlers moved in about 1812. Despite continued Indian resistance, they succeeded in establishing a permanent fort. Indian incidents continued, however. One of the first recorded was the slaying of Irishman William Charles, who was bushwhacked by Indians outside the fort. His remains are rumored to be buried somewhere beneath the front lawn of the resort.

In 1832, all the lands surrounding the accrual mineral springs, which has been reserved for production of salt, was offered for public sale.

About 1,500 acres – including all the large springs – were purchased by a Dr. William A. Bowles. Within several years he opened the first French Lick Springs Hotel, a ramshackle, three-story frame building. It was an immediate success. People flocked from hundreds of miles to partake of the “miracle waters”. They carried the mineral water away in all sorts of jugs and canvas containers. “Doc” Bowles had struck it rich.

In the 1850’s, as North-South tension mounted, French Lick was a key station of the Negro slave “underground”. To counter this activity, Doc Bowles, who always had indicated sympathy for the Southern cause, helped organize a Confederate secret society, called Knights of the Golden Circle. In 1857, however, Bowles did take time out from his subversive activities to help charter the town of French Lick.

Just before the Civil War, Bowles was arrested, courts-martial, convicted of treason and sentenced to death. President Lincoln, however, quietly commuted the sentence to life imprisonment. Bowles spent the war in a Federal prison in Ohio. He returned to French Lick in 1865 and managed the hotel until his death in 1873.

French Lick Springs thrived under various managements with two more buildings being added in 1888. One building called the Clifton had additional rooms for guests while the other building was the Pavilion, which was used for billiards, dancing and had a casino on the second floor. In 1897, the original building, now called the Windsor, burned. The owners were able to rebuild immediately. In 1901 the property was purchased by a syndicate which called itself the French Lick Springs Hotel Co. – headed by the then mayor of Indianapolis, Irish immigrant Thomas Taggart.

It was under Taggart’s imaginative rule that French Lick Springs rocketed to international prominence. First he enlarged the east wing, using brick and marble. He had the Monon Railroad lay a special spur and run daily trains between Chicago and the front entrance of the hotel. He later designed a championship golf course (still later, a second). He modernized and expanded the baths and began bottling “Pluto Water” in concentrated form for national distribution. With an expansive and luxurious spa (and after Taggart had been named Democratic National Chairman in 1904), the elite of politics and society suddenly “discovered” French Lick Springs. It was at this hotel, too, in 1917 that tomato juice was first served by a world famous chef, Louis Perrin.

Taggart insisted that the resort maintain a rigidly elegant dedication to health and recreation – although he himself was no teetotaler, he never permitted liquor on the premises. The first bar was not opened, in fact until after Repeal, some years following the old man’s demise. The wealthy celebrities who descended upon the little town in Indiana hills each spring and fall cane (1) to take “the cure”, (2) to play, (3) to conduct business and (4) to gamble.

Taggart always disclaimed any connection with plush gambling casino throughout the valley. It never was however, officially explained how, in flagrant violation of state law, two big gambling rooms operated across the street from the hotel, perhaps half a dozen others catered to lesser hotel guests and common folk and, indeed at one time there was even a combination dice room and bowling alley right in the middle of the hotel’s own Japanese gardens, near the Pluto Spring. In any event, French Lick Springs was to become as well known for its resort facilities. The last casinos were shuttered in 1949. One of these buildings was taken over by the American Legion.

Taggart, who served briefly as a U.S. Senator by appointment, had three more wings added to the hotel in the next 20 years. Taggart, who described himself as a hotelman first and a political hobbyist second, grew in stature until he was the acknowledged power behind Democratic politics in the U.S. Simultaneously, French Lick Springs developed a reputation as the unofficial party headquarters. It was there in Taggart’s hotel in 1931 that Franklin Roosevelt rounded up support at a Democratic governor’s conference for his party’s presidential nomination.

Tom Taggart died in 1929. His son – the only boy among six children – Thomas D. Taggart, carried on. With the Depression, however, the popular French Lick Springs began to decline. World War II brought a momentary revival, but in 1946 your Tom Taggart sold out to a New York syndicate.

Nearly a decade had passed when Sheraton Corporation acquired the colorful resort property in 1954. During the next twenty-five years, the Sheraton Corporation spent millions of dollars in restoring the famed spa to its former grandeur.

In 1979, a group of investors, together with Cox Hotel Corporation of New York purchased the hotel. Kenwood Financial, of Washington D.C. was the owner from 1986 until 1991 and the hotel was managed by Buena Vista Hospitality Group of Florida.

August 1991, the grand hotel was once again offered for sale. The Luther James family of Louisville, KY, purchased the hotel. The James family sold the property in 1997 to Boykin Lodging out of Cleveland, Ohio.

On April 13, 2005 the French Lick Springs Resort was purchased by the Cook-Lauth Group, a newly formed group. The Cook-Lauth Group placed a bid with the Indiana Gaming Commission for the license to operate the Casino.

Located on some 2,600 acres, the French Lick Springs Resort with its 525 rooms, boasts two superb golf courses, the Valley Course and the scenic, Donald Ross designed, Country Club Course. Badminton, volleyball, horseshoes, shuffleboard, croquet and water sports in two swimming pools (including a spacious bubble enclosed one) are other activities offered. Additionally, excellent horses, tennis courts, mineral baths and massages await the pleasure of guests.

A rich colorful history included such famous names as John Barrymore, Clark Gable, Bing Crosby, President Roosevelt, the Truman’s, the Reagan’s and Joe and Rose Kennedy. All were honored guests at the French Lick Springs Resort and Spa. They walked the gardens and relaxed in the spa and enjoyed sitting on our wonderful veranda….and you can too.