1909 Baden Springs Hotel at Christmas IN Postcard

1909 vintage postcard. of the rotunda at the West Baden Springs Hotel in Indiana. Once called the “Eighth Wonder of the World,” the focal point of West Baden Springs Hotel is an awe-inspiring atrium that spans 200 feet.

Part of the hilariously named French Lick Resort, West Baden Springs is this hotel extravaganza. When it was opened in 1902, dumb-struck locals called it the ‘8th Wonder of the World’, and its mineral water baths were said to cure everything apart from credulity. In 1917, an incredible renovation saw two million one-inch squares of marble to create the incredible domed atrium.

The Wall Street Crash walloped the hotel’s finances, and in 1934 the owners donated the structure to a religious organization. It changed hands a few more times before becoming its current incarnation as part of one of the top resorts in North America.