200 East Hubbard Street Mineral Wells, Texas
A brief history of the town of Mineral Wells says that Judge James A. Lynch settled in a valley in Texas forty-eight miles west of Fort Worth in 1877. He had a well dug for drinking water but discovered that it contained medicinal mineral water, which gave the town its name. Three years later, in 1880, a third mineral water well was dug, which became known as the Crazy Water Well because a mentally ill woman was cured by drinking its water. That “mentally ill woman” reportedly drank the mineral water every day during the 1880s and recovered. A hotel was later built, named the Crazy Hotel, and owned by the Crazy Water Company. The hotel burned down in 1925, and a new one was built in its place. The new Crazy Hotel opened in 1927 and still stands today.
The Baker Hotel is also part of this history. In the past, many people visited Mineral Wells (the mineral spa) for treatment and stayed at the Baker Hotel, which at the time was an extremely luxurious resort for the wealthy. The Baker Hotel came about when local residents decided they did not like outsiders profiting from their waters. They raised money to build their own hotel, and that was when T. B. Baker became involved in constructing it.
Theodore Brasher Baker was born in 1875 in Washington, Iowa, and his first business was a steam laundry in Beloit, Kansas. He sold his shares to his business partner, and because his father was in the hotel business, Baker decided to begin his career there as well. He worked as a night clerk at the Ave Hotel in Beloit. Other jobs followed until, while vacationing in San Antonio in 1915, he eventually obtained the lease to the St. Anthony Hotel, launching his operations in Texas. The St. Anthony Hotel was built in 1909, had ten stories, and was the first fully air-conditioned hotel in the world. Its lobby, reminiscent of luxurious European hotels, had white marble floors and was known as Peacock Alley.
Baker continued buying and selling hotels until he eventually discovered Mineral Wells, which was just beginning to grow because of its mineral waters. Local residents approached him to launch the hotel project. He was contacted in 1925 and agreed to take over the project on behalf of the shareholders. The Mineral Wells Hotel Company was established with Baker at its head. Wyatt C. Hedrick was hired as the architect and designed the hotel after the Arlington Hotel in Hot Springs, Arkansas, another hotel known for its waters and spa.
Work on the hotel began in 1926 but was halted after Baker visited California. There he saw a hotel with a swimming pool and decided that the new Baker Hotel had to have a pool in front. It was an above-ground Olympic-size swimming pool that was to be filled with medicinal mineral water. It was the first swimming pool built for a hotel in Texas. The Baker Hotel was to have fourteen stories and 450 guest rooms and was the first skyscraper built outside a major metropolitan area. Construction cost $1.2 million.
The Baker Hotel finally opened in November 1929, just two weeks after the stock market crash. The hotel did well even during the Great Depression, thanks to cattlemen. During its heyday, performers included Jack Amlung, Herbie Kaye, Guy Lombardo, Mary Martin, Lawrence Welk, and Paul Whiteman. The twelfth-floor ballroom was called the Cloud Room because of the clouds painted on its ceiling, and it was filled with bands every weekend. It was the place to be, and the celebrities who stayed there included Pat Boone, Jack Dempsey, Marlene Dietrich, Dale Evans, Clark Gable, Judy Garland, Samuel Goldwyn, Jean Harlow, Lyndon Johnson, Sammy Kaye, Helen Keller, Dorothy Lamour, Dr. Charles Mayo, Bonnie Parker, General John J. Pershing, Sam Rayburn, Will Rogers, Roy Rogers, Elliot Roosevelt, the Three Stooges, and Sophie Tucker.
The hotel closed in 1963 and went up for auction. In 1965, a group of local leaders formed the Civic Development Corporation and reopened the hotel, making monthly payments to Earl Baker. During a visit to the hotel on December 3, 1967, he was found on the floor of the Baker Suite after suffering a heart attack at the age of 74. He was taken to the hospital but died that day.
The Baker Hotel closed again in 1972 and stands empty today, with its roof in need of repair. Leaks have caused extensive damage, and restoration would cost millions of dollars. The hotel is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
As for ghosts, it is worth keeping in mind that these springs were often the last resort for many terminally ill people in the past, so it is possible that some died in the hotel itself. It is also said that a bellboy was crushed by one of the service elevators and died from his injuries. A dead woman was found there, but to this day no one has discovered who she was or where she came from. According to reports, after embalming her, the hotel displayed her body in the front window of the lobby to see whether anyone would recognize her.
Of course, there was also the death of Earl Baker, T. B. Baker’s nephew, who inherited the hotel because T. B. Baker had no children of his own. As early as the 1950s, the first paranormal group visited the hotel to investigate the spirits that remained there. Needless to say, several more stories have emerged since then, as strange events began almost immediately after the hotel closed. It is anyone’s guess who might be haunting the hotel, but the ghosts seem to enjoy opening and closing windows, which has been recorded as a common occurrence over the years. Lights have been seen at night inside the deserted building, as though guests were staying there.
Over the years, some people have said that they saw shadows or ghosts—whichever you prefer—of people standing in the hotel windows. Those who have been inside reported smells such as cigar smoke or perfume, perhaps from guests who never left and are still enjoying themselves there.
