Mentone Springs Hotel

Last updated

Mentone Springs Hotel
Mentone Springs Hotel.JPG
The Mentone Springs Hotel stood in Mentone, Alabama for 130 years.
USA Alabama location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location Mentone, Alabama
Coordinates 34°34′46″N85°35′25″W / 34.579444°N 85.590278°W / 34.579444; -85.590278
Built1884–87
Architectural style Queen Anne
NRHP reference No. 83003445 [1]
Added to NRHPOctober 20, 1983

The Mentone Springs Hotel was a hotel in Mentone, Alabama. It was the last remaining large-scale resort hotel in Alabama from the late 19th century. The hotel burned to the ground after an electrical fire on March 1, 2014. [2]

History

The hotel was built from 1884 to 1887 by J. Frank Caldwell, a physician from Pennsylvania who had vacationed in the area. On the property are two springs, Mineral Springs and Beauty Springs. [3] The hotel and town were named after the French resort town of Menton. The area gained in popularity among tourists in the 1890s, due largely to the cooler temperatures and scenery of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians. In 1915 the hotel was renovated and an annex built, adding 27 rooms. Through the Great Depression to the 1970s, the hotel went into decline, saddled with debt and bouncing between owners. It ceased operating in 1950 and was later converted to a private residence and organ repair shop. [4] The hotel reopened in 2001, and underwent an extensive restoration in 2010–11. An antique store occupied the 1915 annex. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Huntsville, Alabama</span> Major city in Alabama, US

Huntsville is a city in Madison County and Limestone County, Alabama, United States, with a small portion extending into Morgan County. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in the state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mentone, Victoria</span> Suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Mentone is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 21 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Kingston local government area. Mentone recorded a population of 13,197 at the 2021 census.

Monte Sano Mountain is a mountain located in Huntsville, Alabama. The name Monte Sano is Spanish for "Mountain of health". This name comes from the fact that curative health resorts used to be located on the mountain to take advantage of the fresh air, clean water, and cooler temperatures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Register of Historic Places listings in DeKalb County, Alabama</span>

This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in DeKalb County, Alabama.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wawona Hotel</span> United States historic place

The Wawona Hotel is a historic hotel located within southern Yosemite National Park, in California. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987, and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Town Historic District (Huntsville, Alabama)</span> United States historic place

The Old Town Historic District was the second historic district in Huntsville, Alabama. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 18, 1978. Roughly bounded by Dement and Lincoln Sts., and Randolph and Walker Avenues, it features homes in a variety of styles including Victorian, Federal, Greek Revival, Queen Anne, American Craftsman, and even Prairie School with homes dating from the late 1820s through the early 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elms Hotel (Excelsior Springs, Missouri)</span> Building in Excelsior Springs, Missouri

The Elms Hotel and Spa is a historic resort hotel at Regent and Elms Boulevard in Excelsior Springs, Missouri. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is located in The Elms Historic District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dallas Mill</span> United States historic place

Dallas Mill was a manufacturer of cotton sheeting in Huntsville, Alabama, United States. The first of four major textile mills in Huntsville, the mill operated from 1891 until 1949, before it was converted for use as a warehouse in 1955 and burned in 1991. The village, constructed to house workers and their families, was incorporated into the city in 1955. The mill and its mill village are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hot Lake Hotel</span>

Hot Lake Hotel is a historic Colonial Revival hotel originally built in 1864 in Hot Lake, Union County, Oregon, United States. The hotel received its namesake from the thermal spring lakes on the property, and operated as a luxury resort and sanitorium during the turn of the century, advertising the medicinal attributes of the mineral water and drawing visitors worldwide. It is also the first known commercial building in the world to utilize geothermal energy as its primary heat source.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loveman's of Alabama</span>

Loveman's of Alabama was a Birmingham, Alabama-based chain of department stores with locations across Alabama. It adopted this name to distinguish it from Loveman's department stores operating in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and in Nashville, Tennessee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lincoln School (Huntsville, Alabama)</span> United States historic place

Lincoln School is a historic school building in Huntsville, Alabama. Built in 1929 as part of the Lincoln Mill Village, the school became part of the city school system in the 1950s. The city sold the building to a private school in 2011. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">French Lick Springs Hotel</span> Resort hotel in Orange County, Indiana, USA

The French Lick Springs Hotel, a part of the French Lick Resort complex, is a major resort hotel in Orange County, Indiana. The historic hotel in the national historic district at French Lick was initially known as a mineral spring health spa and for its trademarked Pluto Water. During the period 1901 to 1946, when Thomas Taggart, a former mayor of Indianapolis, and his son, Thomas D. Taggart, were its owners and operators, the popular hotel attracted many fashionable, wealthy, and notable guests. The resort was a major employer of African-American labor, which mostly came from Kentucky.

The Commercial Hotel, later known as the Hart Hotel and Flomaton Hotel, was a historic hotel building in Flomaton, Escambia County, Alabama. The two-story wood-frame structure was built from 1904 to 1905 in the Queen Anne style. It had a brick pier foundation. Fish scale shingle patterns decorated the front of each gable end. The front facade featured a full-width porch with neoclassical columns. The hotel contained 18 guest rooms, all with a fireplace. The interior retained its original woodwork throughout. The Flomaton Hotel was significant for its associations with the early growth and development of Flomaton, Alabama. Initially a railroad junction (Pensacola Junction) serving as the intersection of two major lines, Flomaton, AL was one of several small towns that sprang up along the L & N Railroad lines during its rapid expansion beginning in 1879. The Flomaton Hotel was one of five hotels that pre-dated the 1908 incorporation of the town, and survives as the only hotel building of that era in the county.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anniston Inn Kitchen</span> United States historic place

The Anniston Inn Kitchen is an event center in Anniston, Alabama, and the only remaining portion of the Old Anniston Inn. The inn was built in 1885 as an upscale hotel for the planned company town. The majority of the inn burned on January 2, 1923, leaving only the portion containing the kitchen, children's dining room, and servants' living quarters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burritt on the Mountain</span> Historic house in Alabama, United States

Burritt on the Mountain is an open-air museum in Huntsville, Alabama. The museum grounds on Round Top Mountain, a plateau connected to Monte Sano Mountain, were the estate of local physician William Burritt, who willed his house and land to the city for use as a museum upon his death in 1955. A number of 19th-century rural structures have been added to Burritt's mansion, both in the interest of historical preservation and life re-enactment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kildare–McCormick House</span> Historic house in Alabama, United States

The Kildare–McCormick House is a historic residence in Huntsville, Alabama. The highly ornate, Queen Anne-style mansion was built in 1886–87. Its early owners contributed to the development of Huntsville, both through industrial projects and philanthropic efforts. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First National Bank (Huntsville, Alabama)</span> United States historic place

The First National Bank is a historic bank building in Huntsville, Alabama. The temple-form Greek Revival structure was built in 1835–1836. Designed by locally famous architect George Steele, it occupies a prominent position, facing the courthouse square and sitting on a bluff directly above the Big Spring. It was the longest-serving bank building in Alabama, operating until 2010 when Regions Bank moved their downtown branch to a new location. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Market Historic District (New Market, Alabama)</span> Historic district in Alabama, United States

The New Market Historic District is a historic district in New Market, Alabama. The town was founded in the 1820s as a trade center along the road between Huntsville and Winchester, Tennessee. The town incorporated in 1837, and had grown to around 500 residents by the 1850s. Although much of the town was destroyed in the Civil War, some antebellum structures survive, including Classical Revival houses built in 1854 and 1860, and the Whitman-Cobb House built circa 1861.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas House Hotel</span> United States historic place

The Thomas House Hotel, formerly the Cloyd Brothers Hotel is a historic hotel on East Main Street in Red Boiling Springs, Tennessee, United States. Built in 1927, Thomas House is one of three hotels remaining from the early-20th century resort boom at Red Boiling Springs. In 1986, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places along with the other two hotels, the Donoho Hotel and Counts Hotel.

References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
  2. Berry, Lucy (March 2, 2014). "Owners, residents mourn 130-year-old Mentone Springs Hotel, antique mall lost in massive fire". The Huntsville Times . Archived from the original on July 7, 2014. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
  3. 1 2 Kazek, Kelly (January 23, 2013). "Mentone Springs Hotel on Lookout Mountain billed as oldest in the state". The Huntsville Times . Archived from the original on March 14, 2014. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
  4. Padgett, Ray; Sandra Padgett; Ellen Mertins (September 15, 1983). "Mentone Springs Hotel". National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form. National Park Service. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 13, 2014. Retrieved March 13, 2014.See also: "Accompanying photos". Archived (PDF) from the original on March 13, 2014. Retrieved March 13, 2014.