DR. JOHN A. LANE
by
Levi Weaver
In 1846 Dr. William Bowles leased his French Lick House, located in French Lick, Indiana, to Dr. John A. Lane. Originally, Lane was a traveling salesman of patent medicines. The business prospered in Lane’s care, so much that when his lease ended, he was determined to build a competing hotel only a mile away in the town of Mile Lick.
In 1855 Lane’s new hotel, the Mile Lick Inn, opened for business. Lane later had the name of the town changed from Mile Lick to West Baden, after the famous mineral springs and spa town in Wiesbaden, Germany. At the same time, he also changed the name of his hotel to the West Baden Hotel, thinking it would make the place more attractive to guests--and at the same time disassociate it from the French Lick House.
By 1860 both inns were well established in the valley. Lane continued his competitive spirit with Bowles, who had renamed his resort French Lick Springs Inn. The two gentlemen reveled in the competition, and both hotels grew in statue and notoriety.
After Bowles died on March 28, 1873, Lane continued to operate the West Baden Hotel for ten more years. With his health failing, Lane--who had owned the hotel for twenty-eight years--sold it to Amos and John Stout, James and Lydia Braden, George W. Campbell, and Elvit B. Rhodes. Five months later, Lane died at the age of seventy-two.
In 1887 the Monon Railroad came to the valley and had a major effect upon the resort business--an influence that even Lane could not have imagined. However, with the increase in visitors to the area, Lee W. Sinclair, who was a frequent guest at the hotel, saw the potential of the facility at West Baden.
REFERENCES
Bundy, Chris. West Baden Springs: Legacy of Dreams, 505 North Main Street, Salem, IN 47167.
Gatsos, Gregory S. History of the West Baden Springs Hotel, Paoli, IN: Printing Perfection, Inc., 1998.