To build West Baden Springs Hotel from the ground up, you need a little help from your friends.
The more the better when it comes to specialized skills and materials.
Among the other lost features of our historic hotels are two marble tablets that displayed the companies and firms that had a hand in bringing West Baden Springs Hotel to life 122 years ago. As shown in the photo, the tablets were in the neighborhood of this encircled area where the atrium meets the lobby.
What became of these tablets would be anyone’s guess. They might be under the marble which was added in the 1917 renovations to the hotel. They might have been removed together and long gone. But thanks to a January 1903 article in the West Baden Journal, we know the names included on the tablet — and we have all of them to thank for building West Baden Springs Hotel into what it is today.
Of note from the names on the tablets:
H.A. Root, listed as a woodwork contractor, supplied much of the lumber for hotel improvements in the 1890s at the original West Baden Springs Hotel, which was lost to a 1901 fire. - Oliver Westcott, the dome engineer, was strangely not included anywhere in the lists.
- The two dozen subcontractors included specialists for elevators and telephones — at the time, elevators in hotels were relatively new, and only the most upscale hotels had telephones in rooms.
- The Cassini Mosaic & Tile Co., whose work has stood the test of time. The original Cassini tile covers about 25% of our atrium floor today.
Here’s the full West Baden Journal article and list, featured under the headline “The Roll of Honor”:
Last Thursday, January 8, 1903, two handsome marble tablets, appropriately inscribed with the names and individuals and firms who co-operated in the construction of the West Baden Springs Hotel, were placed in conspicuous positions, one on the right and the other on the left side of the main entrance to the office and lobby.
The tablet on the right side is inscribed as follows:
WEST BADEN SPRINGS HOTEL
Hon. Lee W. Sinclair, President.
J.F. Persise, Treasurer
Harrison Albright, Architect, Charleston, W.Va.
Caldwell & Drake, Builders, Columbus, Ind.
Chas. T. Caldwell, Superintendent, Columbus, Ind.
H.E. Eicklenberry, Foreman, Columbus, Ind.
Workers installing marble on the corridor walls of West Baden Springs Hotel.
The tablet which adorns the left side of the office entrance bears the following:
SUB-CONTRACTORS:
H.A. Root, woodwork, Michigan City, Ind.
Illinois Steel Co., structural steel, Chicago, Ills.
Parkersburg Steel Co., metal partitions, Parkersburg, W.Va.
Hanley Casey Co., plumbing, Chicago, Ills.
Joseph McWilliams & Co., heating and refrigerating, Louisville, Ky.
C. Hanika & Sons, ornamental iron, Celina, Ohio
Illinois Brick Co., brick, Chicago
Henry C. Smither, asphalt roofing, Indianapolis, Ind.
Henry Strassner, metal work, Columbus, Ind.
D.F. Doll, painting, Columbus, Ind.
Barth Manufacturing Co., elevators, Milwaukee, Wis.
Keelyn Telephone Manufacturing Co., telephones, Chicago, Ills.
Marbleithic Co., marble, Dayton, Ohio
Vonnegut Hardware Co., hardware, Indianapolis, Ind.
Schoone Bros., ceramic tile floors, Cincinnati, O.
The Robert Mitchell Furniture Co., mantels, Cincinnati, O.
Cassini Mosaic & Tile Co., mosaic tile floors, Cincinnati, O.
Architectural Decorating Co., ornamental plaster, Chicago, Ills.
United States Gypsum Co., plaster material, Chicago, Ills.
Peaslee, Gaulbert & Co., paints and varnishes, Louisville, Ky.
Pittsburg Plate Glass Co., plate glass, Cincinnati, O.
Hall’s Safe Co., safes, Cincinnati, Ohio.
E.P. McGrath, electrical work, Toledo, Ohio.
Marble staircases and wrought iron balconies and features added to West Baden Springs Hotel's "wow" factor.
When the hotel opened to guests in September 1902, the Louisville Courier Journal coined it the "Eighth Wonder of the World" — and also had this to say about the skilled team that made it happen:
"May the new West Baden Hotel stand like the Pyramids, a living monument to the genius of Mr. Sinclair, who devised the plan and backed the enterprise, and to the indomitable pluck and readiness of the architect, contractors and others who have had a hand in its erection."
