Hercules Sanatorium
| Hercules Sanatorium | |
|---|---|
| Established | 1915 |
| Construction Began | 1914 |
| Construction Ended | 1915 |
| Opened | 1915 |
| Current Status | Demolished |
| Location | Guthrie, OK |
| Architecture Style | Spanish Mission Style |
| Alternate Names |
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History
In late 1913, oil drillers in Guthrie's city park had short luck finding oil and instead struck a well of water running underneath the town. The city had Federal government officials test the water and results showed the mineral content of the water being similar to that of the water at Carlsbad, Austria (a world famous sanatorium for it's mineral waters).
In 1914, Mr. H. T. Hansford, previously a banker from Kansas City, moved to Guthrie and secured with the Guthrie Park Board of Commissioners a 10-year lease to begin January 1, 1915 for the Municipal Bath House & Sanatorium. (The first such municipal medicinal bath house in the country.) The $100,000 fireproof building was finished in 1915, a Spanish mission style building boasting verandas, many windows, and curative waters fed from five different mineral wells.
The building had facilities for furnishing thirty different types of baths, and was said to be the most complete in equipment and service West of the Mississippi River; with hydro therapeutics unparalleled by any in the country. The waters from the mineral wells were believed to have curative properties for those suffering from a number of ailments: from vital organ diseases to mental disorders. The sanatoriums patients came from all over the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Hawaii. An advertisement found dated 1913 lists among the ailments treated: "Rheumatism, Stomach, Skin and Bowel Troubles, Insomnia, Debility, Etc.".
