Join Fine Art Photographer Keith Dotson at the Ruins of the Hot Wells Hotel in San Antonio
In this video, we will walk around and make photographs of the big, abandoned ruins of the old Hot Wells Hotel in San Antonio, Texas. This big hot springs hotel was a luxury resort for the rich and famous around the turn of the century. It ceased operations as a hotel in 1923 and operated as a school until 1925, when it burned again. Bexar County has built a park around the ruins, preserving it safely for visitors.
In my experience, this is a unique phenomenon, with an abandoned ruin preserved and made safe for visitors in a public park.
Hot Wells Hotel
The old hot springs resort was built in various stages between 1894 and 1901. They had some fires and rebuilding during that period as well. It’s the most convenient abandoned ruin I’ve ever visited! It gives the history on signs and provides nice, even paved walking paths. And there are public restrooms!
The hot springs were discovered in 1892 when the State of Texas was drilling in search of a drinking water well, and instead found 103-degree sulphur water.
This sign says that the Hot Wells Hotel was the most luxurious of San Antonio’s three hot springs resorts, and so it attracted the tycoons and celebrities of the day. In those days, there was a lot of belief in the hot sulphur water as a medical remedy and fancy hot springs resorts cropped up around the nation. The sulphur water was consumed as a bath and as a tonic, and were said to remedy dozens of chronic illnesses.
Teddy Roosevelt came here in 1898 — that was during his rough rider days before he later became president of the United States. And the famous and much celebrated French actress Sarah Bernhardt visited here in 1911, toward the end of her career. The hotel had a rail spur which was used by some of its most wealthy patrons, and Sarah Bernhardt used it to arrive in her private train car.
In the early 1900s, a silent movie film studio was built nearby, and many famous early celebrities stayed at the Hot Springs Hotel, including Cecil B. DeMille, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., cowboy actor Tom Mix, Will Rogers, and Rudolph Valentino.
World War I and prohibition shrank the business of the hotel, which closed in 1923 and was converted to a school, which in turn burned again in 1925.
This location is very close to Mission San José, one of the old Spanish Missions built around San Antonio by missionaries in the 1700s. Prior to the arrival of the Spanish, the land was occupied by the Coahuiltecan people.
The walls of the ruins still feature faded signs including one that says “High Diving Strictly Prohibited in the Pools.” that sign is original to the earliest days of this hotel. Of course, Ladies and Gents had separate pools, a nod to Victorian customs of the time.
This is a quite unique experience — to have a ruin preserved in a public park like this. If you know of any other places like this, please leave a comment where they’re located. I might like to visit them.
Sources and Links:
Some information was sourced from on-site signage at the park.
Bexar County. “Hot Wells of Bexar County” .
Wikipedia. “Hot Wells (San Antonio, Texas)“.
Wikipedia. “Sarah Bernhardt“.