Hot Mineral Water Well

Duane's take

Now, I'm tellin' this one straight from the official marker, so let's see what the record has to say about the hot mineral water well of Hubbard, Texas. Sit back, because this story starts deep underground and ends, well, in smoke. Somewhere near this very site, in the year 1894, a drill bit broke through to something special at three thousand, one hundred feet down.

Hot mineral water. And in that era, hot mineral water wasn't just a curiosity. It was practically a prescription.

Mineral baths were popular treatment for all manner of diseases, and Texas towns like Marlin and Mineral Wells had already built themselves real, thriving bath houses around that idea. Hubbard was about to join that company. In 1907, a man named J.

M. Carroll and a group of local businessmen looked at that well site and saw possibility. They built a one-story frame bath house right there, and right alongside it, an open-air pavilion where folks could collect the water and take it home.

A little piece of the cure to go. Then came 1915, and two brothers, doctors John and Will Wood, constructed a fourteen-bed brick hospital nearby. Patients came from around the nation.

The treatment was twenty-one days, and word traveled. Hubbard had something people wanted, and they came from far and wide to get it. Now, here's where the story gets big.

That success turned Hubbard into a boom town. Population climbed all the way to two thousand, two hundred people by 1920. The bath house became popular enough that Texas Governor William P.

Hobby owned it at one point. A Texas governor. The place had that kind of pull.

But success, as Texas will remind you, doesn't always hold its shape. Financial problems crept in. The bath house changed hands, eventually landing under the Hubbard Hot Well Company, with a publisher named J.

C. Mecklin serving as president. And then the well itself started fighting back.

Through the nineteen twenties, mineral deposits clogged the pipe. The company didn't have the funds to drill a new one. And at the same time, modern medicine was coming on strong, and people started reaching for newer remedies instead of a long soak in hot mineral water.

The Hubbard Bath House closed around 1930. And in 1934, it burned. The hospital the Wood brothers built, that fourteen-bed brick building that once drew patients from across the nation, was converted into apartments in 1935.

Three thousand, one hundred feet down, that water is still down there somewhere. The bath house is gone. The boom is gone.

But the well was drilled, the people came, and for a spell, Hubbard was exactly where a hurting nation wanted to be.

What the marker says

A well drilled near this site in 1894 produced hot mineral water at a depth of 3,100 feet. Hot mineral baths were popular then for treatment of various diseases, and Marlin and Mineral Wells were among Texas towns with successful bath houses. In 1907, at the Hubbard well site, J. M. Carroll and other local businessmen built a one-story frame bath house and an adjoining open-air pavilion, where water could be collected for home use. In 1915, a 14-bed brick hospital was constructed nearby by two brothers, doctors John and Will Wood (1862-1950). Patients came from around the nation for the 21-day course of treatment. Success as a health resort created a boom period for Hubbard, which had a peak population of 2,200 in 1920. The popular bath house, owned at one time by Texas Governor William P. Hobby, was plagued by financial problems, however. Hubbard Hot Well Co., with publisher J. C. Mecklin as president, finally took over operation. During the 1920s, mineral deposits clogged the pipe, but the company lacked the funds to drill a new well. At the same time, modern remedies began to replace the hot baths. The Hubbard Bath House closed about 1930 and burned in 1934. The hospital was converted into apartments in 1935.