Fraternity History & More

This past Saturday, August 24, a tweet from Phi Kappa Tau noted that “On this day in 1926, Phi Kappa Tau’s first convention at a resort hotel took place in West Baden, Ind.” In the 1920s, West Baden Springs was one of the country’s finest resort hotels. The Phi Kappa Taus must have enjoyed their stay as the fraternity returned to the hotel in 1928.

The Mile Lick Hotel was built in 1855 and soon became West Baden Springs capitalizing on the hotel’s mineral springs. Owner Lee Sinclair added an opera house, casino, baseball field, and bicycle track. In June 1901, a fire quickly destroyed the hotel.

Sinclair vowed to rebuild. He envisioned a hotel with the world’s largest dome and found an architect, Harrison Albright, who willing to take on the challenge. The hotel reopened in June of 1902 with an atrium 200 feet in diameter. The hotel was dubbed the “Eighth Wonder of the World.”

West Baden Springs Hotel

When Sinclair died in 1916, his daughter and son-in-law took over. They renovated and in doing so, encountered financial issues. In 1923, they sold the hotel for $1,000,000.

Beta Theta Pi held its 1922 convention at the hotel. The Story of Beta Theta Pi mentioned that the September “weather was hot at West Baden, but, aside from that, the hotel was ideal for convention purposes. The management provided everything possible to secure the comfort and contentment of the delegates. The spacious hotel office afforded room for many interested groups. The restful atrium, with its colorful effects of old rose and green and the play of the changing lights in the evening, lingered long in memory. The beautiful park outside, the charms of sunken gardens, the gleam of globes of light, the touch of sentiment which nature gave through its fine September moon, all combined to make the week a happy one. There was an abundance of melody as the hours were sped with joyous song. There were the delights of dancing in the center of the great hall as the shifting lights chased the shadows from one side of the room to the other. There were horseback rides and golf for the devotees of those sports. There were healing springs for those who wished to take the waters. The general spirit was excellent, and out from West Baden went forth a strong determination in the minds of the delegates to push Beta Theta Pi still further forward during the new college year.”

An additional insight about the Beta convention was found in a 1922 Caduceus of Kappa Sigma. George E. Allen, a Kappa Sig alumnus, was assistant to the hotel proprietor. The Caduceus noted that the Beta magazine paid this compliment to Brother Allen, “The management was alert and attentive. The entente between Kappa Sigma and Beta Theta Pi was made more cordial by the many courtesies of Mr. Allen.”

The Phi Gamma Delta magazine also reported on the Beta convention, “Beta Theta Pi, we are informed by the magazine of that fraternity, at its recent convention, censured an undergraduate delegate who played golf instead of attending the sessions. Fidelity is the word which best characterizes the attitude of the delegates during the Convention sessions. They kept on the job. As a consequence the business of the Convention was transacted with a minimum of delay. The roll calls showed some chapters unrepresented during the first day. But the fault was not with the delegates. The annulment of many trains owing to the railroad strikes made connections uncertain, occasioned long waits in out-of-the-way junction points and in large cities as well. But they all got to West Baden at length. There was one delegate who played golf when he had accepted railroad fare from the fraternity to help it in its deliberations. He was rightfully censured by the Convention. There was one delegate, a chapter president at that, who disgraced his famous old chapter through the assistance of a boot-legger. He lost his chance of influence in the Convention. But these two flagrant failings to get the vision only emphasized the fidelity of the other seventy nine.”

Kappa Alpha Theta’s 1924 Grand Convention was held at the hotel. The location is about 100 miles from Theta’s founding site, DePauw University. From December 28-31, 1927, 355 Phi Gamma Deltas gathered at the resort for the fraternity’s Ekklesia.

The stock market crash of 1929 led to the hotel’s demise and it closed in 1932. Two years later, it was sold to the Jesuits for $1. They used the building as a seminary, West Baden College. The Jesuits  removed some of the decorations, including four Moorish towers. In 1964, the seminary closed. In 1966, the property was purchased and donated to Northwood Institute, a private college, for its use; it closed in 1983. The hotel was sold to a real estate developer in 1985. The property was in litigation for years after the developer declared bankruptcy. In the winter of 1991, an exterior wall collapsed due to a build up of ice and water. Indiana Landmarks stabilized the hotel. In 1994, the hotel was sold for $500,000.

In 2007, the West Baden Springs Hotel was returned to its former glory. The restoration of the hotel (and the French Lick Springs Hotel, less than a mile away – the subject of a future post) is due to  dedication and vision of William Alfred “Bill” and Gayle Cook, along with their son Carl, of the COOK Group, headquartered in Bloomington, Indiana, and Indiana Landmarks. Bill Cook, a Beta Theta Pi, was an initiate of the chapter at Northwestern University.

I have always been intrigued by the sites at which fraternity and sorority conventions were held. (Kappa Kappa Gamma’s centennial convention in 1970 took place at the French Lick Springs Hotel, a short walk from the West Baden Springs Hotel). I have already done a post about the New Ocean House in Swampscott, Massachusetts. It is at http://wp.me/p20I1i-xN . I hope to do a few more posts about these grand hotels and convention locales.

© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2013. All Rights Reserved.