Cambridge Springs
Cambridge Springs, Crawford County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Between 1884 and 1915, this was a major health resort, founded upon the various mineral springs here. Dr. John H. Gray, who had discovered spring water on his farm, began prescribing and marketing it in 1884. By the early 1900s, some forty inns and resort hotels were operating, including the palatial Hotel Rider and the Riverside Inn. Passenger trains ran here daily. Ultimately, changes in medical practices ended this health spa's heyday.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
For a generation around the turn of the twentieth century, this small Crawford County town was one of Pennsylvania's premier mineral-spring resorts. It began in 1884 when Dr. John H. Gray struck spring water on his farm and started bottling and prescribing it, and within two decades some forty inns and grand hotels—among them the palatial Hotel Rider and the Riverside Inn—drew crowds who arrived by daily passenger train. As medicine moved away from 'taking the waters,' the resort era faded.
Why it matters
Cambridge Springs captures the Gilded Age faith in curative waters and the rise of rail-borne leisure travel, a boom-and-bust chapter repeated at spa towns across America before modern medicine dissolved their appeal.
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Related people
- · John H. Gray
Themes & tags
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