March is the month we’re revealing our devilish side. The latest in our rotating historic display cases as part of French Lick Springs Hotel’s 175th anniversary centers on Pluto, with plenty of info and relics relating the hotel’s old devilish mascot on display all month in the corridor between the lobby and retail shops.
If you’re not able to stop by and learn about Pluto in person, here’s a brief history on how the devilish Pluto figure came to be the face of the hotel:
It all started with what’s in the water. When local doctor William A. Bowles built the first hotel on this property in 1845 — this initial version was a modest, three-story guesthouse — Bowles touted the health benefits of the naturally occurring mineral water on property. Then in 1869, Dr. Joseph Rogers made the first analysis of the mineral springs during a visit to French Lick. Rogers named the largest spring “Pluto’s Well,” since the water originated underground and Pluto was the Roman god of the underworld.
Maybe such an ominous figure wouldn’t be the first choice today for the face of a brand. But during this era, the Pluto name stuck and became an iconic trademark.
Guests started flocking to French Lick to “take the waters” with a pungent sulfur odor and powerful laxative effect. Guests would stroll the gardens after ingesting the water and waiting for it to take effect. Outhouses were set up in the gardens for when nature finally called, and guests would carry canes to be placed on the outhouse door handles to indicate it was occupied.
Thank goodness our idea of a good time has evolved, huh? Today, you come here for a nice dinner; maybe hit the casino, spa or a concert. But that was the big draw back then: the water. Crazy how times change.
Advertisements during that era trumpeted the curative powers of the water:
“Pluto Spring contains three times more sulphureted hydrogen than any other spring on the continent. Volumes could be written to prove that the natural Pluto water at the springs has been the means of curing bowel, kidney, stomach and liver afflictions and a score of ills that flesh is heir to.”
Pluto Water took off even further when Thomas Taggart and three partners purchased French Lick Springs Hotel in 1901 with plans to build a health resort. Though Taggart advertisements about Pluto Water backed off its healing claims — ads still listed elements contained in the water for folks to draw their own conclusions — he launched a national advertising campaign for the Pluto Water, which included securing the likeness of Pluto for use in his advertising.
The “red devil” figure became popular nationally after Taggart convinced doctors and pharmacists to carry the bottled Pluto Water product. By 1919, national sales of Pluto Water exceeded $1.2 million.
A bottling plant was built on hotel property (and later rebuilt to expand) as sales boomed and more than 450 train carloads of the water were shipped annually.
All the while, Pluto’s name and image were everywhere.
On matchbooks. On stamps. On dishes at the hotel restaurant. On postcards. An especially cool relic is this one pictured below, circa 1910: a mug with a Pluto figure as a handle, and a picture of the Pluto Spring House.
Pluto was even on the hotel, as shiny Pluto statues were situated atop the building known as the Hot Pluto Buffet, where guests could get Pluto Water served hot or cold. These statues were moved to the hotel’s front portico for a brief time before being removed.
Pluto had a sports presence, too. The hotel fielded a semipro baseball team comprised of employees, and they were nicknamed the Plutos. The old French Lick High School also sported the Pluto mascot.
Who knows if Pluto Water might still be around today if it were allowed? Production of the water ceased in 1971 when it was discovered the water contained lithium and side effects were possible. But we’re keeping Pluto’s memory flickering in our display cases at the hotel, and you can also visit the original Pluto statues at the French Lick West Baden Museum across the highway. It’s definitely worth the visit to see Pluto up close.
