[Brown, William Pitzer]:

$400 · Offered by William Reese Company

THE SILURIAN SPRINGS BATH HOUSE [wrapper title]. This uncommon booklet was used by William Pitzer Brown to advertise his Silurian Springs Bath House, in Coffeyville, Kansas, as a health resort and spa destination comparable to "Carlsbad Sprudel Springs of Austria, the Spa of Belgium, or the Hot Springs, of Arkansas." Brown constructed a magnificent wood and brick edifice over a natural mineral spring that would cater to the health and sport minded. Those looking for health would be pampered in "a mineral water tub and Turkish bath in one," while imbibing "Silurian mineral water" or "The Black Water," advertised for its beneficial effects on those suffering with dropsy. The spa boasted a full-time physician and cadre of ten consulting physicians to supervise the use of the waters and the spa's "eletctro teraphy" [sic] department, which, among other equipment had a "German X-Ray Coil" and a " High Frequency Chair," a "Sanitas Vibrating Chair, Percussion Apparatus, [and] Electric Cabinet." For the sport minded, the resort had "Club Houses" for men and women, "the largest [swimming] pool of its kind in the west" as well as "Golf, Tennis, Basket Ball, Hand Ball, Tether Ball, Quoits, etc" in addition to a fully equipped gymnasium. The spa operated from 1906 until its destruction in the 1950s. OCLC shows only a single reproduction copy at Kansas State University. An exceptionally scarce advertising pamphlet for a well-known Kansas landmark.

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