>From the June 16, 1886 edition of the Weekly Times, Glasgow:  Mr. R. B. Evans of Louisville and Mr. Geo. B. Wade of Glasgow have acquired a proprietary interest in Forest Springs and have in process of construction an elegant hotel building for the accommodation of guests, which will be completed in a few days.  Everything on the premises will be entirely new, and a first-class table and comfortable rooms will be opened to public at a moderate compensation.  Game and fish abound, and those in search of health, comfort, and pleasure can e accommodated.  Mr. Evans is in the tobacco business, and has auction friends throughout the South and West.  Mr. Wade is also a gentleman widely and favorably known.  In early days deer and elk congregated where now is a delightful resort of health-seekers, and which, since 1845, has added vigor to the muscles, light to the eye, health to the system, energies to the minds of thousands of invalids.  Horse-drawn hacks met incoming passenger trains and transported guests form Scottsville and Westmoreland to the Springs.

     The Scottsville Sentinel in its April 7, 1889 edition carried the following article:  "Forest Springs, one of the finest watering places in the State, is within a pleasant drive of the town.  The Springs were just opened last year and the number of visitors was over 700.  This year with the added accommodations, the proprietors expect 5,000.  The waters of these springs have been analyzed, and found to contain the finest medical properties of any springs in the Unites States."  The Glasgow Times in its issue of July 27, 1887, carried the following article:  "The writer visited Forest Springs one day recently and had a most delightful time.  The proprietors of these Springs are very courteous to all their visitors and do all in their power to make their stay pleasant and beneficial.  The waters are very fine and a number of visitors are realizing great benefit therefrom".

     The Glasgow Times in May 15, 1889 edition carried this note:  "Mr. R. B. Evans of Louisville has purchased the interest of Mrs. Rebecca Wade in Forest Springs, Allen County, and is now sole proprietor of this justly famed watering place.  A nice bowling alley, croquet grounds and improved ballroom are to be built, and a good string band is to be constantly employed.  Mr. T. B. Spillman will have control of the hotel this season.  There is no better mineral water in the State than that to be found at forest springs.  With the improved additions mentioned, these springs should command even a large patronage that usual from this section".

     And in its August 14th, 1889 edition the Glasgow Times again carried an article on Forest Springs.  "The hotel at this great health resort is still open to the public, and will remain open till September 15th.  The number of guests now at the Springs is fair, considering the unfavorable season.  The hotel accommodations were never better.  Good cooks and polite servants.  The wet weather produces no dampness whatsoever about the buildings, as the drainage is unsurpassed.  Board $1.50 per day; $7.50 per week; $25.00 per month.  Children and servants half-price. -   Families in the area regularly spent one to two weeks or a month there in the summer, and many others came on Sunday afternoons to enjoy the activities.

     Jimmy Burl Brown's grandfather, Fletcher Meador, was a caretaker at the Springs around 1921 and lived in one of the cottages on the grounds.  Mr. S. S. Kemp was one of the last owners of the resort, which closed in the late twenties or early thirties.  The springs dried up after the massive timber in the area was logged, and the resort began to crumble.  Last remains in recent years of this once nationally famous resort included one of the cottages, with three rooms and a fireplace of stone.

     Also concrete floors for two of the bathhouses, with water still trickling from a few springs.  Some of the springs still had pipes in them.  None of the wood structures remain now.  The site has gone back to nature, and the concrete floors are covered with honeysuckle.  

     In the late forties a returning soldier, Melvin Holloway and his family saved his service allowances and bought the 121 acre tract containing Forest Springs.  Like his predecessor  Hooten, Melvin hunted, fished, and enjoyed the solitude and grandeur of the forest.  Since his death, the land was again logged, yielding more huge logs.  It is now owned by Jerry Carter.

     Some of the hotel's furnishings and bowls and pitchers are treasured by those Allen Countians lucky enough to have obtained them through the years.  There are a number of Allen Countians living today who remember their visits as children to this famous resort that once flourished in our county.

     Living close to forest Springs as children was a delight to Maybelle and Wanda Huntsman.  These two girls with their parents, Leslie and Vernie Huntsman lived less than a half mile form the hotel.  They watched all the traffic and people pass their home, and occasionally joined them for the festivities at Forest springs.  Since this was the only resort and recreation spot close to Scottsville, many families did as the Huntsmans, joining out-of-town guests for Easter egg hunts, musical performances, and to drink the waters, which Maybelle pronounced as "quite good".

     The dancing was refined, principally waltzes.  The dance floor occasionally was used also for skating.  The bathhouses were called Upper Blue Gate and Lower Blue Gate, and featured different kinds of water.  Children enjoyed playing on, and adults enjoyed rocking on the Long Porch, which looked out on well-kept grounds.  Maybelle remembers that lemonade was kept in a sawdust pit to keep it cool near the dance pavilion.  People Maybelle remembers as a part of Forest Springs were Charlie and Minnie Rock, who lived there, and relatives Bessie and Clessie Huntsman, a brother and sister team who worked in the kitchen.

     As with most large wooden structures, the hotel complex began to deteriorate, and guests quit flocking there.  Modern day medicine had replaced the mineral springs as a cure for many complaints.  Maybelle says a Mr. Shelley was the last owner of the resort in good times.  This, more than the logging of the forest by Johnson Lumber Company, and the subsequent drying up of the mineral springs, was the reason for the demise of this once grand playground.  The hotel closed and the Forest Springs resort faded form the scene.

     Later local evangelists held frequent revivals in the old dance pavilion, their pianos providing the music where once lively string bands provided music for dancing.  Worshippers sat on makeshift wooden benches, much less comfortable than the wooden swing sets and comfortable benches which used to grace the lawns.

     One can only wish to have been there, and shared in the wonder that was Allen County's own Forest Springs. 

                                      (Courtesy of Joyce Weaver)