Principal Donald Bond, the teachers and the students of the afternoon group at Cullen Grimes School in Mineral Wells, Texas congregate in front of the building in March of 1954.

Students, teachers and principal D.R. Hudson, of the Sam Houston School in March 1954 stand outside the school building.

Students, teachers and the principal, D.R. Hudson, of the Sam Houston School's Afternoon Group are shown here in March of 1954. The picture was taken outside the school building.

Head-shot of Major General Robert R. Williams, Director of Army Aviation. The Major General is in uniform and sits in front of a dark background. On the back of the photograph are typewritten notes, a stamp giving the Boyce-Ditto Public Library's address, and a handwritten note that reads, "60%."

What is said to be the original Crazy Woman's Well is preserved under the sidewalk at the northwest corner of the Crazy Hotel. This is supposed to be the well the mentally-challenged (or the once-designated "Crazy woman") drank from that "Cured" her dementia. Stories are in conflict about how many women there were--and whether the water actually cured any of them of epilepsy. Subsequent analysis of the water refuted a rumor that there was any Lithium was in it. Cutter's "Guide to Mineral Wells" (first published in 1893, re-printed in 2007) suggests that the first well was "[N]ear the center of one of the business blocks of the city, back of the hardware store of L. B . Kidwell. It is now out of use and, we learned, to be filled up." Although not used for years, this well probably only requires a pump to resume production. Printed on the back of this picture is "The Crazy Well as today", and stamped "Mar. 21, 1974."

The "Crazy Flats" drinking pavilion, with rooms for rent, replaced a two-story Crazy Water drinking pavilion in 1909. The first Crazy Hotel was built in 1912, and an annex was added to it in 1914. A fire in the Drug Store of the "Crazy Flats" (SE corner of the Crazy Flats building) on March 15, 1925, destroyed the entire Crazy block. The burned-out site of the Crazy Hotel was bought in 1926 by Carr Collins. A "New", completely rebuilt, Crazy Hotel was promoted as fireproof, since it was built with solid cement walls and ceilings. The former "New Crazy Hotel" had a roof garden (with glassed-in ceiling) for dancing, and colorful past that included a daily radio show originating in its Lobby and broadcast nationally over KTQN (the Texas Quality Network). It had survived the Great Depression of the 'thirties, World War I, the Korean "Police Action", and the Viet Nam War. Those interested in a more detailed story are referred To Guy Fowler's book, "Crazy Water."

A handwritten note on the back of the photograph identifies the picture as "Crazy Hotel southside [sic] after fire of March 15, 1925." Shown is the skeleton of the first Crazy Hotel, after a fire destroyed the entire Crazy "complex." The original hotel complex consisted of the two adjoined hotel sections with a common lobby, the Crazy Flats (a drinking pavilion with rooms for rent), a Bath House, and a drugstore (in which the fire started). The second Crazy Hotel opened two years later, in 1927. It covers the entire city block formerly occupied by the complex which it replaced. The famous second Crazy Hotel of the booming 1930's and 1940's is now [2008] a retirement hotel that was forcibly closed down in 2010.