[The Crazy Flats and First Crazy Hotel]

A view of early Mineral Wells from East Mountain shows the Crazy Flats in the foreground, and the first Crazy Hotel at the left, at the rear of it. The small building at the right, rear of the Crazy Flats housed the "Crazy Woman's Well" that contributed the generic "Crazy Water" name to the local mineral water. Crazy Flats, the second Crazy Drinking Pavilion with "Rooms for Rent" on the second floor, was built in 1909. The first Crazy Hotel was built in two sections: The first section, at the left rear of Crazy Flats, was built in 1912, and the second section, left of it, was built in 1914, and joined to the first with a common lobby. The low building to the left of Crazy Flats and in front of the Hotel was the Crazy Bath House and Drugstore. A fire started in the drugstore March 15, 1925, and destroyed the entire city block. The second Crazy Hotel, covering this entire city block, opened in 1927. The original Crazy Well is now situated in the sidewalk at the northwest corner of the Hotel with a cover over it. The second Crazy Hotel is now [2008] a Retirement Home. …
Date: 1914?
Creator: unknown
System: The Portal to Texas History

[Photograph of View from West Mountain]

Photograph taken after the Chautauqua was demolished (that is, about 1912). The foundation can be seen in the upper right quadrant. The Post Office, completed in 1913, is visible to the right of the Chautauqua ruins. The old viewing tower on the top of the hill, destroyed by a tornado in 1930, is just barely visible in the trees on top of the hill. The first Crazy Hotel and Crazy Flats drinking pavilion, which burned in 1925, are seen one block northwest of the Post Office. The Murphy home is on top of the hill in the middle of the photograph. The Hexagon Hotel (torn down in 1959) is just above and left of the center. The Vichy Well is just to the right of the Hexagon House, and is now the location of the North Oak Community Center. In the the next block north (left) of the Hexagon House, facing west, is the Fairfield Inn with a ground-level entrance on each floor. Note the city's water tower at left center.
Date: 1914?
Creator: unknown
System: The Portal to Texas History

[Two Women in Wylie Park]

Two women (one using an umbrella as a parasol) are pictured strolling in Wylie Park. Notes on back of the photograph read: "Corner of N. Oak and N.E. 1st Street, the West side of Wylie Park, a popular place for strolling." North Oak Avenue is in background, with North to the right in the picture. Hazelwood Drugs is on the west side of Oak Ave, opposite the park. Mineral Wells. The streets of Mineral Wells were paved in the summer of 1914. A wagon can be seen traveling north on Oak Avenue. What appears to be a work crew may be seen at the corner indicates that the finishing touches may have been in the process of being applied to the paving as the picture was taken.
Date: 1914?
Creator: unknown
System: The Portal to Texas History

[A View of Mesquite Street, Mineral Wells]

An early scene of Mesquite Street (now [2008] NE 1st Avenue) looking North toward old U.S. Post Office from the corner of East Hubbard Street, after a rain? Electrical lines are present as are cars and trucks typical of the post-1914 era, when the streets of Mineral Wells were paved. The cornerstone for the Post Office was laid in May, 1912. The building on the near right housed Campbell's Bargain store. It occupied the site of the current Baker Hotel (Opened in 1929.)
Date: 1914?
Creator: unknown
System: The Portal to Texas History