Hot Mineral Water

Marlin's hot water drew ballplayers. Wikipedia lists four major-league clubs that trained in Marlin between 1904 and 1918: the White Sox in 1904, the Cardinals in 1905, the Reds in 1906 and 1907, and the New York Giants every spring from 1908 to 1918 under John McGraw. A groundskeeper told the Marlin Democrat in 1908 to drink the water, in Texas Monthly's account. Wikipedia says the city bonded $25,000 in 1891 to drill for water and struck the hot flow by accident. Visitors peaked in the 1930s, and the trade faded as antibiotics arrived.

What the plaque says

Hot Mineral Water A well drilled on this site in 1892, in an effort to secure a public water supply, produced 48,000 gallons of hot mineral water daily from an artesian deposit underlying the area. At first believed unfit for human use, analysis proved the water possessed curative powers. On initiative of T. A. Cheeves, Drs. J. W. Cook, J. W. Torbett,and N. D. Buie, a health resort was developed, with a bath house built in 1895, and another well drilled in 1910. Marlin became a Mecca for health-seekers from all parts of the country, providing basis for local prosperity. (1973)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Armstrong Browning Library — 21 mi
  A three-story Italian Renaissance library on the Baylor campus built to hold A. J. Armstrong's Browning collection, dedicated in December 1951 and now, by its own account, the world's largest of Browning material.
• Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum — 22 mi
  The official state repository of Texas Ranger memorabilia, opened in 1968 in Fort Fisher Park on the Brazos, named for a Ranger post of 1837 whose site no one has located.
• Dr Pepper Museum — 22 mi
  The 1906 bottling plant of the Artesian Manufacturing and Bottling Company, built where Dr Pepper outgrew a Waco drugstore soda fountain, now the Dr Pepper Museum.
• Waco Suspension Bridge — 22 mi
  A Brazos crossing opened in January 1870 as the longest single-span suspension bridge west of the Mississippi, tolled until 1889, closed to vehicles in 1971 and now walked.

More markers nearby

• Hilton Hotel, Early — steps away
• Marlin — steps away
• Captain Henry Gray Carter — 0.3 mi
• Rev. Nelson T. Denson and Marlin Missionary Baptist Church — 0.5 mi