The evolving face of French Lick Resort's signature image


The original spring house structure dates back to the mid to late 1800s.

You’ve seen it before if you’ve visited to French Lick Resort. Even if you didn’t realize it.

It’s our trademarked logo. It’s on every single brochure and poster around the resort, on clothing and souvenirs in the retail shops, on signage and associate uniforms. A central figure in the resort’s history. It’s safe to say the Pluto Spring House is pretty iconic for French Lick Springs Hotel and French Lick Resort.

But did you know the spring house structure that can be seen in the gardens today is not the original? It’s actually the third structure to stand over that historic spring.

The original spring house was an elevated wooden structure that existed during the mid-to-late 1800s when William Bowles owned French Lick Springs Hotel. This spring house had stairs on one side leading to an upper level platform where guests could sit above the spring to relax before or after drinking the water. The spring itself was accessible from ground level beneath the wooden second floor. The structure featured an octagonal roof and lattice work around the bottom of the roof and below the upper level.



In 1901 Tom Taggart, former mayor of Indianapolis, bought the hotel and began making various improvements and expansions around the property, which included building a new spring house for the mineral spring that produced the world-famous Pluto Water. New ownership led to a new design. This second structure was more open and somewhat fancier in appearance.

Built at ground level with a stone foundation, guests actually descended stairs down to the spring basin. The shape remained octagonal with round columns supporting the two-tiered roof. Below the roof were intricate, rectangular glass panels that encircled the interior of the spring house structure. The glass panel above the descending stairs stated the spring’s name to visitors. Perched atop the roof, as if keeping a watch over the spring, sat a Pluto figure holding a trident and a shield with the word “Pluto” on it.


This sophisticated structure stood over the spring until around 1915, when for an unknown reason, the spring house was removed and relocated on the hillside closer to where the French Lick Villas stand today, right behind the Pluto spring. This structure can often be seen in the background of photos taken of the Pluto spring during this era. The Pluto glass panel was replaced and the structure had a second life as a garden gazebo for guests to enjoy. Once removed, the spring house seen today was erected.

This third and current structure followed the same blueprint as its predecessor. Visitors continued to descend stairs to reach the spring basin, the shape remained octagonal and the roof stayed two-tiered. The exterior columns and basin are now comprised of a sturdier glazed white brick. This permanent structure built in the mid-1910s continues to stand today, with only a few cosmetic changes.

Below the first roof level, glass windows had been installed to let natural light inside the structure. Over time these glass windows were painted over, but they still exist today. The original tiled roof has been replaced with modern red shingles. The sign above the descending stairs once read just “Pluto” and now reads “World Famous Pluto Spring.” The Pluto figure that hovered above the second spring house structure was reinstalled atop this new brick structure. Over the decades, the Pluto figure was lost to time, and it is unknown when it stopped keeping watch over the spring. 

The devilish-looking Pluto was the symbol of Pluto Water when national sales skyrocketed around 1915. But a spring house structure has stood over that historic spring long before the world knew about the cure-all, miracle water known as Pluto Water.

You could say this spring house is just as iconic as the mineral water it has safeguarded for more than 100 years.