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| The Brown Hotel, which was directly across the road from French Lick Springs Hotel, was the biggest hotspot for illegal gambling. |
They were simultaneously the worst-kept secret, and the best
entertainment you could find for hundreds of miles.
Casinos were technically illegal but a booming business back
in the early 20th Century at the same time the hotels at French Lick
and West Baden were rising to prominence. Later this week in our next blog, we’ll
share some of the relics from the era of these underground casinos. First, here’s
10 things to know about the illegal casino underworld:
1.) From as early as 1890 through 1949, gambling existed
illegally — but openly — throughout the towns of French Lick and West Baden
Springs with more than a dozen gaming establishments in the area. Occasional
casino raids occurred, but for the most part, the influence of the people in
charge and the huge boost it gave the local economy kept gambling activity
going strong.
2.) In 1896, a casino building opened on the West Baden Springs
Hotel property. It was called the “Pastime Pavilion” and was advertised to
provide billiards, bowling, ping pong, shuffleboard and other diversions.
Private gaming rooms were on the top floor. Verbiage like “other diversions”
and “amusements” were used to suggest gambling opportunities were available there,
though the hotel never clearly stated it.
3.) The early manager of the West Baden casino? That was Ed
Ballard, who would later take ownership of West Baden Springs Hotel in 1923.
Even though the original hotel casino was closed down in 1906, other illegal
casinos popped up throughout town — and Ballard owned several of them.
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| The Gorge Inn was one of the several casinos owned by Ed Ballard and his family. |
4.) Although hotel guests flocked to the area for the
not-so-secret gambling, locals were not allowed to gamble in the casinos. The
Ballard family thought that local folks could not afford to play or suffer the
gambling losses.
5.) Tom Taggart was the owner of French Lick Springs Hotel at
the time, and he had an interest in seeing the underground casinos flourish. Even
though he tried to distance himself from illicit gambling, there was a literal
link between Taggart’s hotel and the Brown Hotel across the road, as both
buildings shared the same heating plant. The four-story Brown, also built with
the same style of yellow brick as French Lick Springs Hotel, was a known
gambling hotspot. And as legend goes, secret underground tunnels linked the
hotel with the Brown and some of the other casinos throughout town.
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| The Elite Cafe once existed in what is now the American Legion building in downtown French Lick. It's one of the few old casino buildings still standing. |
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| The original tiles and floor still exist today in the foyer entrance at the old Elite Cafe, marked by the "E C" letters. |
One of the other old casinos still standing is the Elite Café
in downtown French Lick. (Today, it houses the American Legion.) The Elite was
built in 1928, and these crystal chandeliers inside are said to have cost
$17,000 each back when The Elite was
built.
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| These were the two main gaming rooms in the old Elite Cafe. |
7.) The Elite, The Brown and the Gorge Inn were the largest
casinos in the area — and all were owned by the Ballard family who wanted these
establishments to provide an elegant gaming experience while mirroring the
swankiest European casinos. In these casinos, liquor was prohibited from the
gambling rooms, and guests in the evening were required to be in formal dress.
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| The former Brown Hotel was impressive in its own right. |
8.) For an even better visualization of the decadence of some of
these parlors, here’s a segment from James Vaughn’s “The Dome in the Valley”
book which quotes an old newspaper article about what the atmosphere at The
Brown was like:
“Shortly after 9 o’clock
(p.m.) the lobby of the French Lick Springs Hotel becomes deserted. In groups
of fours and sixes the guests don their wraps and cross the street to (The
Brown). … The rooms on the second floor are three stories high. The first one
which is entered from a richly carpeted hall is fitted up with luxurious
leather chairs and divans as a reception room. Directly off it is the main
gambling room — almost similar to the lobby of French Lick Springs Hotel — with
an encircling balcony and a ceiling studded with electric lights arranged in
geometric figures. At the farther end is a huge blackboard, on which the race
track entries are chalked up. The various gambling tables line the walls, and
each has its own shaded lamps. It is here that from 300 to 500 men and women
from all over America gather nightly and try their luck.”
9.) All the fun came to a halt when casinos of the Springs
Valley were all shut down in the gambling raid of May 1949. The raid coincided
with the Kentucky Derby — one of the biggest gambling weekends of the year — as
authorities shut down everything from the smaller parlors to the largest
casinos like The Brown. By this time, gambling was not as major a draw as it
had been in the prior decades. As a result, the raid didn’t become big news in
Indianapolis and around the rest of the state until a week after the raid occurred.
10.) Think they didn’t know how to party 100 years ago? Think
again. From the earlier newspaper article referencing the casino atmosphere:
“As a general rule it
is not until after midnight that the crowd is greatest and the gambling is at
its height.”