Taking a ride on the rail trolley at French Lick Resort is
one of those must-do experiences that feels like you’re stepping back in time.
But do you know how far, exactly? Believe it or not, this is a tradition
that first began more than 117 years ago — and a dive into our photo archives shows
us a little more about how this trolley used to make its rounds.
Electric cable car service first began at French Lick & West
Baden in 1903. Back then, guests arrived at the hotel in horse-drawn carriages,
so the advent of rail service allowed for much easier travel between hotels. The photo above is from the first trip of the street car between French Lick and West
Baden on November 9, 1903.
Guests paid a nickel per ride, and the trolley offered "ping pong" service as it was not designed to make turns. When the car reached French Lick, the conductor had to physically move the overhead power line around the back, before it could make the return trip to the depot at West Baden. The car ran at 30-minute intervals throughout the day.
The trolley provided door-to-door service to both hotels, and stopped literally at the steps of West Baden Springs Hotel. In 1911, a small 10x10 trolley station was later built to protect guests from the elements. (Behind the trolley in this photo, take note of the covered walkway that once connected West Baden Springs Hotel the the gardens area, which included a casino, bowling and billiard pavilion, an opera house, hospital, and Sprudel Water bottling plant during that era.)
In between stops at the hotels, the trolley served intermediate stops in the towns of French Lick and West Baden Springs as it covered nearly 2 total miles of track (9,999 feet, to be exact). One of the stops was here at the Claxton Hotel, which was one of nearly two dozen other smaller hotels that existed in the early 1900s. Back then, French Lick and West Baden were a major hotspot for tourists, even outside of the two big hotels.
The French Lick & West Baden No. 1, circa 1905. The trolley made its last run on July 10, 1919 after it became phased out with the rise of the automobile.
Flash forward 100-some years, and the trolley is back in business. (Albeit currently out of service through next Friday because of planned maintenance.) The track was re-laid, and while the car is not the original, you can see it was meticulously restored to look nearly identical to the one that ran 100 years ago. And today, you can even save your nickels when you come aboard — every ride on the trolley is complimentary.
