Let’s get to know a little more about Tom Taggart and his
son, Thomas D. Taggart, who catapulted French Lick to a nationally renowned resort during the time they owned it from 1901 through 1946.
Taggart personified the American dream
Born in 1856 in Ireland, the elder Tom Taggart’s family immigrated to Xenia, Ohio and while in his 20s, Taggart made his way to Indiana. In short order, Taggart made a name for himself in the Hoosier State. While managing restaurants in the old Indianapolis Union Depot in 1886, he decided to enter the political arena and launch a prominent national political career, which included three terms as Mayor of Indianapolis and United States Senator. He ascended to the top of the Democratic Party and became its National Chairman in 1890, holding that position for 12 years.
Taggart’s ambition didn’t end at politics
During this time, Taggart also established his hospitality
empire. In Indianapolis, he owned or had partnership interests in the Depot,
Grand and Denison Hotels. He was a frequent visitor of the French Lick and West
Baden area and knew of the reported healing powers of the mineral waters.
Taggart foresaw a profitable business, and in 1899 he conceived a plan to build
his own health resort.
In 1901 an opportunity arose that Taggart couldn’t pass up.
With a group of investors he purchased French Lick Springs Hotel, already
famous for what Taggart would later market as “Pluto Water.” He immediately
went to work updating the hotel buildings and added a Pluto
Water bottling plant, bath house (spa) and powerhouse.
Taggart’s improvements have survived to this day
One of the most significant improvements he made was the
expansion and upgrade of the original east-facing wing (the current Spa Wing).
He also covered it with the distinctive yellow brick and added the stately wrap-around
veranda, both of which still exist today.
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| A rendering of French Lick Springs Hotel in 1901, when Tom Taggart took ownership. |
As business boomed, Taggart kept building on to his hotel. He added a sixth floor. Two new wings of guestrooms. Spring houses for the three springs. Two 18-hole golf courses — known today as The Valley Links Course and The Donald Ross Course at French Lick. A casino, bowling alley and billiard hall were added to the property, along with tennis, croquet and baseball.
The hotel was also home to one of the largest dancing
pavilions in the country, enclosed in glass and surrounded by galleries.
Taggart also added horse stables, a dairy barn, formal gardens, and planted
hundreds of trees to make the hotel’s exterior as luxurious as the inside.
Taggart powered the community, quite literally
Another Taggart upgrade was bringing electricity to the
hotel and, out of generosity, to the town of French Lick. It was said that he
didn’t want his guests to sit on the veranda and look out at a dark town.
Was Taggart involved in the illegal
casinos of the era?
Some say yes, some say no. During that time, Ed Ballard (who
owned West Baden Springs Hotel) ran the local gaming interests as dozens of
illegal casinos (operating as hotels or supper clubs) made French Lick and West
Baden the mini Vegas of their time. Guests flocked here from everywhere.
Ballard’s nephew confirmed that Taggart was his uncle’s silent partner in local gaming operations, but nothing was ever proven. Others who worked closely with Taggart would later say he had no involvement with the underground casinos.
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| Tom on the front steps of French Lick Springs Hotel, circa 1911. |
Taggart wasn’t just a savvy hotelier
His investments branched out into the copper, gas and oil
industries. Even as he inevitably ruffled a few feathers in his political and business
enterprises, he boasted the charisma, kindness and humility to be widely respected.
He almost always had a smile on his face, and he never wanted to be addressed as “Mr. Taggart”
in French Lick but just “Tom” instead.
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| Thomas D. Taggart with the Chicago Cubs and White Sox when they held spring training on the resort grounds. |
Young Tom kept things rolling
The final two phases of hotel expansion, the deluxe wing and
convention wing, were overseen by Thomas D., the fifth of Tom’s six children. After
graduating from Yale in 1909, Thomas D. returned to work at his father’s hotel,
starting in the storeroom so he could learn the hotel from the ground up. By 1912,
with his father immersed in other politics and business, young Tom took over
day-to-day operations of the hotel.
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| The former Taggart family mansion, before and after renovation |
The current Mansion at Pete Dye was Thomas D.’s residence
The elder Tom made it a priority to build homes for each of
his six grown children. Thomas D.’s residence was built atop Mt. Airie, where
The Pete Dye Course was built 80 years later. This palatial home now serves as
the clubhouse area for the golf course.
The mansion included a secret tunnel, hidden stairs from Thomas’
bedroom to the living room below, and a hidden door from his bedroom to the
roof of a porch — likely designed this way to escape kidnappers and dodge
threats by organized crime. The mansion was completed in 1929, six months after
Tom Taggart Sr.’s death.
The Taggart-Kennedy connection
Thomas D.’s mansion was a smaller-scale version of the
Taggart family summer home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. In 1928, Joe and
Rose Kennedy purchased the house next door to the Taggart compound in Hyannis
Port. The younger generations of children grew up playing together as the older
Taggarts and Kennedys — both Irish Democratic families — enjoyed wealth and
power that was the envy of their peers.
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| Thomas D. Taggart (far left) in front of the hotel during its heyday, and relaxing by the mansion fireplace (below). |
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1946 marked the end of the Taggart Era
After his father’s passing, Thomas D., became the new hotel
owner until 1946 when he sold the family’s interest for $4 million — roughly
$55 million in today’s dollars.
Under the Taggart leadership, French Lick Springs Hotel was
revitalized and became a nationally renowned destination for the rich and famous
to visit for decades after the Taggarts had sold their interests. Today, you
can see Tom Sr.’s original office desk on display in the hotel lobby, and a new
display case of Taggart relics will be on display as we continue celebrating
National Preservation Month.