This is a picture of the first Crazy Well drinking pavilion, the first such facility in the city. When a Mr. Wiggins dug the third well in town, it was frequented by a "crazy woman" who was eventually cured of her dementia. Because of the word-of-mouth publicity, people came from miles around to drink the health-giving water. A house was built around the well for the convenience of the customers. The highly successful business attracted competition, and one of the most popular health spas in the nation grew from these beginnings.
The back of this photograph shows three notes: 1: "Taken in front of school house about 1885." (This photograph appears to be of the students and teachers of Mineral Wells' first public school, the "Little Rock Schoolhouse," built in 1884.) 2: "Donated by James H. Perry", and 3: "Some are dead. Some are married, and we are all scattered, never to meet on earth again." The school illustrated here was built in 1886, and a Mr. R.E. Hendry took up teaching duties--after he was almost single-handed in having the building set up. Land was procured in 1884, and stones from Rock Creek were provided, and cut at the construction site to make Mineral Wells' first permanent school building. It was a band hall, a choral hall, a gymnasium, and a storage place after it was a school. It now is the home of the Mineral Wells Heritage Society.
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