The return of French Lick: the grandeur and gambling resume this fall.

• Author: Hromadka, Erik
• Position: Cover story

THE NEW FRENCH LICK Springs Resort & Casino approaches its grand opening in November and soon visitors to the restored landmark hotel will step back into the splendor that brought high society to Orange County during the Roaring Twenties.

The project is the result of years of negotiations between the residents of Orange County, state legislators, resort developers and others who proposed various ways to save the historic resort and bring new economic life to the region. After many false starts, the area is bustling with the sounds of construction and overflowing with optimism at the prospect of a $382 million project being built on 3,000 acres around a town of less than 2,000 people.

When completed, French Lick is expected to become a Midwestern resort town featuring world-class hotels, gaming, spas and championship golf courses, built by a partnership between Lauth Property Group in Indianapolis and Cook Group in Bloomington.

EIGHTH WONDER OF THE WORLD

The first French Lick Springs Hotel opened in 1845 for visitors to the "curative" mineral springs. After a fire in 1897, a syndicate headed by Indianapolis mayor Thomas Taggart built the luxurious hotel and spa. An extension of the Monon Railroad brought guests from around the country to enjoy the resort, which included an opera house, golf courses and a double-deck pony and bicycle track.

Nearby, Lee W Sinclair, a Salem businessman, rebuilt the West Baden Springs Hotel as a circular building topped by the world's largest dome and decorated like the grandest spas of Europe.

With a budget of $414,000, the hotel was completed in less than a year, opening in 1902. Later called the "eighth wonder of the world," the dome measures 200 feet in diameter and 100 feet in height, making it larger than the St. Peter Basilica and the Pantheon in Rome. It would remain the world's largest dome until the Astrodome was built in 1963.

The area resorts attracted celebrities of the day and thousands of visitors who came to be pampered, to shop and participate in the gambling that flourished in the area during the period. French Lick became the place to be seen and even hide out, as it reportedly was a favorite getaway for gangster Al Capone. However, the stock market crash of 1929 changed everything and within a few days the area's hotels were virtually empty. The Great Depression that followed ended the party at French Lick.

In 1934, West Baden Springs was sold to the Jesuits for $1 and the property was operated as a seminary for 30 years. In the 1960s, it was sold again and used by a private college until the 1980s, when a series of developers considered various plans for the property By 1992, the property was in serious disrepair and the Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana stepped in and had to contribute $140,000 in emergency funds to keep it from collapsing and later purchased the domed hotel.

Over the next 10 years, restoration of the West Baden Hotel began to take shape, aided by Indiana philanthropists Bill and Gayle Cook and the Cook Group in Bloomington. More than $30 million spent on restoration of the hotel...