In the early 1870's, Thomas and Rebecca Sailor arrived in Clay County, Illinois from Ohio. The young couple were raising cattle in the area of the spring grounds, which were considered to be poisonous, but Thomas needed access to the waters for his livestock. The Sailors had the water analyzed, and found it to be rich in minerals that were thought to have healing powers. Rebecca traded 400 acres of land that she owned in Ohio for the spring ground land, and the couple invested their money to build some small cottages nearby. By the turn of the century, Sailor Springs was booming complete with its own bank, newspaper, churches, stores, college, factories, school, and of course, a magnificent hotel called the Glendale Hotel. Sailor Springs had established itself as one of the finest resorts in the Midwest, and was dubbed the Carlsbad of America.
In the fall of 1894, when autumn gold and purple were on the leaves, and the sunshine and shadow on the ground, the beautiful Woodlawn Hotel burned. From these ashes sprang forth the more costly and magnificent Glendale Hotel, whose appearance gave added beauty to the already richly endoed Natural Park. What Happened to Sailor Springs?
In the early morning hours of May 18, 1917, church bells in Sailor Springs began frantically tolling to awaken village residents as to what must have been an awesome and sobering sight, as the Glendale Hotel was consumed by fire as the glorious hotel collapsed in a great ball of fire. By dawn, towering brick chimneys and smoldering rubble was all that was left of the pride of the village. It was this single point in time that set into motion the decline of this prosperous town, compounded by the Great Depression, population decline, bad community planning, and further demolition of additional historic resources. Today, Sailor Springs has almost been wiped from the map, but there is a new hope, a new strategy, and a new plan to save this treasured resource from disappearing forever, and we need your help.
In 1997, Main Street Flora, a non-profit organization under the auspice of the Flora Community Development Corporation, coordinated the efforts of ten southeastern Illinois Counties to develop new heritage tourism related products in the region. Sailor Springs, Illinois was included in this effort called the Crossroads of Illiana, with the village being promoted as a Victorian Williamsburg. In 1998, the Crossroads of Illiana proposal was accepted as one of only seven Heritage Tourism Demonstration Areas in the state. The Heritage Tourism potential for Sailor Springs is tremendous, and as part of the regional effort, the revitalization of the village will be addressed. A New Beginning for an Old Friend:
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