Terrell Wells Hotel was known for having bath houses with hot sulphurous springs providing water to them. The Terrell Wells Hotel was a hotel located in the Terrell Wells neighborhood of San Antonio, Texas which operated from 1906 to 1920. This hotel was located south of Downtown. Man San Antonians remember the hot sulphur springs located south of the town in the early part of the 20th century.
The Terrell Wells Hotel was founded by accident when the late physician and civic leader. Dr. Frederick Terrell and some associates drilled for oil and instead discovered hot sulphurous springs in 1906. This is when Dr. Frederick Terrell built a bath house and private pool for the Terrell Wells Hotel. According to H. E, Stumberg Sr., Gates Tire and Wheel Co. built the bath houses at this spa. They also built a hotel, had pools, and recreational facilities. Dr. W. H. McCoach was the proprietor of the Terrell Wells Hotel. (Ref: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/58638711/)
Terrell Wells Hotel had been operating under the management of St. Charles Hotel, a Kerville based hotel, in 1917. Terrell Wells Company had also managed Terrell Wells Hotel. (Ref: https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth433529/m1/8/)
The hot sulphur springs and mud packs were supposed to cure almost any ailment. This made the Terrell Wells Hotel a desirable hot spring.
$9,000 dollars was the amount paid by Dr. W. H. McCoach, proprietor of the Terrell Wells Hotel, to the San Antonio Artesian Hot Wells Company for 105 acres of what was known as the Terrell Wells tract according to a deed filed with the County Clerk filed in 1919. The property begins where the San Antonio. Uvalde Gulf tracks intersect the boundary of the tract Dr. McCoach had purchased the land because of excellent oil prospects and also because it is exceptionally adapted for agriculture. A heavy yield of sugar cane was grown there that year. Another deed recorded the sale by W. A. Baity to Hillyer, Deutsch, Tarratt Company for $5,200 of the cast one-half of Lot B. The same firm acquired lots 5 and 6 block 7, new city block 1637 (Ref: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/39269237/)
Dr. Frederick Terrell later sold the operation to the San Jose Investment Co. of Kansas City, Mo. They built a trolley line out to the bath houses. The line went all the way out and took train loads of people to the resort area.
Going for the baths at Terrell Wells Hotel was the thing to do and many San Antonians as well as tourists flocked to the popular area until the mid-1920s. There were both public bathing areas and hotels to serve health-conscious citirens and tourists.
H. E. Stumberg Sr later bought Terrell Wells Hotel from them but closed it in 1922 due to a lack of customers around the 1920s, as had the other sulphur springs in the area. San Antonio made a big “splash” in the resort business for almost two decades. Eventually he sold the property to the Harlandale Independent School District (Harlandale ISD).
Part of the sulphurous public pool which once belonged to Terrell Wells Hotel was still being used by the physical education department of the McCollum High School in 1965. According to Superintendent John Gonders, the original hole of the old sulphur pool was used, but re-enforcement, new sides and tile were added. (Ref: San Antonio Express, Page 78, Sunday, October 31, 1965)
The original bath house near Morrill School at one time housed Sunset Studios, a motion picture studio. The wells at McCollum High School and Morrill School were later capped. Although the wells at both schools were capped, pressure still has a tendency to build up. The gas would build up and spew at intervals. The Morrill School well also builds up and the pressure released every so often. (Ref: San Antonio Express, Page 78, Sunday, October 31, 1965)
The houses belonging to Terrell Wells Hotel were put up for sale in the San Antonio Evening Newspaper in 1922. The hotel had their own private telephone line and water for each room (Ref: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/39277332/)
The real reason Terrell Wells Hotel was put up for sale in the San Antonio Evening Newspaper is because the owner’s health was failing. J. M. Allardyce had been deteriorating to due to poor health conditions at the time. (Ref: https://books.google.com/books?id=ld5LAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA11-PA58&lpg=RA11-PA58&dq=%22Terrell+Wells+Hotel%22&source=bl)
Terrell Wells Hotel was located somewhere on South Flores Road in San Antonio, Texas, US.
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