A postcard view of the Hot Wells Lodges and Trailer Park, mailed in 1952. In 1954 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers straightened and channelized all of the San Antonio River between downtown and Loop 410, eliminating the river bend shown here that cradled the site's pastoral parklands. In 1974, the porcelain tubs were still in location in the deserted personal bathrooms, and a charred section of the old hotel was still noticeable.
Jones operated The Flame Room up until 1977, and the contents of the old bathhouse were auctioned off in August of that year. Mr. Jones revealed a willingness to offer the property to anybody who would recondition and restore it, and Mayor Lila Cockrell supported including it in plans to revitalize and improve the Objective Parkway corridor that ranges from downtown to Mission Espada, past all five San Antonio objectives.
In 1979 Kathryn Scheer bought the property with visions of turning it into a holistic health care center. Another Point of View invested 15 years trying to find investors without any success. In 1988 lightning struck the spa's tower, triggering a fire that gutted the structure. Scheer lost the home to the county in 1994 due to the fact that of unsettled back taxes.
The summary of what seemed a brick foundation wall had actually been recorded in 1984, and archaeologists conjectured it may have been a railroad station. When trenching associated to a 1990 wastewater enhancements project intersected the structure, archaeologists were on hand to glean more details. They kept in mind the brick patterning was precisely the exact same as the Hot Wells bath home, the floor of the structure sloped, and there was a noticeable water line.
On October 20, 1997 a fire triggered by arson damaged the belly of the bath home and made it appear more not likely the hotel might ever be brought back. But some citizens never lost wish for the location. Mike Lance, President of the San Jose Development Corporation, and other neighborhood activists sought permission from the Commissioner's Court to prepare prepare for the area.