Hotel Mudlavia


Hotel Mudlavia was a hotel and spa built on the site of a natural spring near the town of Kramer in Warren County, Indiana, USA. The spring was discovered by Samuel Story, a Civil War soldier who, in August 1884, was reputed to have been working in the mud digging a drainage ditch. He drank water from the spring and discovered that his rheumatism symptoms gradually disappeared.
Harry L. Kramer developed the concept and opened the beautiful hotel on December 25, 1890, at a cost of $250,000. It served guests for many years and drew visitors from around the world including such famous people as John L. Sullivan, James Bingham, James Whitcomb Riley, Harry Lauder, Captain Jack Crawford and Paul Dresser. The building was destroyed by fire on February 29, 1920.
A smaller building was constructed and was operated as a rest home and later a restaurant called "Pleasant Valley Lodge". After Pleasant Valley Lodge closed, another returned the building to its original name of Mudlavia Lodge and operated until it burned in 1974.
Later, water from the springs was bottled and sold by the Indianapolis-based Cameron Springs company, which was acquired by the Perrier Group of America in 2000 for about $10.5 million. In 2008, the water was still being sold and was marketed under a variety of names.