Crescent Hotel (Eureka Springs, Arkansas)

The Crescent Hotel is a historic hotel at 75 Prospect Avenue in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. It is billed as "America's most haunted hotel" and offers a ghost tour for a fee.[1] The 1886 Crescent Hotel & Spa is a member of Historic Hotels of America, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.[2]

Crescent Hotel, Eureka Springs, Arkansas, circa 1886

History

The Crescent Hotel was built in 1886 as a resort for the rich and famous, but quickly became unmanageable and fell into disrepair. In 1908, it was reopened as the Crescent College and Conservatory for Young Women. This institution closed down in 1924, and then opened again in 1930 as a junior college. After the college closed in 1934, the Crescent was leased as a summer hotel.

In 1937, it got a new owner, Norman G. Baker, who turned the place into a hospital and health resort. Baker, a millionaire inventor and radio personality, styled himself as a doctor, despite having had no medical training. He claimed to have discovered a number of "cures" for various ailments, including cancer, and launched frequent attacks on organized medicine, which he accused of being corrupt and profit-driven.[3]

Crescent Hotel in 2014

Having been run out of Iowa for practicing medicine without a license, Baker moved his cancer patients to Arkansas and advertised his new health resort at the Crescent. His "cure" consisted primarily of drinking the area's natural spring water. In 1940, federal charges were filed against Baker for mail fraud and he spent four years in prison.[3] The Crescent Hotel was left ownerless until 1946. In the spring of 1946, the Crescent Hotel was purchased by John R. Constantine, Herbert E. Shutter, Herbert Byfield, and Dwight Nichols. On March 15, 1967, the hotel was nearly burned to the ground. The only living owner at this time was Dwight Nichols.

In 1997, Marty and Elise Roenigk purchased the Crescent Hotel for $1.3 million.[4] They oversaw a six-year restoration and renovation of the hotel rooms.[1] Marty Roenigk died in a car crash in 2009; Elise Roenigk remains the hotel's current owner.[5]

The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.

See also

References
  1. Uhlenbrock, Tom (November 8, 2008). "Hotelier and preservationist Roenigk dies in Iowa crash". Lovely County Citizen. Archived from the original on April 25, 2014.
  2. "1886 Crescent Hotel & Spa, a Historic Hotels of America member". Historic Hotels of America. Retrieved January 20, 2014. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. Spence, Stephen. "Pure Hoax: The Norman Baker Story". The Crescent Hotel. Archived from the original on November 21, 2010. Retrieved March 26, 2013.
  4. Lee, Don (June 30, 2009). "Welcome to the 1886 Crescent Hotel and Spa, America's most haunted hotel". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Eureka Springs, Arkansas.
  5. Dupy, Jerry; Long, E. Alan (November 15, 2009). "Band Organ Aficionado Martin Roenigk, (1941-2009)". The Carousel News & Trader.
  6. "Ghost Hunters (TV series)". SciFi Channel. Season 2. Episode 213. 2005-10-19.
  7. Hawes, Jason; Wilson, Grant; Friedman, Michael Jan (2007). "Horror Hotel June 2005". Ghost Hunting: True Stories of Unexplained Phenomena from The Atlantic Paranormal Society. New York: Pocket Books. pp. 208–214. ISBN 978-1-4165-4113-4. LCCN 2007016062.

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