Excelsior Springs

Excelsior Springs exists because of a well. In 1880, a local farmer noticed the iron-rich spring water on his property seemed to have healing properties, word spread, and within a couple of decades the town had become a full-blown health resort, drawing visitors — reportedly including presidents and gangsters alike — who came to drink and bathe in the mineral waters. Lia found the whole premise a little absurd until we actually tasted the water ourselves and she admitted, grudgingly, that it did taste like something rather than nothing.

The Hall of Waters

The centerpiece of downtown is the Hall of Waters, a striking Art Deco building completed in 1937 that stretches most of a city block, built during the town’s spa-culture peak to house bathhouses, a soda fountain, and a mineral water bar. Much of the building has been repurposed for city offices today, but the original water bar still operates, with taps labeled by mineral type — iron, soda, and a few others we couldn’t quite place — dispensing water pulled from the same springs that built the town. The terrazzo floors and chrome fixtures inside felt genuinely transporting, like walking into a 1930s ocean liner.

Downtown and the old resort hotels

A few blocks from the Hall of Waters, downtown Excelsior Springs still has the bones of its resort-town heyday — brick storefronts, a restored vaudeville theater, and in the distance, the towering silhouette of the old Elms Hotel, a grand 1912 resort that once hosted the likes of Harry Truman and, according to local lore, occasional Kansas City mob figures looking for a quiet weekend. The town has clearly seen busier decades, but the slower pace now suited us fine after a week of bigger cities.

Getting There

Excelsior Springs is about thirty-five minutes northeast of Kansas City via Route 69, with Kansas City International (MCI) the closest airport. A car is necessary — there’s no transit connection from Kansas City, though it makes an easy half-day addition to a KC-based trip.