Sweet Springs Historic District

The small farming community around present-day Sweet Springs became a destination for leisure travelers during the late 1800s due to its proximity to spring water and the growing popularity of vacations centered on health and outdoor activity at that time. The creation of the Sweet Springs Health Resort and the arrival of the railroad in 1872 led to a construction boom for downtown Sweet Springs, which now serves as the community's historic district. Some of the buildings in the district were constructed a few decades later, as part of a plan to make Sweet Springs a center for shopping. However, that grand plan for development was later abandoned as the late 19th-century enthusiasm for "taking the waters" from health resorts adjacent to mineral springs declined. The buildings survive as a reminder of a time when railroads, spas, and grand urban plans led to the development of a bustling downtown area.

Many of the buildings that are now part of Sweet Spring's historic district were built in the late nineteenth century as the arrival of the railroad coincided with renewed interest in health spas centered around natural springs. Middle and upper-class families traveled to Sweet Springs to enjoy the nearby spring waters and the resort that served tourists. A slow decline in preference for this kind of vacation after the turn of the century inspired an effort to respond by developing Sweet Springs into a destination for shopping. With the growth of shopping districts in nearby major cities like Kansas City, the community's trajectory of growth did not continue despite efforts from local business leaders.  

After centuries of Native American communities utilizing this area, Sweet Springs's first settlers of European and African descent arrived in 1818. In that year, Kentuckians such as Edward Reavis established a claim and settled with his family and the people he held in slavery. It is believed that Kentuckian Stephen G. Wentworth platted the original town of Brownsville in 1838. Brownsville grew slowly, reaching a population of a few hundred by 1860. The arrival of the railroad after the Civil War helped the town grow further and faster. Although the Pacific Railroad ran several miles south of Brownsville, a branch line of the Lexington & St. Louis Railroad arrived in Brownsville in 1872. The railroad arrival led to the development of numerous businesses, banks, churches, and schools, as well as the expansion of farms in the town's hinterlands; nearly 2,000 railroad cars of corn, the region's primary crop, were shipped from Brownsville in 1875. In 1887, with a population of 1,168, Brownsville was renamed Sweet Springs to capitalize on the growing popularity of a similarly-named health resort just south of the city limits. 

Sweet Springs matured in the 1880s and 1890s as the host community for the Sweet Springs Health Resort, which capitalized on the health reform movement of the late nineteenth century. The resort featured springs that were believed to possess medicinal value. People claimed the springs cured diabetes, dyspepsia, cholera, various stomach illnesses, kidney and bladder diseases, and even paralysis. On summer weekends, special trains transported resort visitors from St.Louis and Kansas City. Many stayed at the City Hotel in downtown Sweet Springs as it provided guests special bus transportation to the resort, which offered visitors access to the spring waters (swimming or boating) as well as bowling, riding, and dancing. 

By the 1890s, however, with business at the local health resort dwindling, the owners made a dramatic conversion and the Sweet Springs Health Resort became Marmaduke Military Academy. The resort hotel, newly modernized, became the barracks during the school year and was used by resort visitors during summers. This arrangement lasted five years until the barracks/hotel was destroyed by fire on March 1, 1896. When these facilities were not rebuilt, the city's possibilities for continued growth and development appeared murky as the century turned. Construction in the historic district during the first decade of the 1900s came to a standstill. But, a building boom arrived around 1910 in association with a plan to build a shopping center that would draw people from nearby cities to the town. The plan largely failed. Sweet Springs remained a small town of roughly 1,100 people until the 1920s when it rose to nearly 1,650 by 1930. But, despite a few businesses moving into the town during the twentieth century, Sweet Springs never experienced much growth beyond that. Indeed, the Sweet Springs population has ranged between 1,400 and 1,600 since the 1930s. 

Although many of the structures built in the late nineteenth century are no longer standing, plenty have survived. The buildings that remain standing offer a glimpse into how the town looked when its prospects for growth appeared remarkably high. For instance, the Chemical Bank, which stands on the corner of Miller and Marshall streets, and the 1891-built City Hall at 310 S. Miller.  

Maserang, Roger. "Registration Form: Sweet Springs Historic District." National Register of Historic Places. mostateparks.com. 1997. https://mostateparks.com/sites/mostateparks/files/Sweet%20Springs%20HD.pdf.

--- --- ---. "Multiple Property Documentation Form: Historic and Architectural Resources of Sweet Springs, Saline County, MO." mostateparks.com. 1997. https://mostateparks.com/sites/mostateparks/files/Historic%20and%20Architectural%20Resources%20of%20Sweet%20Springs%2C%20Saline%20County.pdf.