Friends of the Wells logo

Missouri’s Healing Springs by Loring Bullard
PDF Download

America’s Haven of Health: Hydrotherapy and tourism at Excelsior Springs, Missouri, USA by Daniel E. Pierce, Anthony P. Farace, and Dana M. Lewis
PDF Download

Digging into the Dig: Daniel Pierce talks archaeology summer field school in Excelsior Springs – UMSL Daily – June 20, 2016
https://blogs.umsl.edu/news/2016/06/20/field-school/

Samantha Brown’s Places to Love: Chattanooga
Samantha Brown’s episode (on PBS Passport Video if you have access) on Chattanooga, Tennessee relates very well to your situation in Excelsior Springs. The community began its visioning efforts with a clear focus upon its relationship to the Tennessee River and has literally built its international reputation as a World Habitat City upon the river’s restoration and revitalization. I had the opportunity to research and report on Chattanooga back in 1997 during a sabbatical year, and it is indeed a place to love…
https://pbs.org/video/chattanooga-tennessee-bOgaDZ?source=social

Mineral Springs Walking Tours & Tasting Experiences in Manitou Springs

There is also a brief segment of the Manitou Springs walking tour on Samantha Brown’s Places to Love show about Colorado Springs, CO.
https://manitousprings.org/mineral-spring-water/

The Gold Standard
Hot Springs, Arkansas | Hot Springs National Park Arkansas
https://hotsprings.org/

Chattanooga, Springfield transformed eyesores through visioning | Local | columbiamissourian.com
https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/local/chattanooga-springfield-transformed-eyesores-through-visioning/article_4bd79017-aafa-5b64-a081-52dcfb52c0d8.html

Cultural Heritage Tourism as Lifelong Learning
Definitely a niche market, but a crucial one for communities like yours. The former Elderhostel program, now called Roads Scholars, exemplifies this approach…
https://www.nextavenue.org/taking-the-road-slow-traveled/

Water Quality as Economic Development Opportunity
The thought has occurred to me many times over the years that Excelsior Springs, with its critical mass of downtown development, offers an excellent opportunity to create a hub for basic and applied research about water and water quality while simultaneously fostering renewed interest in your historic buildings. This EPA report contains quite a few interesting case studies of communities that have pursued so-called ‘green infrastructure’ projects.
https://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/smart-growth-and-water

Another Perspective on Excelsior Springs’ Heritage
The World Is Running Out of Fresh Water Fast – Mother Jones
https://apple.news/AZqpVjDPeTMazEX1wwSs16A

A Potentially Valuable Resource for Excelsior Springs
A good friend of mine who now lives in Colorado always takes considerable interest in my upcoming cultural heritage workshops, and he mentioned the mineral springs at Glenwood Springs, CO. In addition to its enormity, Glenwood Springs also benefits from its Rocky Mountain setting between Vail and Aspen. So what can the flatlanders (as my friend calls us) in Excelsior Springs learn from such a place? After exploring a bit further to discover who Glenwood Springs does hang with, I discovered this organization and its website. I have not conducted any due diligence on the Balneology Association (I will leave that task to you), but even a shallow dive into its website yielded some interesting case studies and (potential) resources for Excelsior Springs. FWIW I also noted that the Association does not have a midwestern location in a revitalizing historic spa town close to a major metropolitan region with a major university and medical center…
https://www.balneology.org/what-we-do

The Geothermal Greenhouse Partnership
Here’s another innovative application of mineral springs…
https://growingspaces.com/geothermal-greenhouse-partnership/

NCEI Geothermal Database – Thermal Springs in the United States Viewer – NOAA Data Catalog
https://data.noaa.gov/dataset/dataset/ncei-geothermal-database1/resource/6bda788c-d7ee-4355-998c-8bb75c33d8fa

Researchers That Develop Water Treatment that ‘Forever Chemicals’ for Good
Might (or might not) complement cultural heritage restoration/renovation efforts in Excelsior Springs, or at least interest MU researchers at the new Aquatic Institute…
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/researchers-develop-water-treatment-that-zaps-forever-chemicals-for-good/

Signs of Life in a Ghost Town; New Admirers Rebuild a Mineral-Spring Retreat – The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2000/08/26/nyregion/signs-of-life-in-a-ghost-town-new-admirers-rebuild-a-mineral-spring-retreat.html

The Rise of Innovation Districts
https://www.brookings.edu/essay/rise-of-innovation-districts/

The Rejuvenating Power of Mineral Springs – Indiana Landmarks
https://www.indianalandmarks.org/2017/12/martinsville-mineral-springs-restored-landmarks/

Mineral springs in Peoria, Illinois, an ancient, underground water source
https://www.pjstar.com/story/news/history/2023/03/09/mineral-springs-in-peoria-illinois-an-ancient-underground-water-source/69929043007/

Mineral Springs Walking Tours & Tasting Experiences in Manitou Springs
Sent to me from my friend in Colorado…

https://manitousprings.org/mineral-spring-water/

We Are Water MN – Minnesota Humanities Center
An interesting resource for deepening the human connections to our water from my former state of Minnesota.
https://www.mnhum.org/program/we-are-water-mn/

Scroll to Top