The Mountain Springs Hotel is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

and is located in

Ephrata, Pennsylvania Ephrata ( ; Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Effridaa'') is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located east of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Harrisburg and about west-northwest ...

, at the corner of

East Main Street The Main Street Tunnel, located in Welland, Ontario, Canada, is an underwater tunnel, carrying Niagara Road 27 and the unsigned designation of Highway 7146 under the Welland Canal. It is named as a part of East Main Street. The structure was bui ...

and Spring Garden Street. It was originally built in 1848 as a summer resort, capitalizing on its natural

spring water A spring is a point of exit at which groundwater from an aquifer flows out on top of Earth's crust (pedosphere) and becomes surface water. It is a component of the hydrosphere. Springs have long been important for humans as a source of fresh w ...

, and hosted a variety of high-profile guests including several

Presidents President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

. The resort lost its popularity in the early 20th century and fell into disrepair, but was eventually purchased and converted into the first hospital in the Ephrata area—serving from 1937 through 1949. It remained under private ownership and became dilapidated over the following decades, culminating in its complete closure in 1988 and the auctioning of its contents in 1991. The following decade was met with a variety of redevelopment proposals, and in the years around the turn of the 21st century it was decided that the property would be redeveloped with another hotel. The majority of the Mountain Springs Hotel was demolished in 2004, retaining a portion of the Konigmacher mansion. Today, a

Hampton Inn Hampton by Hilton, formerly known (and still commonly referred to) as Hampton Inn or Hampton Inn & Suites, is an American chain of hotels trademarked by Hilton Worldwide. The Hampton hotel brand is a chain of moderately priced, budget to midscale ...

hotel and

Applebee's Applebee's Restaurants LLC. is an American company that develops, franchises, and operates the Applebee's Neighborhood Grill + Bar restaurant chain. The Applebee's concept focuses on casual dining, with mainstream American dishes such as salads ...

restaurant occupy the site alongside the restored building from the original Mountain Springs Hotel.

Hotel & spa resort

In 1848, Joseph Konigmacher, a

state Senator A state senator is a member of a state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. Description A state senator is a member of an upper house in the bicameral legislatures of 49 U ...

representing the area, built and established the Konigmacher Mansion as a summer resort facility. It was located at the edge of the Ephrata Ridge, above the center of town, along the turnpike leading toward Downingtown (modern

US 322 U.S. Route 322 (US 322) is a long, east–west United States Highway, traversing Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. The road is a spur of U.S. Route 22 and one of the original highways from 1926. A portion of it at one time was concurrent with ...

). At this location was a natural

mineral spring Mineral springs are naturally occurring springs that produces hard water, water that contains dissolved minerals. Salts, sulfur compounds, and gases are among the substances that can be dissolved in the spring water during its passage underg ...

which gave rise to a renowned spa. By 1860, the original farmstead had grown to a 400-room hotel containing a high observatory. Under the direction of Senator Konigmacher, the resort grew to become a popular getaway for residents of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, and

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, and included visitors such as

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln ...

Grant Grant or Grants may refer to: Places *Grant County (disambiguation) Australia * Grant, Queensland, a locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia United Kingdom *Castle Grant United States * Grant, Alabama *Grant, Inyo County, C ...

, and Buchanan; and also

Thaddeus Stevens Thaddeus Stevens (April 4, 1792August 11, 1868) was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania, one of the leaders of the Radical Republican faction of the Republican Party during the 1860s. A fierce opponent of sla ...

. In its heyday, a trolley line connected the resort with the town's rail station further downhill. After the death of Joseph Konigmacher in 1861, the Mountains Springs Hotel continued to operate into the early 20th century, but was ultimately closed in the early 1900s. It remained in the hands of its sole owner Mr. D. S. Von Nieda.

Hospital

A spiritualist group named Camp Silver Belle met Mr. and Mrs. John Stephan, an Ephrata couple, in Florida during the 1930s. Together, the couple and the group bought what was to eventually become the Ephrata Park. This property was used for meetings, conferences, services, and vacations, until in 1935 the local

American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is a non-profit organization of U.S. war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militi ...

Post 429 bought the park property. Camp Silver Belle subsequently purchased the Mountain Springs Hotel property from the Von Neida family. By this point, the hotel had been closed for approximately 30 years and had entered a state of considerable disrepair. The area had been proposing tentative plans for a local hospital as early as 1918, as at the time the nearest hospitals were in Lancaster. On 20 June 1937, the Silver Belle group, in its publication ''Spiritual Truth'', announced that the Camp was establishing the Stephan Memorial Hospital on the property of the Mountain Springs Hotel. The facility was dedicated to the Stephans, who had since died. The new hospital was declared a

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

and was supervised by Mr. Henry Munch, with his wife as assistant and director of nursing. Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Von Nieda helped to operate the new hospital. At its dedication, the nursing staff consisted of Laura Shirk of Ephrata and Mary Einwechter of

Audubon, New Jersey Audubon is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Camden County, New Jersey, Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States census, 2010 U.S. census, the borough's population was 8,819, Nearly three years later, on 31 May 1940, the Court of Common Pleas in Lancaster granted a charter to the institution such that it would be named the Ephrata Community Hospital. The hospital provided a full range of services among its 16-bed facility, including surgery and x-rays. An ambulance was supplied and maintained by the American Legion Post 429 until approximately 1960. In a one-year period between May 1946 and May 1948, the hospital cared for 58 medical, 414 surgical, 280 obstetrical, and 267 newborn patients. Preceding this, in 1943, the Board recognized that a new, larger, and better-equipped hospital would be necessary, prompting a fundraising drive beginning in May 1943. By July 1947, a new site was chosen on Martin Street, in the Arlington neighborhood of Ephrata. Ground was broken began that year and in 1948, local judge Guy K. Bard presented an address at the ceremonial laying of the cornerstone. Construction continued until autumn 1949, when from 29 October through 6 November the hospital hosted an open house of the new facility; and on the 6th, the new hospital was officially unlocked by Burgess David E. Good and, along with Rev. Andre, performed the formal dedication. The first patient was moved in the following day, on 7 November 1949.

Disrepair

The hotel's site was added to the

on 2 March 1982. The hotel's site remained privately occupied until 1988, when the property was completely closed. Since the founding of the new Ephrata Community Hospital, the Mountain Springs facility fell into considerable disrepair, sprouting local legends and becoming known as the "

haunted house A haunted house, spook house or ghost house in ghostlore is a house or other building often perceived as being inhabited by disembodied spirits of the deceased who may have been former residents or were otherwise connected with the prope ...

" among local children. The contents of the hotel were sold at an on-site auction in 1991. Throughout the 1990s and into the early 2000s, a variety of reuse proposals were considered and rejected. A July 1992 proposal planned to subdivide of the property for redevelopment, to reuse the frame hotel building, but to demolish some of the oldest structures on the property.

Modern Hotel

In December 1999, the Ephrata Economic Development Corporation (EEDC) received a grant from the Ephrata Borough facilitating the purchase of the Mountain Springs Hotel property. Local planning efforts within the community—including the Downtown Visioning Process of 2002—consistently identified the need to reestablish a hotel on the site, intended to serve as a focal point for the revitalization of the downtown area. Over the following years, the EEDC entered the property into the Keystone Opportunity Program run by the State, securing a $2.6 million Commonwealth Redevelopment Capital Assistance Program grant to create a hotel on the site. The majority of the Mountain Springs property was demolished in 2004, leaving only a portion of the Konigmacher mansion. Much of the property was cleared and regraded to make way for a new Hampton Inn hotel and an Applebee's restaurant. The remaining building was restored. The new hotel opened in 2005.

References

External links