Located on an old salt well, Fritzlar Mineral Springs opened in 1894 after Dr. William Cluthe, a prominent physician, acquired the property. It was used for decades as a health spa, as well as for swimming and other recreational purposes. The salt pool was located on Buchanan Road in the Mount Auburn area, just west of Pigeon Creek on the city’s west side, where some families were building homes to escape the summer heat. The old pool in the foreground of this image was replaced in 1900 by the new one at the top of the hill, which maintained a comfortable temperature of 74 degrees. Even though the city began to open public pools in the early twentieth-century, the salt pool did not close until 1937, when the water unexpectedly ran dry.
