Some believe she still occupies the corner suite. They sense her presence. They smell her perfume near the room she once occupied before her suicide many years before. She still lingers. She, and others who call the Baker hotel in Mineral Wells, their eternal home.

Once a very lavish hotel, the huge Baker was the site of many wonderful times. Set in the backdrop of the bustling early twentieth century, the Baker was a reflection of all that America was. The hotel, born at the beginning of the great depression, survived the financial hardships of the era to witness the greatest war mankind has ever seen.

Becoming one of the states most lavish resorts, the Baker built a magnificent reputation that attracted people from all walks of life for one reason or another. 

One may find the history of the grand old hotel very interesting. That history could well be a key to some of its permanent guests.

In 1877, a man by the name of James A. Lynch came to Palo Pinto County from his previous home near Denison, Texas on the Red River. Upon arrival to the Palo Pinto hills he ran into a bit of bad luck. Both of his oxen died. This put the Lynchs in a pickle because they had to haul water from the Brazos River, eight miles to the west, to their home in the valley about 45 miles west of Fort Worth.

Mr. Lynch decided to dig a well on his property to put an end to his water needs and employed a traveling well digger to do the job. Soon he had bonofied water well in his yard but was disappointed to discover that the water from his well had a foul odor and thought to be undrinkable. In time; however, Mrs. Lynch, who suffered from severe arthritis began drinking the water. Soon, signs of her illness had completely disappeared.

Word, of course, soon got out about the curing waters on the Lynch place and people began to arrive to sample a drink of this foul water. Mr. Lynch realized he had just discovered a liquid gold mine. Before long more wells were dug in the area bringing more and more people. Soon the town was given the name Ednaville but shortly after changed to Mineral Wells as hordes of people flocked there to drink and bathe in the healing mineral water. By 1910, Mineral Wells was considered a national health spa.