Historic Photos of The Baker Hotel in Mineral Wells

Published June 19, 2019 • Updated on May 26, 2021 at 4:32 pm

Historic photos of The Baker Hotel in Mineral Wells shows the hotel during it's heyday.

34 photos

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Photo shows construction of the Baker Hotel.

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Rendering of the Baker Hotel's lobby.

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Rendering of a guest room at the Baker Hotel.

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Mineral Wells Index's Baker Hotel opening edition, November 29, 1929.

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T.B. Baker (1929) ~50 yrs old

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A brick road leading into Mineral Wells, the Baker Hotel can be seen on the horizon to the left of the road.

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1920s Mineral Wells, Texas

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Shown here is a panoramic View of Mineral Wells, Texas gaken from Welcome Mountain with the The Baker Hotel center.

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This picture, showing Baker Hotel and the First Methodist Church, was taken approximately in 1938.

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Will Rogers, humorist, actor, and columnist who "Never met a man I didn't like," visits Mineral Wells. Rogers (second from left--with light-colored suit--in the featured group of four) and Mayor Charlton Brown (third from left, next to Rogers) are recorded for posterity with other, as yet unidentified, local citizens and visitors on the front steps of the Baker Hotel. They appear under a banner that reads "Welcome to Mineral Wells - Where America Drinks Its Way to Health."

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Shown here is the main entrance to the Baker Hotel, which went directly into the hotel lobby. The hotel had twelve stories, of which all rooms were outside ones. They were reached by an elevator with the Baker Crest on it. The building was steam-heated, and hollow-tile partitions made each room quiet. There were no exterior fire escapes--just fire-proof stairwells. Note individuals on the veranda that are standing as well as sitting in deck chairs. Cars are parked on East Hubbard Street.

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An aerial view of Mineral Wells, Texas, taken by A. F. Weaver on April 29, 1967 looks North on Oak Avenue. Identifiable in the picture are the Baker Hotel to the middle right of the picture, The Crazy Hotel in the middle left, the old Post Office (now the Ladies Club) one block north of The Baker, and the Nazareth Hospital (one block left of The Crazy Hotel).

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Photo of the Baker Hotel's dining room.

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Shown here is a panoramic View of Mineral Wells, Texas gaken from Welcome Mountain with the The Baker Hotel center.

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Another dining room at the Baker Hotel.

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There were approximately 450 guest rooms in The Baker Hotel. However, most of them are small by today’s standards. This was the Baker Suite.

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A postcard sent to Ruby in Ohio by Herb, a guest at The Baker hotel.

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Earl Maynard Baker, the nephew of hotel tycoon T.B. Baker, ran two of the Baker hotels for most of his adult life. A website dedicated to The Life & Times of The Baker Hotel in Mineral Wells reports the woman in cheetah fur has been identified as Mr. Baker’s wife, Gladys.

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The Baker Hotel postcard

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Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow met in 1930 and reportedly stayed at The Baker Hotel. They began a two-year crime spree in 1932, robbing and killing their way across Texas and a handful of states to the north.

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A guest room at The Baker Hotel.

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Judy Garland mails a letter at the Mineral Wells Post Office (1943)

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This photograph presents a mystery. Ten ladies, dressed in 1920's-style fashion, stand on the steps of The Baker Hotel, holding bouquets of chrysanthemums; one lady has roses; a basket of flowers with a tulle ribbon stands in foreground.

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The spa at The Baker Hotel advertised the "electric cabinet" for weight loss, steam rooms and a salt rub.

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In the 1940’s, the general public denounced the magic of mineral water and moved on to other dubious health fads. Doctors also began prescribing the sun as a remedy for countless ailments, and the Baker was on the forefront of this trend.

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This photograph shows a guest room in The Baker Hotel, when it was operating. Note the corner sofa, shag carpet, round coffee-table. Please note also the smoking stand at one end of the sofa--an amenity not encountered in modern hotel rooms. The decor suggests the late 1950's or the early 1960's. It is said that the door of the room had an apparatus in it that automatically turned off the lights and the fan when the key was turned in it. The method used has not yet [2016] been fathomed.

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The Baker Hotel vintage art deco travel tourist luggage label.

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A vintage postcard of The Baker Hotel in Mineral Wells.

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1929 postcard shows The Baker Hotel in Mineral Wells.

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Panoramic photograph of Mineral Wells shows The Baker Hotel.

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Postcard depicting an aerial view of Mineral Wells, Texas.

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A drawing of The Baker Hotel.

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A vintage postcard shows the swimming pool at The Baker Hotel in Mineral Wells circa 1950.

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