Description: Blind Nellie was brought to Mineral Wells by a cowboy, who sold her at auction for a dollar and a half. She eventually came into the possession of Col. W.R. Austin, who used her to turn the wheel of the pump at the Austin Well. In that capacity, the horse became a tourist attraction. When she was retired, she continued to walk in circles in her pasture. She was given a ceremonial burial when she died in 1912, a burial attended by a large crowd of admirers. The story may be found on page 54 of "TIME WAS in Mineral Wells..." by A.F. Weaver. Written on the back of this photograph is "Blind Nellie at Austin Well located in the 900 block of N.E. 2nd Ave." This is a photograph of a newspaper clipping.

Description: Businesses are shown here at the southwest corner of West Hubbard Street and South Oak Avenue: The location of the original Colonial Hotel. (It was originally built in 1906 by J.T. Holt for his second wife who would not live in the country, and it was renamed the Damron Hotel about 1917 when Agnew and Bessie Damron traded a ranch for it. The hotel burned in 1975.) The small white building in the left middle foreground is a back view of Cole's House of Flowers (where Davidson's Hardware also burned in the Damron Hotel fire), next to it is Hill's Style Shoppe and Mineral Wells Office Supply. The vacant lot in the foreground is the location of the former Damron hotel. At the far left edge of the picture, to the east and across Oak Avenue, is Lynch Plaza which was built on the site of the former Oxford Hotel, that burned in 1983, along with the First National Bank. Lynch Plaza is named for J.A. Lynch, Mineral Wells' founder. who had a well drilled at this location in 1880, and discovered the source of mineral water that made Mineral Wells the most popular health spa in the nation at ...

Description: A legend on the photograph reads: "--Winter Scene-- --Shipping Star Well Water-- --From Min. Wells Texas--" The Star Well was located in the 200 block of NE 1st Avenue, across the street and north of where the Baker Hotel now [2008] stands. It was managed by Frank Richards, who purchased a block of land in the north part of Millsap Valley on which two wells were dug that proved to have an abundant supply of the very strongest mineral water. Mineral water was expensive to ship, so furnaces were built at the new location, pumps installed, and a modern evaporating plant built to produce hundreds of pounds of crystals annually. (The new well became known as the Pike Well.) Signs on the building claim that the water "Cures stomach trouble" as well as constipation, nervousnes [sic], insomnia, rheumatism, and female diseases." This picture can be found in "TIME WAS in Mineral Wells", First edition, on page 57.