Sharon Elaine Crisman

Around Cambridge Springs Sharon Elaine Crisman

In 1903, Cambridge Springs was described in Cutter's Guide as "the Great Health and Pleasure Resort of Pennsylvania." Located in northwestern Pennsylvania on the banks of French Creek, it fell halfway between Chicago and New York City on the Erie Railroad. From the promotion of the mineral springs in 1884, this town of some six hundred people grew into a luxurious vacation spot that included accommodations such as the Riverside Hotel, the Rider Hotel, the New Cambridge Hotel (now the Bartlett), and more than forty other hotels and cottages. Around Cambridge Springs not only celebrates this town's golden age of resorts and affluence but also remembers the people, such as W. A. Baird Jr.; the places, such as Alliance College; and the events, such as the devastating fires of 1897 and 1931, that have shaped this community over the last two hundred years.