In about 1722, three mineral springs - one of iron, one of sulfur plus one of pure drinking water - were discovered at Yellow Springs, according to Roark, a historian.
Colonial doctors such as Benjamin Rush of Philadelphia endorsed these springs for their restorative powers. As a result, camping parties made their way to the springs. And in 1750, a road and modest inn were built to make the springs more accessible.
The idea of mineral springs for health and refreshment goes back to the ancient world. The waters at Bath, England, made famous in the novels of Jane Austen, date back to Roman England. In general, American mineral springs were much less developed than those in Europe. Other spas in the country that developed during about the same period as Yellow Springs included the springs at Gettysburg, Saratoga, and White Sulphur Springs.
In 1774, the springs and the inn were purchased by a local physician, Samuel Kennedy, who marketed the site so that it attracted hundreds of people during the summer. This development was cut short by the coming of the American Revolution. Kennedy in 1776 was commissioned as a surgeon in the Pennsylvania militia and offered the inn at Yellow Springs as a hospital for soldiers of the Continental Army.
"This hospital seems to be very neat and the sick comfortably provided for," said the Rev. James Sproat, Continental Army chaplain.
Kennedy died in 1778 while attending the sick and wounded, and the hospital was closed in 1781.
