Since 1896, generations of American families have made the winter journey across the country and through the expansive landscape of the Sonoran Desert to reach an oasis nestled in the Bradshaw Mountains: Castle Hot Springs. The story of Castle Hot Springs‘ history started centuries ago when indigenous people native to Arizona would travel to the springs for medicinal purposes, and it was Arizona entrepreneur Frank M. Murphy who transformed the springs into a wellness destination for American families. Of a long line of enterprising Arizonans called upon to preserve this piece of American history, Murphy was the first.
In its more than century of existence, Castle Hot Springs’ history has welcomed scions of influential American families, politicians, presidents and world renowned artists to its magical waters, as outlined in the Rocky Mountain Emmy® award-winning historical documentary Castle Hot Springs: Oasis of Time.
Titans of Industry
Though it first opened as a wellness resort for those with health difficulties that were remedied by spending time in its natural hot springs pools and the dry, Arizona air, by the early 20th century Castle Hot Springs established itself as a favorite winter destination for some of America’s industrial families. The Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, Astors, Cabots and Pews all journeyed from their homes in America’s cities to spend the winter in the desert sun.
Alberta “Bertie” Pew, wife of oil scion Joseph N. Pew Jr, was one of Castle Hot Springs’ most loyal guests. Starting in 1908, she spent 60 consecutive winters at the springs.
Decades later, the children and grandchildren of those original families continued to return to the springs for a winter rest. The families behind Procter & Gamble, Schlitz Beer and Ford returned season after season. Richard “Red” Deupree, then-chairman of P&G, was a repeat guest at Castle Hot Springs who wrote in a letter to the resort’s staff “After a visit when I’m back to my desk, I feel fit and completely refreshed. I feel like a new person and look forward to being with you again.”
Aerospace industrialist Franz Talley, owner of the Arizona Biltmore, eventually purchased Castle Hot Springs with his wife Mae Sue. Their son Steven Talley describes how his father relaxed when they visited the property. The two of them would have long conversations under the stars while soaking in the springs. “It was a wonderful time for the two of us to connect,” Talley says.
Political Power Players
Family connections to the resort span beyond industrialists to powerful political dynasties as well. Arizona territorial governor Richard E. Sloan, a friend of Teddy Roosevelt and William Howard Taft, enjoyed celebrating the Christmas holidays at Castle Hot Springs. Now, his great-great-grandson Ian Beger is an agronomist who runs the property’s three-acre farm.
Perhaps the resort’s most famous political guest is John F. Kennedy. During World War II, with curtailed travel, the government leased Castle Hot Springs so wounded and battle-worn serivemen could recover and relax there. After the destruction of his PT boat in the South Pacific, JFK famously spent the winter of 1945 recuperating at Castle Hot Springs.
Storied American Creatives
Castle Hot Springs’ therapeutic waters drew illustrious guests. However, its beauty made it a favorite destination for artists, filmmakers and writers as well.
When American painter Maxfield Parrish was afflicted with tuberculosis in 1902, he spent the winter recovering at Castle Hot Springs. He had been hired to illustrate a magazine series on the American frontier. It was the vastness of the Bradshaw Mountains that inspired the skies in his famous depictions of the West.
Years later, the Great Depression limited the number of guests traveling to the resort, but Hollywood legend Cecil B. DeMille famously used its grounds to house his cast and crew while filming the 1914 Western drama The Squaw Man.
Paintings such as Parrish’s and films such as DeMille’s ignited Americans’ fascination with Arizona, its history and its beauty. Castle Hot Springs, which once felt like a hidden gem, was now a dream destination for thousands of Americans.
Trains, stagecoaches, busses and now planes and cars bring legacy guests to Castle Hot Springs decades after their families first visited the oasis. But no matter how guests arrive, the feeling remains the same. “It’s as though you’ve come through a kind of sacred journey or mythological passage to another realm, where time is very different, where history is very different, where the way you experience life and the world is very different,” Steven Talley says.