Since Excelsior Springs’ inception in the 1880s, water has been the community’s foundation, yet no other water bubbles like sodium bicarbonate, better known as soda water.
Excelsior was home to 11 soda wells, all containing salt that breaks down over time to form sodium bicarbonate in the water. According to Webmd.com, this water becomes alkalized and can act as a natural alka-seltzer, neutralizing acid in a person’s body and giving it a bubbling appeal to those who seek its medicinal purposes.
One of the earliest discovered soda wells in Excelsior Springs was founded in the early 1900s, the Seltzer Salt Soda Spring, located at 334 E. Foley Street. It was noted through the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) that the well was discovered by Mr. and Mrs. J.E. Stollings containing high amounts of calcium (calcic) bicarbonate, sodium bicarbonate, and sodium chloride, making the water both bubbly and seemingly salty to taste.
The water itself was claimed to be useful for fevers, rheumatism, gout, diabetes, and stomach and intestinal problems for those seeking its healing abilities. Dennis Hartman, a local research writer and friend of the Wells Committee member, said the main use of soda water was for those with indigestion, biliousness, and other intestinal troubles. Similarly, people today add baking soda to their drinking water which makes the same sodium bicarbonate that once spouted from the ground to relieve heartburn and sour stomach.
The claims of the water’s powerful effects drew many visitors to the area as the newspapers in the 1900s claimed the town’s booming health resorts and medicinal water was better than anywhere else. In May of 1904, the Excelsior Springs Standard reported that the town “has more visitors today than Manitou and just as many as Hot Springs. She is curing more diseases with her matchless waters than any six health resorts in the United States. We have the laxative, the ant-acid, the lithiated, and the ferruginous, where in any locality could you find the waters of any six well-known health resorts together that would make a combination equal to ours?”
By 1915, at the start of the First World War, word was spreading fast that the town’s mineral water, with its medicinal properties, had relieved those seeking cures. Yet the sodium bicarbonate water, as well as its properties from the calcic bicarbonate water, became a business venture, as the water was used to create the world-famous Soterian Ginger Ale.
The Ginger Ale was made and bottled locally, winning awards at the 1893 and 1904 World Fairs making the sodium bicarbonate water even more fascinating to those seeking a taste. As for the recipe, it was only known by three men, the last of which, Charles Fish passed away before the recipe could be handed down to future generations, making the drink not only world famous but an eventual distant memory.
- The Excelsior Soda and Hiawatha Spring is located at 101 Linden Avenue.
- The Link Soda Spring is located at 200 East Excelsior Street.
- The Lithiated Soda Spring is Located at 302 West Excelsior Street.
- Natrona Soda Spring, located at 402 East Excelsior Street
- Soda Carbonic Spring, better known as Grant’s Spring located at 424 East Broadway Avenue
- Jones Soda Spring, located at 421 East Excelsior Street
- Mee Soda Spring, located at 304 East Excelsior Street
- Muriated Soda Spring, located at 321 East Foley Street
- Soterian Spring, located west of 703 South Kansas City Avenue
- Seltzer Salt Soda Spring, located at 334 E. Foley Street
Although the water lay underneath the surface, the bubbling vibrance of Excelsior History can still be preserved for generations to come. For those interested in learning more about the wells and the restoration efforts, visit friendsofthewells.org or stop by the Museum and Archives located at 101 East Broadway Avenue.
If you appreciate the value our local journalism brings to the community, please consider making a recurring contribution to the Excelsior Citizen!
