*Post written by Mona Meyer, Archives and Special Collections Metadata Librarian
That quote is from Paul Harvey, ABC Radio News broadcaster, 1951-2008. It seems an appropriate title for this story about the man pictured to the right, Edward Ballard.
Charles Edward (Ed) Ballard was born in 1874 in a log cabin in Dubois County, IN, not too far from French Lick. He was the third of seven children, born into poverty. He only attended school through the fourth grade. “His first job was that of a spittoon-cleaner in a saloon in Paoli….. He was paid $3.50 per week.” (Turner, p. 16)
Not much of an auspicious beginning, was it? What he lacked in financial wherewithal, Ballard more than made up for with determination and moxie. He amassed quite a library for himself, being very well read as an adult and equally well spoken. He got a job in the bowling alley at the West Baden Springs Hotel, coming to the attention of then owner Col. Lee Sinclair, who mentored Ballard. In 1896 he invited Ballard to manage the resort’s casino.
Quick history of the hotel: it was built as a rustic inn in 1855 and improved and upgraded by the Sinclair family. That facility burned to the ground in 1901. Sinclair built the new and improved facility, including the large dome, reopening in 1902. It closed in 1932 and fell into disrepair over the decades, coming close to complete collapse. What is seen below is a 2024 image of the massive 1996-2007 restoration.
Back to Ballard! He owned the Dead Rat Saloon directly across the street from the hotel, where “guests frequented the saloon as the hotel did not serve alcohol. The Dead Rat also helped Ballard establish a large clientele of gamblers to raise capital. Soon, Ballard expanded into purchasing real estate and creating new businesses.” For a boy from a poor family with only a 4th grade education, he was a millionaire before he turned 30! In 1923 he owned the West Baden Springs Hotel outright.
His business interests were not limited to the hospitality industry. The Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus (as well know at that time as Ringling Bros.) had its winter quarters in the area between West Baden and French Lick, IN. By 1915 Ballard had acquired this circus, eventually owning every major U.S. circus with the exception of Ringling. Winter quarters was like a small city—circus railroad cars were parked nearby, nearly all the many animals were housed there, all those wagons that make up a circus parade were kept there, in addition to all the maintenance equipment and workers and circus personnel. The 1915 construction of these winter quarters cost $70,000 at the time, an equivalent of $2,201,680.20 in 2025. “Local residents could watch the circus performers and animals practicing their acts. Circus animals were put to work at the hotels during the winter — such as an elephant that helped move a steam shovel on the golf course.”
Ballard went a step further. For 7 months during 1918-1919 the hotel served as a U.S. Army hospital for recovering WWI soldiers. On December 25, 1918 a special circus performance was put on for the convalescing soldiers….and it was held in the atrium! “To accommodate the jumping, running, leaping and romping of the animal performers — five lions, four elephants, a large white horse just to name a few — a ring of sawdust and wood chips was placed on the floor so the marble tiles wouldn’t be damaged. And not all the animals fit through the atrium entranceway with ease. It’s believed the elephants may have had to walk on their knees to gain enough clearance to squeeze through the doors.”
The Depression was not kind to either the hotel or circus industries. In 1929 Ballard sold all his circus interests to John Ringling….and his timing was impeccable as this was mere weeks before the stock market crash. The hotel closed in 1932. Unable to find a buyer, Ballard gifted it to the Jesuits for $1 in 1934.
A mere two years later, Ballard died in a hotel room in Hot Springs, Arkansas. “Silver Bob” Alexander shot him over a dispute about a gambling club in which they had both been involved. Ballard sold the club and Alexander believed he was owed a share of the sale. The funeral was held in the beautiful West Baden Springs atrium.
Ballard came a long way in his 62 years on earth, only to come to an end that made the national news. His care of West Baden Springs hotel, both when he owned it and in entrusting it to the Jesuits, who also took good care of it, is credited at least in part to the viability of being able to restore it in late 1990s, enabling us to be able to enjoy it today!
Sources Consulted
Turner, M.J. A Stately Pleasure Dome. West Baden, Ind. : Northwood Institute of Indiana, 1974. UASC
F534.W4 T8
Vaughn, James M. The Dome in the Valley: The History and Rebirth of the West Baden Springs Hotel: The Comprehensive Narrative and Pictorial Guide of a National Historic Landmark and a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. Indianapolis, IN: James M. Vaughn; Holland, IN: Printed by Woods Printing Co., [2013], ©2008. UASC F534.W478 V384 2013
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