Cowlesville, located in a valley along Clinton Street in the Town of Bennington, was settled beginning in 1818 with the construction of a grist mill. By the end of the Civil War, it was a bustling village with two churches, a school, cheese factory, wagon makers, doctors, etc. And, in the spring of 1865, enterprising villagers determined to investigate the oily substance that appeared in creeks and springs with hopes that it could indicate a lucrative source of petroleum underground. A group of investors drilled a well on the property of William Franklin's saw mill. At 320 feet, they struck water and gas, but continued to drill until they reached 750 feet. No oil was found and the well, which was discharging water and gas, was abandoned until William Franklin collected the gas and used it to light his house.

Individuals consumed the water from the well which was determined to consist of carbonate of soda, lime, calcium, and magnesium, plus bromides of various substances. People began to comment about its restorative properties and William Franklin decided to capitalize on his asset. He named it the Franklin Mineral Spring and in 1871 constructed a hotel at 164 Clinton on the site of a tannery built in 1837. He installed gas piping and used his well's gas to light the hotel and heat the spring's water for medicinal baths. The first floor was for bathing in the waters, the second floor for rooms that could accomodate sixty persons, and the third floor held a ballroom. Two stages each day brought patrons from the railroad stations.

William Franklin died three years after he opened his hotel; his widow carried on but by 1890, when she sold the hotel, it was in the rundown condition pictured below. The center of curative waters had shifted to Alden with its Black Water Baths (see Heritage Magazine, Spring 2002).

The Franklin Hotel in its last decades.

In 1912, the William Simon Brewery purchased the hotel and demolished it, constructing the building above, which is in use in 2010.

After the end of Prohibition, Eli and William Wahr purchased the business and ran it from 1935 until 1967 as Wahr's Hotel.

Wahr's Hotel around 1960.

2009 View
The building has been continuously occupied since its construction. Between 1967 and 1978, it was the Cowlesville Inn. Since 1978, Al and Marynn Koziol have operated the business as the Pine Lounge, serving home-style foods and specializing in Polish cuisine.

The well that William Franklin owned is still discharging mineral-rich water every 90 days, just as it did in 1865.

Special thanks for assistance with this pictorial go to Mike Mohun, Town of Bennington Historian and to
Bennington Historical Society (200 Clinton Street) volunteers Marge Winney, Lisa Van Son, and Joanna Mitchell.
All images above except the modern photo are used with the kind permission of the Bennington Historical Society.