Mineral Wells was founded in 1877 by J.A. Lynch, a settler who reportedly recovered from rheumatism after drinking the foul-tasting but apparently healthful water from a well there. As news spread, hundreds came to take the waters, and a boom town quickly developed. Its commercial slogan, "Crazy," grew from a reputed cure of insanity at the "Crazy Woman Well." Although the water's curative value was likely due to dissolved epsom and glauber salts, remarkable healing powers were widely attributed to it, and for years Mineral Wells was Texas's leading health spa.