Wootan Wells was a famous early health spa and resort. The first well was dug in 1878 by landowner Francis Wootan. The water tasted good but turned dishes yellow and clothes red, yet it seemed to possess amazing curative properties. Wootan soon built a hotel, and in 1879 a resort town made its debut. He formed a promotion company with T.W. Wade, and more hotels, a bottling works, dance pavilion, and school sprang up. Leading socialites came for miles to take the waters. Disaster struck in 1915 when fire swept the town, and in 1921 the last buildings also burned.