10/07/2026
The Lineville Mineral Springs
J. H. Reger, a Union Soldier in the Civil War, came to an area just south of Lineville, IA in 1876. While drilling for coal in 1881 Reger went down 160 feet with a hand operated drill and struck a vein of water which proved to have medicinal qualities that he quickly capitalized on. He built a large hotel at a cost of about $6,000 and established a health resort called Reger Springs. It later became known as Lineville Mineral Springs. Located in Mercer County about 2 ½ miles south of Lineville the resort had a Lineville, IA address.
Soon people were traveling from all over the country to partake of the healing waters. A horse-drawn hack shuttled between the Mineral Springs Hotel and the Lineville Depot transporting arriving and departing guests. During the resort’s heyday as a popular health resort, the hack, emblazoned with “Lineville Mineral Springs Hotel”, met every Rock Island passenger train that arrived in Lineville.
At its peak, the hotel had 50 guest rooms and seven bathrooms to be used for health restoring hot baths. At one point in time the hotel rates were $1 per day and $6 per week.
In 1926 Jack Craney built a 40 x 100-foot two story building near the hotel. The second floor was used for picture shows, skating, and dancing while the first floor was a café. People came from far and near for the water but also for vacations where they could attend revivals, reunions, boxing matches, play ball, croquet, skate, dance, picnic and hunt among a variety of other things. A 1916 newspaper ad claimed the water would cure all kinds of ailments from stomach problems to eczema. It has been describes as tasting like soda water and causing a definite “cleaning” out of the system.
If someone wanted to continue to partake of the healing waters after leaving Lineville Mineral Springs the owners would gladly ship the water in kegs, jugs or cases. An ad in a later 1800’s newspaper listed the following prices of water shipped to order: 10-gallon kegs $1.50; Case of 12 half-gallon bottles $1.50; B**r Case of 24-quart bottles $1.25; Five-gallon jugs 75¢
Not all occasions at the Mineral Springs were happy ones. In 1895 a young Miss Angie Bowsher was accidentally shot by her best friend and died at the hotel within a few hours. In 1913 George F. Garner died at the springs from complications of the disease he was there hoping to cure. In January of 1924 Mrs. Reger’s funeral was held there.
Even though bootleg liquor was illegal it was part of the era during which the Lineville Mineral Springs was in operation. The evasive bootleggers in their big overcoats with pockets sewn in for bottles, would step out of the timber to sell their wares. If danger appeared (or an official) they simply stepped back into the timbered terrain where they knew the area well and could disappear as though they had never been there.
For many years after the hotel was closed jugs of mineral water and boxes of mineral crystals continued to be sold. Carol Vinzant later bought the property and used the dance hall for a brooder house and the hotel for a hay barn. Howard McReynolds and Virgil Torrey eventually bought the buildings and tore them down to use the lumber for other construction projects.
Information for this article from Lineville-Clio History & research by Jean Jackson. Reprinted from the September 2015 newsletter.
