Starting in the basement you find hallways, doorways, ramps, partitions, alleyways, stairways, and elevator doors, all helping one to get completely lost if not for the huge sign listing Kitchen, Store Room, Help's Lockers, Laundry, Timekeeper, Valet, Engine Room, Swimming Pool, and Trunk Room with a huge arrow pointing in that direction. Wandering down the spotless floors at the first curve you will find another sign that says: Main Kitchen, Steward Office, China Room, and Reserve Stock Room. Actually you are not in the basement at all but the ground floor.
In the kitchen you will find five large electric refrigerators, one for meals, another for vegetables, another for milk and butter, and another for fish. The last one is for cut meats where hundreds of chops, roasts, and steaks are kept all the time.
Near the kitchen is the dishwasher. A waiter takes a tray of dishes to the kitchen and then sets it on a huge chain that rolls and rolls endlessly into a washer. As the dishes go through they are first dipped into soapy suds and then from this they are placed by machinery in a soda cleansing solution and lastly they are taken through a boiling hot rinse water. Glassware is sent through another machine where the water is not so hot.
The silverware is treated the same as the dishes except that it is put through a churning process in a wooden barrel in which is a mixture of hot water and soap. After the silver is throughly washed it is then dried and sent by machinery back to the dinning room and coffee shop.
The stockroom has the appearance of a well stocked grocery store and must be stocked at all times. Down the hall from the stockroom is the secondary supply room where brooms, washing powders, sugar, oil, coffee, laundry bags, and stapples are stored away.
Nearby is the reserve storeroom. Crates are systematically arranged and stored on many shelves from the floor to the high ceiling.
On down the hallway is a big room labeled "Ice Storage and Cubed Ice." behind the ice storage you can find where they make the ice and haul it by derricks into the storage room where it is cubed and shaved.
Going down in the basement you find yourself in the laundry. The laundry is large enough to occupy an entire ordinary building. It is the most completely equipped plant in the entire state of Texas. The linen comes down a 36 inch chute which has an opening on each floor. Large baskets of heavy cloth material catch the linen which is then sent through the laundry and then back to the linen closet.
The washing is done in three huge Cascade washers, with special built tubs of Morel metal which will not rust or stain. The machines are 84 inches and 42 inches holding 350 pounds of dry weight. Hotel linen is placed in the machines and allowed to remain for 50 minutes during which time nine different waters pass through the laundry.
Next to the washers stand two extractors or centrifugal dryers, long ago known as wringers. One machine is 50 inches in diameter the other is 48 inches in diameter. Laundry is placed inside these dryers without fear of fading and remain only fifteen minutes in these machines.
Bath towels go through a tumbler which is 96 by 44 inches. In the bottom of the machine are several fans causing a circulation of air which dry the towels soft and fluffy.
Special attention is given to the softening of the waters as the laundry is equipped with two Graver water softeners and purifiers which soften the water to "zero water" which is as pure as water can be.
The largest machine in the laundry is the six roll flat work ironer which has four speeds. Thirteen full size sheets a minute can be fed into the machine and appear at the other end ironed, folded and ready to be placed in the linen closet. The machine is 120 inches wide and is the largest machine of it's kind
The guest laundry is handled separately and differently, going through it's different stages of being washed and ironed.
There are seven machines able to press a guest's shirt being composed of a bosom presser, two cuff pressers, a sleeve form and collar pressers. There are also four more machines for the few guests that wear stand up collars. Every shirt is carefully examined before being returned to the guest's room.
One of the features of the laundry is the ventilation equipment. The there are no laundry odors. Ducts leading into the laundry bring fresh air into the room and above each machine collector hoods draw the heat and steam into the exhaust air system eliminating the steamy atmosphere usually associated with laundries.
Over in another big room is the water softening plant. There are all kinds of machinery with thermometers and dials to make water soft.
Across another hall is the Engine Room with boilers, vales, pipes, meters, registers, switch boards and all kinds of machinery.
Going back to the ground floor you will find a big hallway under the driveway and over to the swimming pool. In the other direction you see the sign for the Valet Department. Guest's garments are taken here from the valet service dooring in the rooms. The clothing is reshaped and pressed on three machines and then returned to the valet doors without disturbing the guests. One day service is given the guests on cleaning and pressing.
Down another hallway is the Help's Locker Room. Individual lockers and shower baths are provided for them. Across the hall is the Trunk Storage Room and the China Room.
In the China Room you might find the most elaborate of the china in which the Baker Crest is inlaid in gold. The design of the china is dignified and beautiful in it's simplicity. The service is used only for ocassions when only the very best is required.
In the everyday service there are seven inch plates, three inch plates, teacups, after dinner cups, after dinner saucers, tea saucers, grapefruit bowls, vegetable dishes, creamers, butter dishes, bouillon cups, oatmeal nappies, ice cream, sherberts, cream pitchers, china coffee pots, individual syrup pitchers, pot pie dishes, casseroles, cocktail cups and covers for food.
Glassware includes fine glass for special ocassions to commoner glass for everyday use like ice tea glasses for the summer months, tumblers for the coffee shop, crystal ware of fine design for special parties, tall, small, all kinds included in the 5,040 pieces stored there.
Passing thru the kitchen you find yourself in the coffee shop with marble counters and tables with snow white linens for those who prefer a table. Out of the coffee shop and into a tiled arcade you will find the barber shop under the mangement of Jack Purvess.
Down the arcade to the corner you find the drug Store. The Renfro Drug Store is filled with shiny showcases and a big time soda fountain with all the latest equipment. Around to the right are more stores and the office of the Western Union.
Ajoining the runway that leads you to these store and shops are four new Brunswick-Balke bowling alleys. Up the stairs in front of the bowling alleys you will find the pavilion. It is everything a pavilion should be and more. In the center is a beautiful fountain and a pool filled with odd shaped fish of all kinds.
Across one side is the fountain where the water of the Baker Hotel is served. You may drink the water by the drink, by the day, the week or by the year.
Ajoining the pavilion on one side is the game room and over in another corner is the gift shop where any kind of novelty, curio, book or art work can be found.
Passing into the main lounge you see huge French doors opening out on the promenade which runs around three sides of the hotel. In back of this lounge are the offices of the various departments including the room clerks desk, the mail and information department, the cashier, the porters and transportation offices and the telephone operators. Just behind these offices is the automobile entrance where motoring guests can enter directly from their cars. At one end of the lounge is the main dinning room which is decorated in shades of green. The cuisine of the Baker Hotels is known throughtout the country and some of the best chefs of the Baker system have been brought to the Mineral Wells Hotel.
Going up to the Mezzanine floor we find parlors and lounges for the ladies and gentlemen. The writing desks are also here and there is a most complete library. The managers office and the auditors office are on the Mezzanine.
On the next floor are two of the most modern bath departments, one for the ladies and one for the men. They have equipment and attendents to give the guest any kind of bath desired, electric cabinets, dry heat rooms, steam rooms and reducing aparatus are a part of the equipment.
The routine bath is most interesting, a guest comes to the bath house, checks his valuables at the office, then goes to a private dressing room where an attendant awaits to undress and prepare the guest for a bath.
First, they go to the electric cabinets, as a process of elimination, then to the soap slab, then to the needle shower, from the shower to the massage room, then to one of the fourteen lounges to recline and cool off before leaving.
The beauty shop is down the hall from the baths. It is a cheerful sunny room specially decorated in soft pastel shades of orchid and blue, with drapes of green on poles of lavender.
All fixtures, including three manicure tables, two instrument tables, four effiency cabinets and chairs are of two-toned crackel finish rose. Seven private booths for patrons completely furnished with comfortable chairs and all modern beauty parlor equipment feature the inside of the shop, while attractive mirrors and easy chairs make a neat appearance for the reception room.
One of the new features of the equipment is the facial couch in a private room near the back of the shop. Electric facial machines and electric permanent wave machines, of which there are two, are numbered among the new electric equipment.
Occupying the rest of the floor are the doctors and dentist offices of Mineral Wells.
Dr. H. A. Zappe, a dentist ocupies suites 222-223 a most attractive and convenient suite of rooms for his office. Dr. Zappe removed his office from the Crazy Hotel. A reception room with comfortable over-stuffed furniture and an office for consultation is on the left of the entrance. an operating room equipped with an X-ray room with a Ritter Chair and Ritter X-ray occupy two large rooms. A retiring room with a comfortable lounge, books and a lamp occupies a most unusual little nook. An electric bell calls the doctor to the patient in a second. A laboratory and cloak room complete the suite.
The suite of rooms occupied by Dr. Edward F. Yeager and Dr. J. E. Johnson is one of the most attractive and completely furnished and equipped of the doctors offices in the Baker Hotel.
A double reception room with needlepoint chairs, lamps, table and mirrors makes an inviting entrance to the office.
Both doctors have nice consultation rooms and treatment rooms with new treatment tables, instrument cases, sterilizers, and adjustable chairs.
Dr. Yeager's treatment room has blue equipment. A bathroom connects the two offices. There is also a small room where a diatherym is kept.
The X-ray room has a motor driven table, which raises and lowers. In this room diagnosis is made and pictures are taken. An Alpine lamp room is to the left of the X-ray room. A hall and cloak room complete the suite of rooms.
Dr. Max M. Goldberg occupies suite 230 and he does diagnosis and internal medicine. The reception room is an attractive suite of wicker, which is of bright orange. The office has an instrument table, a treatment table, instrument sterilizers and other modern equipment.
Dr. J. W. Crutcher a dentist occupies suite 233. The reception room has walnut furnishings, a Duncan Pyfe table, a console mirror and attractive etchings. There are two operating rooms with Ritter dental furnishings and an X-ray cabinet, sterilizer and Ritter unit.
A recovery room with a comfortable lounge, a table and table lamp make a cozy nook. The lavoratory is where the machine work is done. There is also a dark room, one hall and a cloak room.
Dr. R.O. Singleton is the only osteopathic physcian in the Baker Hotel. Rose colored furnishings with all accessories to match make up the reception room.
The treatment room is all modern with electricity, carbon light, sphygragmanother, sterilizer, microscope, violet-ray completes the suite.
The third floor up you find many types of guest rooms. The guest rooms have two different designs of carpets. In the corridors the carpets have a dull background and then a brighter color-all corridors are the same.
Soft electric lights flood each room with attractive lamps. As a guest leaves his room a tiny electric switch in the door key turns off the lights and fans in the room. When the guest re-enters the room the key activates the switch and the lights and fans turn back on.
The ventilation of the rooms is controlled and powered by electricity and the rugs are cleaned daily by electric vacuumn cleaners. Ice water is cooled by electricity and pumped to the bathroom faucet by electric power.
The guest rooms vary from single rooms with shower baths thru various sized display rooms and on to the most elaborate suites of up to five rooms. Some of these suites have kitchenettes completely equipped.
Furniture in the rooms vary. Some rooms have shaving mirrors for the men. Some have chiffonier desks while others may have writting desks. Some rooms have over stuffed chairs and others have Palmer House chairs, some may have lounges in the suites. Other rooms may have Karpen tub chairs in velvet with tables to make the room homey.
Easy chairs of blue, rose and purple are placed in better rooms while smaller chairs of the same design are place in other rooms. Some rooms have wall mirrors where vanities are not used. 500 Mattresses and 500 box springs were bought for the guest rooms and 800 pillows complete the furnishings of the guest rooms.
On the tenth floor is the gymnasium occupying one entire end of the wing. The gym is forty feet by fifty feet and has all equipment necessary for physical activities. Chest expanders, rowing machines, health machines, Indian clubs, bar bells, ropes, weights and all modern bodybuilders are found in the sunny gym.
Classes in amatuer boxing, basketball and other games are found in the gym.
From 7 to 9 in the morning classes of general exercise are given. From 9 to 11 are women's reducing classes. From 11 to noon special attention is given to under-weight and under developed children from ages 5 to 16. From 1 to 4 private work is given for individuals suffering from nervousness, constipation, insomia and other troubles. Special attention will be given to those wishing to correct physical defects.
On the eleventh floor is the Baker Suite. The heavy door is of an olive drab color studded in brads of cooper with a wrought iron handle of Spainish design. It opens into the entrance hall with the living room on the left the library on the right. All three rooms have a dark walnut ceiling with hand decorated designs. There is a broadly arched fire place with Spainish interior decorating. The interior has rich tapestry, odd bits of brass, the chairs are in Spainish mode of Sapphire velvet trimmed with fringe.
A grand piano has a place at one side of the room, while a simple love seat in blue adds an air of aristrocracy to the setting. a restful chair is near the window, the couch of red completes the living room.
Rugs are of perfect weaving and rare colors and the lighting that is worked out of forged iron and crackle glass showing Spainish influence cast their glow on the gold drapes.
The library bookshelves are arranged on one side of the room and on the opposite side is a huge blue couch. A handsome desk is in the middle of the room.
The Spainish dinning room is of solid walnut. Each chair is rightly carved in Spainish design. The walls are of beige-gold with beamed ceilings of hand decorated walnut. The drapes are heavy damask with fringes of red harmonizing with the upholtstry of the chairs and the regal mirror on the wall. An interesting built-in-the-wall cabinet of olive drab completes the room.
From the entrance to Mr. Baker's bed room one see's a large dresser, the drawer fronts of beautiful walnut, a mirror hangs over the dresser, a charming desk, graceful little tables, interesting mirrors with molded lattices over the glass and gilt edged eagles carved in walnut, a bed that suggests beauty, chaise lounge and a dressing table complete the furnishings. Dignified drapes on wrought iron poles fall to the floor
Entrance to the bath show that the colored tiles reflect individualty. The bath is in green enamel, drapess of cream Swiss and a back ground of lavender and green tile create a pleasing bath. There is a three piece mirror with wrought iron trimmings placed above the lavender lavoratory.
The guest room has painted furniture with trimmings of pale green. There are twin chintz chairs of beige with multicolored flowers. The rose colored drapes fall in soft folds to the floor. White material cover the twin beds. The Venetian blue of the bath go with the cream and rose of the tiles.
The kitchen is equipped with an electric stove and refrigerator and complete the apartment.
On the top floor is the roof garden and banquet hall. Here the regular Saturday night dances draw large crowds. A banquet kitchen on this floor will provide meals for the dancers and diners.
Above this are the linen rooms with thousands of sheets, hand and face towels, bath towels and pillow cases for guest rooms also this is where the locker rooms are for the chamber maids.
Above this area is the observation tower from which one can see for miles in every direction.
On the property adjoining there is a most gorgeous landscape garden and playground, tennis courts, swimming pool and a sandy beach for bathers and a Tom Thumb golf course. There is a wadding pool only for children.
An underground hallway connects the hotel proper with the dressing rooms under the swimming pool and also underground there is a tunnel that leads to a large bottling plant where the mineral waters of the Baker wells are bottled for distribution over the United States and Mexico.The four wells belonging to the hotel supply the water.