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Booze ain't worth fighting over; water is.

Welcome to Purgatory Springs

Once called the Coney Island of the Rockies, the town offered grand hotels, healing waters, mountain air, and amusements enough to make you forget your troubles.

It’s the water — and a hell of a lot more.

Our Town

Nestled in the Colorado mountains, Purgatory Springs built its reputation on what flowed from the ground — thermal springs, mineral waters, and a brewery that drew its own faithful long before Prohibition complicated matters. The Ute knew the waters first. The railroads brought everyone else. What followed was grand hotels, sanatoriums, amusements, old grudges, and a history that has never been fully written down. Until now, much of it has gone unrecorded.
Women playing mahjong in pool
Book Cover of Purgatory Springs

Featured Novel

A novel from Purgatory Springs

Purgatory Springs 1927

In a fading Colorado spa town, a war-scarred veteran with a tainted reputation is caught between bootleggers, the Ku Klux Klan, and the wrong woman.

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A Glimpse of 1927

By 1927, Purgatory Springs had seen better days — and was about to see considerably worse. The brewery had found other arrangements, the grand hotels were thinning out, and certain elements had arrived in town that no chamber of commerce would have invited. Only one sanatorium remained open on the hill above town. Not for long.

Everyone has a racket here, even the gals playing Mah-Jongg in the pool.

Pete Palermo, Rocky Mountain Bottling & Beverage
Visit 1927
Women playing mahjong in pool
Thermal Waters Poster

Excerpt from International Spa Review 1909

The springs have been noted for their curative qualities from time immemorial, having been frequented by the Indian previous to Spanish occupation and highly esteemed by both races since that date.

The curative waters have proved remarkably successful in the treatment of rheumatism, skin disease, derangement of the kidneys and bladder and especially of all venereal diseases.

Cases of paralysis after resisting the usual appliances of medicine have been sent to Purgatory Springs and immediately and permanently relieved.

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Contact

Inquiries must be notarized, stamped & mailed to:

Inquires
C/O Sparky Boorman
Purgatory Hot Springs Resort
Purgatory Springs. Colorado

Otherwise, use this form.