Georgia's largest and most famous warm spring delivers 914 gallons
of 88°F per minute to a catchbasin beneath the buildings at the base of the hill in front of you. The springs have been used for recreation and healing for centuries. Franklin D. Roosevelt came here in 1924, in hopes to recover from the effects of polio. He came to believe in the therapeutic benefits of the springs and bought a declining Victorian resort that had grown around the springs. For the next 21 years, he invested much time and money in making Warm Springs a major polio treatment center. After the Georgia Warm Springs Foundation was founded the pools area was transformed into a hydrotherapeutic treatment center designed by architect Henry Toombs. A public pool was built between the treatment pools and Alternate US 27. These treatment pools were supplanted in 1942 by an indoor pool built on the main Foundation Campus due to the difficulty of moving patients to these pools. The treatment pools were then used occasionally for treatment and for recreation but were finally closed in the 1960's. The Department of Natural Resources stabilized and renovated the springs and pools complex for visitation during 1994 - 95 for the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of F. D. R.'s death.

© Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia

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