Editing Red Boiling Springs, Tennessee (section)

===Decline===
[[File:Red-boiling-springs-park-tn1.jpg|right|thumb|230px|Red Boiling Springs park]]

Several factors contributed to the town's decline as a major resort. One was a general loss of confidence and interest in the purportedly curative powers of mineral waters by [[United States|Americans]] as the 20th century progressed. A new highway system made it easier for people to travel, but it also meant they could travel to other places as well, such as the state parks that were opening. Those who had promoted tourism and the mineral resorts had retired or died and the next generation was not as interested. Some of the hotels had been left in the hands of managers that did not reinvest the profits in the upkeep of the buildings. A number of the hotels burned and were not rebuilt. The townspeople were hesitant to support tourism. The area's general remoteness began to work against it; this was greatly aggravated by [[World War II]] and the resultant [[gasoline]] [[rationing]]. Tourism focus shifted within Tennessee to more highly developed areas such as the [[Great Smoky Mountains National Park]].

By the time the postwar period had arrived, most of the hotels had closed and the area was a shell of its former self. There was a slight rebirth during the 1950s. The town was [[Municipal corporation|incorporated]] on April 27, 1953.<ref name= Pryor/> A booster club was formed, two of the hotels were restored and new attractions were added. A drive-in billed as the only one of its kind in Middle Tennessee outside of Nashville joined the local theatre. By the early '60s only five hotels remained, then, by the end of the decade, it was back down to three. One of the hotels was lost to a fire and a nursing home bearing the name of the original hotel was later erected on the cleared site.