SAN ANTONIO -- The historic Hot Wells on the Southside - once known for it's 103-degree sulfur spring and being a spa destination for the Hollywood elite - is getting closer to opening once again.

This time around the experience will be quite different.

"We're getting real close now. This is something we've worked on for the last 10 years or so. Actually, it goes back 40 or 50 years when people were trying to do something to bring back the resort," said Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff.

Wolff and Bexar Heritage & Parks Department Director Betty Bueché say that by mid-November you'll be able to take a serious peek into the past.

"This will be our really first heritage park," Wolff said.

Right now crews are stabilizing the ruins and soon you'll be able to access the park from the Mission Reach trail and off Presa Street.

Even though you won't be able to take in the waters like Will Rogers, Charlie Chaplin and Teddy Roosevelt, there will still be a lot to do.

"And we have a year long series of lectures and talks that will be given at least twice monthly at the site," said Bueché.

The county and the Hot Wells Conservancy have long-term plans to eventually display artifacts and host events inside, but for now you'll have to enjoy it from the outside.

"They have a plan to show some of the silent movies that were made out here. This was a very famous place to make silent movies," said Wolff.

Hot Wells Park is expected to help preserve the past, and add some modernization for the future.

"Fifty years or so that I've been around, I'm glad to see that we have stepped up as a county to preserve this historic treasure," said Wolff.

"And before the judge was born, the place actually burned two other times, once in 1894 and once in 1925. This project has now brought the fire hydrant line to the site," Bueché said.

It's a far cry from the stylish destination of the late 1800s. This time around it'll attract a new type of visitor - from San Antonio and beyond.

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