Historic Pertle Springs Warrensburg Missouri 1890-1900

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In 1890 Pertle Springs entered its second phase of significant growth when Christopher purchased a dummy line that originally had been utilized in Wichita, Kansas, to connect the people who traveled to Warrensburg via the Union Pacific train with Pertle Springs. The dummy line allowed for quicker access to and from Pertle Springs and significantly increased the number of organizations that used the resort for their meetings.

J. H. McCullough constructed a depot on Holden Street, just to the south of the Union Pacific depot, that included a ticket office and lunch room where visitors departed for Pertle Springs and at the end of the line in Pertle Springs, Christopher constructed a depot platform and other associated buildings like a train shed. In Pertle Springs Christopher expanded the size of the tabernacle to seat one-third more people and built additional lunch rooms, a restaurant and kitchen. According to the April Warrensburg Standard: "Each lunch room will be 16 x 100 feet, the restaurant will be 40 x 104 feet with [a] kitchen [of] 50 x 60 feet.

In May of 1890 the Dunkards or the German Baptists held their annual meeting at the springs and the estimated attendance was 10,000. Sam Jones returned for a camp meeting in the summer of 1890 and the Warrensburg Standard noted "Jones preached to about 4,000 in the morning and as many more at night. In all there were at least seven thousand people on the grounds at some time during the day, as the dummy carried something over five thousand,...."

In 1891 C. E. DeGroff published Pertle Springs and Warrensburg which featured several views of the spring, the Minnewawa Hotel, the lakes, and the new dummy line. The new albertype album signified the new role that Pertle Springs was playing as a premier destination point for organizations that wanted a place to host their meetings and conventions. In 1896 the pro silver Missouri Democrats held their convention at Pertle Springs.

The period from 1890 to 1900 marked the heyday for the resort as the automobile had not yet displaced the Union Pacific train as the main source of transportation for visitors that came to the springs and the establishment of the dummy line made Pertle Springs a more attractive location for organizations have their meetings. By 1900 the Sam Jones camp meetings had ended but the civic, fraternal, trade organizations, and Sunday school conventions continued on into the 20th century.