The first bath house in Mt. Clemens, called the ORIGINAL, was constructed in 1873 and marked the beginning of the city's fabulous bath era, the city later to become known as the "Bath City of America," and famous around the world. In 1870 a Mount Clemens flour mill proprietor, Dor Kellogg, had cured his severe case of eczema by bathing in the salty mineral water, and a local physician, Dr. Abner Hayward, had started prescribing bathing for his patients suffering from rheumatism. Interest in the curative powers of the city's mineral waters continued, and as a result Dr. Henry Taylor, another Mount Clemens physician, built the first bath house so that the mineral-rich waters could be pumped from the wells into large tubs.