Buckhorn Mineral Wells (Buckhorn Baths)

Current status: closed

Buckhorn Mineral Wells, better known as the Buckhorn Baths, has not offered a soak since 1999. The bathhouse closed that year, and the motel and its wildlife museum closed a few years later (the National Register file says 2004, later reporting says 2007). The property is private. There is no day use, no tour and no public access to the mineral water.

The buildings still stand at 5900 E. Main Street, on the corner of North Recker Road in east Mesa, along with the large neon sign that has made the place a landmark for drivers on old US 60. You can look from the public sidewalk. Do not go onto the property: it is private, vacant and in poor condition.

This page exists because the name still appears on hot spring lists and old maps of the Phoenix area, often as if it were a working spa.

What the Buckhorn was

The story begins in the 1930s with Ted and Alice Sliger. After their earlier roadside store and lunch counter, Desert Wells, burned down in 1936, they bought a 10-acre property on the highway east of Mesa and started over. Water had to be hauled in, so they drilled a well. In 1939 it hit hot, mineral-heavy water at 112°F44°C, and they opened mineral baths almost immediately.

Over the next decade they built out a full roadside resort: a motel, cottages, a cafe, a curio shop, a taxidermy museum and a bathhouse with 27 private tubs. The complex was essentially complete by 1947. For years it was also a Greyhound bus depot. By 1950 the resort was advertising its mineral water treatments, which drew visitors with arthritis and similar complaints. That was the selling point of the era, not something this guide can vouch for.

When Mesa annexed the property in 1974, the mineral water measured 106°F41°C, a little cooler than the original strike.

The baseball connection

The Buckhorn matters to Arizona history for reasons that have nothing to do with soaking. New York Giants owner Horace Stoneham stayed there, liked it and moved the team’s spring training to Mesa. The Giants used the Buckhorn for about 25 years, a run that spanned the team’s move from New York to San Francisco. The Chicago Cubs also based themselves there in their first years in Arizona, and other teams followed. Local historians credit those stays with helping start what became the Cactus League. The Giants moved their camp to Casa Grande in 1972.

What happened after it closed

Ted Sliger died in 1984 and Alice ran the business on her own. The bathhouse shut in 1999, and the motel and museum followed. The complex was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 10, 2005. Alice lived on the property until shortly before her death in 2010, at 103.

The years since have been a string of plans that did not happen:

• 2012: Mesa voters approved a parks bond that set aside $5 million toward buying the Buckhorn.
• 2015: the city deal fell through amid disputes within the Sliger family.
• 2017: the family sold the property for $2.15 million to a buyer that planned to keep historic elements. A full restoration was estimated at up to $10 million.
• 2019: the taxidermy collection was donated to Arizona State University.
• 2021: after a receivership, a new owner bought the site. KJZZ reported plans to refurbish the baths and build townhomes, with architect Tim Boyle working on the project, and later reports added a boutique hotel and about 200 townhouses.
• 2023: Cronkite News reported that the development plans had stalled, and Mesa Historical Museum president Vic Linoff described the building’s condition as “demolition by neglect.”

We found no reporting since then of a restoration, a reopening or a demolition. Wikipedia’s article notes that the mineral water could still flow, but that the old cast-iron pipes would need replacing before any bathing could resume.

Getting there (to see it from the street)

The site is on Main Street at the corner of Recker Road, between Higley Road and Power Road in east Mesa. Do not park on the property itself. Look for legal street or public parking nearby, and view the sign from across Main Street. Photographs from the sidewalk are fine. Entering the grounds or buildings is trespassing, and the structures are not safe.

When to go

Any time, as a quick roadside stop on the way to or from the Superstition Mountains or the Apache Trail country east of Mesa. Spring training season, from late February to March, is when baseball fans tend to seek it out.

Rules and etiquette

• The property is private and closed. Stay on public land.
• Do not enter the buildings or the old bathhouse.
• Respect any posted signs from the owner or the city.

Where to soak instead

There is no public hot spring in Mesa or anywhere in the Phoenix metro. The closest natural hot spring soak is Castle Hot Springs, an all-inclusive resort in the Bradshaw Mountains about an hour north of Sky Harbor Airport. It is adults only (18+) and open only to overnight guests. For a free, primitive soak you need to drive farther, to the Black Canyon springs below Hoover Dam such as Arizona Hot Springs, which are a hike or paddle and close to hikers in summer.

Where to stay nearby

Mesa has a full range of chain hotels along the Loop 202 and US 60 corridors. Downtown Mesa, about 7 miles west of the Buckhorn along Main Street, has independent restaurants and the city’s museums. Apache Junction, a few miles east, is the usual base for the Superstition Mountains.

Safety notes

Abandoned buildings are dangerous: rotten floors, broken glass and unstable roofs. Stay off the property. Main Street is busy at this corner, so cross at the signal at Recker Road.