Jacob Baum

JACOB BAUM, the proprietor and manager of the Geyser Mineral Springs is a man who is not only a benefactor to the people of Wyandotte county, but to the people at large. Although of course he runs his business on a financial basis, yet he is most humane in his dealing with patients and there are many who have lacked the necessary funds who have received treatments gratis. He does not publish these good deeds, but the recipients of his kindness are deeply grateful to him.

Mr. Baum was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, December 29, 1867, the son of John and Henrietta (Ackerman) Baum. The Ackermans were the founders of the mineral springs resort and when Mr. and Mrs. Ackerman died the springs were left to the estate.

Jacob Baum came to Kansas City with his parents in 1873, when he was but five years old and he was educated in the public schools of Kansas City. He had always shown a great deal of aptitude for raising plants and vegetables and after he left school he took up market gardening, running a little establishment of his own. Later he received a good position as superintendent of a fruit farm in Porkville, which position he held for ten years, at the end of which time, desirous of reaping the profits of his own labor, he bought a farm at Holliday, Kansas, which he ran very successfully for several years. In 1904 he sold his farm and bought out the mineral springs from the Ackerman estate, located on South Rosedale avenue, just at the foot of the bluffs and on the banks of Turkey creek. After he made the purchase he had the springs dug to a depth of six hundred and fifty feet, and, finding the analysis justified his belief in the curative powers of the water, he erected some bathhouses on the property. The waters are beneficial for many diseases and are used for drinking as well as for bathing purposes. He has trained attendants who give massage treatments to men and women and has erected a bottling plant, where he puts up mineral and distilled water and everything in the way of flavored sodas. The plant covers about four acres and the grounds are laid out as a park, Mr. Baum having used his experience gained in farming by applying it to floriculture. The result is a park of great beauty in which are planted flowers in extreme profusion. Mr. Baum is making plans to erect in the near future a large hotel, modern and up-to-date, and to still further beautify and enlarge the grounds.

In the month of March, 1896, Mr. Baum married Rosa Binninger, the daughter of Leo Binninger. On June 13, 1897, a son was born to this union, his parents naming him John Leo, and he is now, 1911, attending the Rosedale high school.

Mr. Baum is a member of the Moose fraternal order and of the Woodmen of the World. He stands very high in all of these organizations and is a popular man generally, respected and esteemed by all who know him. He has made his bath houses an ornament to the city as well as a benefit to the sick.