Cambridge Springs

According to the available records, two individuals arrived in the Cambridge Springs area in 1801 and decided to stay. Then, Jobe Van Court and his son made a deal with the Holland Land Company for 100 acres.

They built the first log cabin, supposedly at the present site of Cambridge Springs, on the spot now occupied by the Park View Inn. Whether their life was pleasant was unknown; there were unfounded reports of domestic problems.

They were not prosperous, as evidenced by the fact that they lost their land. There can be little doubt of the authenticity of the records that Jobe has buried close to Venango Avenue on the right-hand side while traveling north, as today's tourists come down the borough side of Doctors Hill next to the south limit of the borough.

At any rate, about 10 years later, the Boy Scout Troops led the citizens on a half-holiday. The objective of which was to mark the first settlers' grave for all posterity. All those who enjoyed the toboggan slide in the winter sports of the past winters pass close to it on every ride. Ben, the son, appears to have left no tracks for posterity to moralize on. Similarly, Jobe and Ben Van Court started something that has touched the lives of millions of people worldwide.

But mainly in America, for their log cabins or, more properly speaking, their example grew into a settlement, a town, a borough, and one of the most noted Spas in the United States.

Cambridge Springs became a world-renowned spa when the popularity of mineral water therapy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries turned the calm, rural community of Cambridgeboro (1891) into a bustling resort center patronized by visitors from all over the world.