An interesting archive concerning the construction of Roosevelt’s Warm Springs Resort, primarily the water supply system as well as the electric plant. Archive consists of six one-page TLSs from Roosevelt dated between 1926-1928, a secretarially signed TLS dated January 8, 1926, all to E. Burton Cooke of Atlanta, a landscape architect; related correspondence to Roosevelt from Cooke, as well as other letters and telegrams between other involved parties; and the 1927 engineers report for the water supply and electrical plant for the Warm Springs Resort. Archive includes:
A TLS from Roosevelt to Cooke, dated August 7, 1926, in which Roosevelt reacts to the proposed cost of infrastructure work to Warm Springs. Roosevelt writes, in part: “I fear that my cottage is not worth having Mr. Bray bother about because I do not want to build it on a cost plus profit basis. I want a perfectly definite straight contract. Will you let me know if you think any Atlanta contractors would care to bid? The principal advantage would be, of course, in the possibility of getting other work down there as more cottages are planned [after the final line in the paragraph, Roosevelt adds in his own hand, ‘I can send the specifications from here.’]
In regard to your letter of July 27th, I fear that I am knocked completely flat by your figures to carry out the road making, sewers, gutters, water line, etc. On a basis of nearly $50,000, it would practically take every available dollar of profit out of the sale of the lots.
Furthermore, I am horrified at your estimate of 24,000 cu. yds of cut. I estimated from the lines of the survey that the roads would follow practically the contour of the ground and that there would be no deep cuts or heavy fills at any point.
I propose to get all of the roads built, sewers laid, water lines installed for considerably less than half of the approximate estimate and I would, of course, only put in such absolutely necessary work as the location of the cottages demand from time to time. So I fear that I shall have to put in a very different character of layout.”
Paper clipped to Roosevelt’s letter is Cooke’s unsigned response sent on August 12. Cooke writes, in part: “I have told Mr. Bray of your decision to have the cottage built under a definite contract…The majority of the small house builders are a very unreliable class of men and I would be afraid to recommend many of them.
I note also your expressions regarding the estimate of cost for construction work on the first subdivision, submitted by this office. The estimate is a fair approximation of what the work involved will cost if carried out as planned. The prices for materials in nearly all cases were based on bids submitted for this particular job by prominent manufacturers…
The grades for the driveways are held as near the surface of the ground as practical … In addition to the fill necessary for the width of a roadway a berme has to be provided to prevent the road from washing away…
I always try to be frank in letting my clients know as near as possible in advance what I think the cost will be in carrying out plans which I have prepared and in this case I do not think that you can effect any great saving unless you do less work.”
Other correspondence from Cooke to Roosevelt discusses details of various parts of the project, points of reference, blueprints, and Cooke asking for more money.
The engineering report submitted by B. M. Hall and Sons is titled “Proposed Gravity Water Supply & Electric Plant for Warm Springs, Ga. Resort for Hon. Franklin D. Roosevelt,” dated April 12, 1927. Report is broken in two two sections, a 14 page proposal on the gravity water supply, and a five page report on the proposed electric plant. Bound in to the final page of the report is a blueprint for the proposed water supply system at the resort, which unfolds to a size of 22 x 33, and shows the current hotel and cottages, the new subdivision, the golf course, all the major roads and streams, a future reservoir, and the main features of the proposed water supply system. In good to very good condition, with toning and soiling to all correspondence, some fold separations to several letters, toning and wear to report, storage folds to blueprint, as well as some scattered light spotting.
Roosevelt contracted polio at the age of 39, when little was known about the disease. In his quest to cure himself he discovered the 88-degree waters that flow from the ground at Warm Springs, Georgia. In 1924, he stayed at a local resort while he received hydrotherapy in the therapeutic waters. Roosevelt was so impressed with the facility that he spent two-thirds of his personal fortune to buy the resort, and on the same grounds established the Georgia Warm Springs Foundation in 1927. From this extraordinary financial and personal commitment evolved one of the world’s premier rehabilitation facilities for the treatment of polio. Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.
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