UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
MISSOURI
Ray and Clay Counties

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Excelsior Springs is situated in a pleasant valley just 25 miles (40 km) northeast of Kansas City in Missouri. The town was founded when a mineral spring was discovered by accident in 1880, but the mineral waters had been known to the Indian population long before. Excelsior Springs became incorporated in 1903. Excelsior Springs claims to have the world's greatest group of mineral waters: 20 separate mineral springs with four distinct varieties of water.

The picture on the glass no. 1305 [left] shows Siloam Spring, which was discovered in 1880. The original name of the spring was Excelsior Spring, named after a well-known poem by Henry W. Longfellow. Today the spring is housed under the Hall of Waters (built in 1935). In total there are 20 separate mineral springs supplying four different types of water. Excelsior Springs thus may have the world's greatest group of mineral waters. The waters contain calcium carbonates and bicarbonates. Siloam spring supplies a rare combination of bicarbonates of iron and manganese; only four other such springs are known in the entire world. Today the Hall of Waters, built directly over Siloam Spring, features the "World's Longest Water Bar", a 100-foot art deco structure of the 1930s. The water bar features bottled mineral, spring and glacier waters from around the world, as well as several on tap.

The other of the two most abundant springs is the Regent spring [bear left, no. 1535, and right, no. 3008]. The spring was discovered in 1881 and originally was named Empire Spring. The Regent waters received a medal at the 1933/1934 World Fair at Chicago for having the highest iron content of any water known at the time.

The infamous Jesse JAMES (1847–1882) was born in nearby Kearney.