In 1866, John Beck (1843-1913) and his bride Sarah settled in Lehi. After raising sheep and manufacturing charcoal for one year, he accumulated sufficient capital to build a large, two-story adobe home here at 791 N. 100 East.

Beck and fellow German immigrants in his employ frequently picnicked in the shade of the apple orchard and bathed in the Warm Springs that today would be near the shores of Utah Lake in Saratoga Springs. Visions of a spa patterned after the famous Saratoga Resort in New York began to develop in Beck’s mind.

In 1884, with some of the wealth he had accrued from his Bullion-Beck mine in the Tintic District, the entrepreneur purchased more than 1000 acres of land on Utah Lake. He named the 27 acres immediately surrounding the hot springs, “Beck’s Saratoga Springs”.

One thousand people attended the formal opening of Saratoga Springs on July 24, 1884. In the resort’s first formal announcement, it boasted plunge baths, rowboat and sailboat rentals, a racetrack, baseball grounds and shooting galleries.

While most went to Saratoga for recreation, many went for health reasons. The waters were claimed to be superior to any other in the state for their medicinal properties. Professor A. Siebert, a graduate of Heidelberg University in Germany, commercially bottled the water, calling it “Saratoga Salvation,” for “internal application.”

In time, dance floors and dances, picnic tables, a chicken ranch, outdoor pool, bath houses, candy booths, row boats and new tents for campers were offered. From the beginning, many skiing and boating events were sponsored by the resort.

During the 1950s, numerous city recreation organizations began bussing children to Saratoga Resort. Thousands of Utahns learned to swim through these programs. In the summer of 1954, resort operator Mick Eastmond added two Ferris wheels, a Roll-o-Plane and a merry-go-round. In 1979, a new, 350-foot “Kamikaze” waterslide thrilled resort goers.

The park was severely damaged in 1968 when fire destroyed two historic building and again in 1983 when early mountain runoff caused extensive flooding in Lehi. The park ultimately closed in 1993. The Kamikaze slide was moved to the Lehi Outdoor Pool and remained there until it was demolished in 2011.

Lehi historian Richard Van Wagoner wrote, “Thousands of us will never forget the pleasurable summer days and romantic nights we spent at Saratoga.”

The Saratoga Resort historical marker was unveiled on Aug. 7, 2025, at 746 N. 100 East. It was the 12th marker installed in the Lehi Historical Marker Program.