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This Inn
stands as a visible expression of appreciation
of an unusual physician
and of gratitude for the inspiring personality
shown in the work of
JOHN GEORGE GEHRING, M.D.
Dr. John
George Gehring - Miracle Man of Bethel
After receiving his medical
degree from Western Reserve in 1885, Dr. Gehring practiced
surgery in his native Cleveland until he suffered a physical
and mental breakdown at the young age of thirty. Seeking rest
and recuperation, he chose the mountain air and less frenetic
pace of Bethel, where his friends Mr. and Mrs. George
Farnsworth lived, to begin his rehabilitation. His self
administered regimen, combining medical, mental and physical
therapy was successful and he resumed his practice in Bethel
in 1895, focusing on 'nervous disorders' similar to his own
and using his own unique therapies to help others.
Dr. Gehring's home still stands at the end of Bethel's
historic Broad Street. Gehring House also served as his clinic
for patients who were lawyers, corporate executives, writers
and other doctors, most quite wealthy (including the New York
Vanderbilts) and distinguished in their own right. Bethel
became known as the "Harvard of the North" because
of the many patients he served from that august institution.
Dr. Gehring has been cited as a pioneer in recognizing the
need to deal with both mind and body simultaneously to provide
effective treatment. It is also said that many of his
patients, even at the turn of the century, needed help in
recovering from the over-use of drugs and alcohol. His
treatment included healthy outdoor activities like chopping
wood and weeding gardens, combined with formal dinners at the
Gehring home where Mrs. Gehring would preside as a squad of
servants presented the elegant courses. Conversation ranged
from politics and religion to music and the arts; discussion
of themselves or personal situations was forbidden.
1913: An
Auspicious Opening
In 1911, Bethel's Prospect
Hotel, which provided lodging for many of Dr. Gehring's out
patients, was severely damaged by fire. After a plan to
rebuild it failed, five of Dr. Gehring's grateful patients
included him in a partnership to construct The Bethel Inn so
that people coming to see him for treatment would always have
a place to stay. The Inn opened its doors to the public in
1913 and the Tiffany bronze plaque is displayed proudly in the
lobby in testimony to the Inn's unique origins.
William
Bingham II,
A Reclusive
Philanthropist
One of Dr. Gehring's
patients, William Bingham, deserved special note because of his philanthropic impact on Bethel and New
England. Also from Cleveland, Mr. Bingham came to Bethel
seeking Dr. Gehring's help in 1911, at the age of 32. As a
result of family tragedies and a bout with Typhoid fever, he
suffered a nervous breakdown and began his recuperation under
Dr. Gehring's care.
William Bingham purchased and remodeled the large green home
just to the north and west of Gehring House and spent his
summers in Bethel for the rest of his life. He was actively
involved in Bethel society until the 1920's when a Boston
newspaper announced that the wealthiest man in Maine lived in
Bethel. The hordes of money seekers this prompted caused him
to withdraw from the world, dealing with his affairs solely
through his lawyers and advisors. He would be transported from
Bethel's train station by a black-curtained carriage to his
home on Broad Street, unseen during his stay by all but his
few friends, including the Gehrings. He would rarely leave his
home and even his dentist and barber did their work at the
Bingham residence, protecting his reclusive lifestyle. Still,
he was a man of considerable means and compassion, and he
contributed generously to the New England Medical Center
Hospital, the Neurological Institute in New York and hospitals
in Lewiston, Bangor and Portland, Maine. He was a prime
benefactor of Bethel's Gould Academy preparatory school, and,
of course, the Bethel Inn.
The
Gehring and Bingham Bethel Legacy
Even now, long after their
passing nearly half a century ago, William Bingham and Dr.
John George Gehring continue their influence in Bethel.
With the passing of the Gehrings, William Bingham purchased
the Gehring home for use of Bethel Inn guests. In the 1950's,
National Training Laboratories was able to purchase Gehring
House and its surrounding property for the grand sum of $6000,
a steal even by mid-century standards.
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Today, Bethel is the summer headquarters of NTL's Institute of
Behavioral Sciences, which brings hundreds of business and
academic leaders from all over the world to training sessions
and seminars "dedicated to understanding and developing
solutions for productive change in every facet of personal,
organizational and social life" - not terribly far afield
from Dr.Gehrings' own endeavors.
And, in addition to William Bingham's home continuing as a
Bethel landmark, it is fair to say that neither Gould Academy
nor the Bethel Inn Resort could be prospering today without his
generosity, both during his lifetime and after, with the
continued support of his estate in difficult times.
The 1960's: Hard Times
for the Bethel Inn
Through the forties and
fifties, the Inn thrived with all its wealthy summer clientele
seeking the crisp climate and beauty of Maine's western
mountains. They arrived from all over the East coast and
Midwest by train, carriage and chauffeur-driven automobiles
with their servants and steamer trunks in tow for stays through
"the season". They came back year after year with
their families and friends, always staying in the same rooms
and dining at the same tables.
But by the 1960's, the Inn's heyday was past, along with the passing of its loyal summer-long guests, and survival was
nearly impossible with the changing vacationing habits of the
modern traveler. Again, William Bingham came to the rescue
with support from his estate and Gould Academy, a prime
recipient of his largesse. Even with this support, a
succession of owners of the Inn struggled mightily with only
sporadic success until February 28, 1979 when it closed its
doors, perhaps forever.
1979: A New Beginning
Canal Bank of Portland held
the mortgage and took over the property from the then owners,
Harris-Cayhill Partners. Canal fully expected that the
100-acre, five building complex would have to be sold off
parcel by parcel, piece by piece. But they would make one more
effort to sell it as is, a daunting task given sales of only
$250,000 and an equal amount in losses, year in and year out.
What
better candidate than a 40-year old successful, semi-burned out
advertising executive with a marketing background, a hotel
upbringing, and a few dollars in his pocket?
On May 22, 1979, Richard D. Rasor became the sole owner of the
Bethel Inn, its 100 acres, 60 guest rooms, dining rooms,
swimming pool, lake house, nine-hole golf course and
cross-country ski trails for the grand sum of $150,000 in cash
and a $300,000 mortgage. He had grown up in a 25th floor
apartment in Manhattan, raised a family in the suburbs of New
York and Detroit, had never operated a hotel, could only cook
hamburgers and wasn't a very good housekeeper.
Rasor's credentials to take over a virtually defunct
full-service hotel in Bethel, Maine were not exactly impeccable,
but the opportunity coincided with two basic objectives: to live
in New England where one can ski in the winter and play golf in
the summer, and to own a business that was marketing-driven
where his prior career at the J. Walter Thompson advertising
company would be useful.
In 1979, he
envisioned a wonderful lifestyle and growing business, but not
snowless winters, rationed gasoline, a deep recession and a
national banking crisis with ensuing credit crunch. Neither did
he envision a re-entry to the world of advertising, commuting
between clients in New York, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Detroit,
London and Bethel on weekends to keep much needed investment
capital available.
Still, by 1986, the business had grown to a point where a
$7,500,000 expansion project made sense to ensure the future of
The Bethel Inn Resort. The growth was funded primarily
by the sale of 40 new Townhouse condominiums on the golf course
with a new free-standing conference center and a year-round
health club thrown in. And the business has grown more then
tenfold since 1979.
Come experience The Bethel Inn Resort for
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