The history of Jordan Springs goes back to the early 1600s, when the Catawba Indians discovered two mineral springs, the White Sulphur Spring and the Calibeate Spring, which flow from the grotto at the base of a nearby cliff-like hill called Devil's Backbone. The Indians used the area as a meeting place for almost a century and a half, at which point the mineral springs were discovered by settlers. The property was later made into a resort centering around the therapeutic and healing medicinal powers of the springs. Since 1832, three separate hotels have stood on the property; the brick portion of the current building was built in 1893 by Edwin Clarendon Jordan, Jr.