A rendering of the Olympia Bathhouse, which could be the first dedicated bathhouse in Mount Clemens since the 1970s.
By: Dean Vaglia | Mount Clemens-Clinton-Harrison Journal | Published July 18, 2025
MOUNT CLEMENS — After about 50 years, the industry that put Mount Clemens on the map will return.
Known as the “Bath City” due to its historic mineral bath industry, the Mount Clemens Planning Commission approved the city’s first dedicated mineral bathhouse since the 1970s on July 8.
“It’s really exciting,” said Lois Lombardo, owner of the last mineral water well in Mount Clemens.. “It feels like this yearlong dream of building and doing this bathhouse from when I acquired the well. It’s like the big next step and once we got approved, I was like, ‘Wow, this really going to happen.’”
Approved to be built on the site of Lombardo’s well at the corner of Park and Jones streets, the approved site plan for the Olympia Bathhouse calls for a 3,712 square-foot structure with eight bathing rooms (one being wheelchair accessible), as well as a massage room with two tables. The primary service of the bathhouse is to bathe in the mineral water as it is pulled from the ground, much as it was in the Bath City’s early 1900s heyday.
The bathhouse serves as a companion to Lombardo’s Olympia Salon and Spa located on Cass Avenue. Mineral baths using a mix of tap and well-sourced mineral waters have been offered at the spa since opening. Lombardo acquired the well following the 2022 death of its prior owner, Susan Gans, which led to Lombardo seriously pursuing the idea of a new bathhouse soon after closing on the well purchase in 2024.
“I closed on the well (on) April 4 of 2024, and that was my plan right away,” Lombardo said. “Once I decided I was going to purchase this, I’m like, ‘OK, I’m going to do a bathhouse.’ So then my first (plan) was that … I need to do open houses once a month there, at the well, to get the community (aware) while I’m in the process of figuring out what I need to do to start the well.”
On Friday nights and Saturday mornings, Lombardo would set up shop in the garage that surrounds the well and offer people a chance to see, feel and bring home some of its water.
Along with making connections with residents, interactions with the Mount Clemens community led to changes and new ideas getting incorporated into the bathhouse plans. Lombardo initially was not going to include showers in the Olympia Bathhouse — historically, bath patrons would let the water’s minerals remain on their skin for therapeutic benefits — but they were included after City Commissioner Erik Rick informed her of the Japanese practice of showering prior to bathing.
“I hadn’t thought about putting a shower in then because I thought (customers) are not showering afterwards, but then once Erik Rick told me that I was like, ‘Oh, OK. You’re right. I need to have showers,” Lombardo said.
Getting the plans approved by the city was much easier than expected. A preliminary meeting with Mount Clemens Community Development Director Brian Tingley led to one potential hurdle being resolved. A service entrance connecting to Jones Street, owned by the Park Place Towers, was removed. Tingley says the primary concern of planning commissioners was the idea of smells emanating from the bathhouse. However, they were able to convince them that the mineral water aroma that once lingered around the city would not return due to a single operating bathhouse.
“I think modern HVAC systems, as well as how the water is treated now when it’s pulled out of the ground, is different now so it does kind of reduce that overall amount of smell,” Tingley said. “And it’s only one bathhouse. We’re not talking about several or a dozen different hotels that used to offer these services.”
The distinctive smell of the mineral water is just part of the natural and chemical qualities that made it stand out when the mineral bath boom was new. It is part of the experience Lombardo aims to cultivate at the Olympia Bathhouse. Aside from the private rooms for baths, much of the bathhouse’s layout will be an open, atrium-like space, while building materials will focus on keeping guests connected to the natural world.
And central to all of this, of course, is the water itself.
“I do feel a grounding presence from this mineral water,” Lombardo said. “Some people who aren’t into energy don’t really think that much, but people will tell me, ‘Oh, it’s so calming.’ And the colors of the water as it comes out of the well; it comes out that foggy-clear and within minutes it slowly, before your eyes, starts turning slightly darker. It ends up being the most beautiful navy blue and emerald green, and it reminds me of a mood ring, how (the color) changes when you put them on. And by the next day when I come back and that water that I pumped is now this beautiful gold-copper color. People really get a kick out of standing there and watching the colors change in the water. It’s kind of neat. It turns because it’s never had oxygen touch it, so as soon as it comes out of that pump it’s hitting oxygen for the first time. It feels like an experience and people get mesmerized by it.”
With approval granted, another review pending for utility connections and a builder yet to be decided upon, there’s not much else left to do for the bathhouse but build it. Lombardo expects construction to begin as soon as September.
“I just am so excited that the city has been so welcoming with this idea,” Lombardo said. “The nickname of the town is ‘Bath City.’ It feels to me like this is what we’re supposed to be doing. I feel like it’s something that’s supposed to have been done, and I feel blessed that I get to be a part of all of this.”