The sprawling English Tudor resort known as the Martinsville Mineral Springs until 1957 was originally two separate rival sanitariums, the Martinsville Sanitarium and the Artesian Sanitarium, which stood adjacent to the Indianapolis & Vincennes railroad tracks between West Harrison and Pike Streets.

     The Martinsville Sanitarium, completed in 1892, was a frame Queen Anne style structure with exposed timber and a gabled roof. The spas first owners were Dr. C.A. Kessinger, Dr. W.E. Hendricks (who also owned the Home Lawn Sanitarium), W.S. Haltom, and Sylvanus Major. Journalists from Chicago and Rushville, Indiana reported favorably on the Martinsville Sanitarium, and its business flourished.

     The neighboring Artesian Sanitarium was originally called the Nutter-Major Sanitarium in 1896 to incorporate the names of its owners Isaac Nutter, Albert Nutter, and Sylvanus Major (also a co-owner of the Martinsville Sanitarium). Albert Nutter died before construction was complete in 1897, and the remaining owners brought in a Dr. Webster as a third business partner. They changed the name of the spa to the Nutter-Webster. One year later the name was again changed to the Artesian Sanitarium. The spa was large and comfortable, steam-heated, wired for electricity, featured elevators, speaking tubes, electric bells, and a private dining room for ladies who wished to dine in their nightgowns and robes.

     The fierce competition between the spas resulted in the construction of a wooden fence between them, partly in order to prevent bellboys from co-opting the other establishment's guests at the nearby train station platform. When President Benjamin Harrison campaigned throughout Indiana for a second term in October 1896 he spoke in Martinsville on a platform erected on top of this fence.

      Indianapolis businessman W.K. Bellis purchased the Martinsville Sanitarium in 1897 and the Artesian Sanitarium in 1898. He combined the two businesses immediately. The resulting spa was so popular that prospective guests had to be turned away. Bellis enlarged the spa and greatly improved the facilities. Unfortunately these were heavily damaged in the disastrous 1913 flood. In 1918 W.A. Kennedy, son-in-law of Dr. W.E. Hendricks and already the owner of the Home Lawn Mineral Springs, purchased the Martinsville Sanitarium, renaming it the Martinsville Mineral Springs. Kennedy had worked in the sanitarium's boiler room as a young man before earning a fortune in the insurance business. From 1925 to 1928 Kennedy had renowned Martinsville architect Charles F. Duncan rebuild the spa. The new building was a block long brick Tudor structure that housed 150 guests. Its interior design included stained glass windows, hardwood floors, lounges, a solarium, velvet carpets, crystal lights in the dining room, and a mahogany staircase.

     By the 1950s, the Martinsville Mineral Springs was one of the last three spas remaining in Martinsville. W.A. Kennedy, suffering from ill health, decided to donate the building and its contents to the National Benevolent Association of the Disciples of Christ Churches in 1957 for use as a retirement home. The building was renamed the Kennedy Memorial Home in memory of Kennedy's son Charles, who died in 1938. The Kennedy Home, now known as the Kennedy Living Center, is one of central Indiana's most celebrated retirement homes, featuring both nursing facilities and independent living quarters. Much of the original sanitarium building still stands, but it is unknown how long it will remain standing. Due to its age and structural deterioration, Martinsville may soon lose one of its last two spa buildings.